Looking for advice on lifestyle changes with Pancreatitis :(

Hi - are you in the U.K. or US? I live in the U.K. and as far as I know there isn't any formal eating group for pancreatitus sufferers. However, the NHS do provide very good information about low fat foods to help support the disease. The rest is up to you. I'm afraid it's easy to say I'm not good at following a plan but you just have to be disciplined or else you will continue to have attacks and possibly shorten your life. It's your choice. I know it's not easy but it can be done - I know. Of course, I'd love a slice of pizza or a glass of wine, esp if I'm out with friends but my health is more important than those things. I'm lucky to have a very supportive husband (who's also a terrific cook) and sometimes we just have to have different meals. Do yourself a favour - get online or to a nutritionist via your doctor, get a food plan and stick to it. You're the only one that can help you. Probably not want you want to hear, but that's the stark reality, I'm afraid.

Welcome lance95170.  Eating the correct diet is one of the prime methods of preventing attacks, (along with alcohol abstinence).   We are each responsible for our health management including our diet.  You need to make sure the pantry and fridge have low fat options, don't leave it to your wife.  Perhaps you should do the food shopping and google for low fat recipes.

Sticking to a low fat diet is something we do when trying to avoid progressing to chronic pancreatitis as well as reduce symptoms which can be ghastly.  If you eat fatty food you will suffer, and I mean every day if your disease progresses.  Once chronic there's no going back.  You may be able to arrest the progress of your acute disease if you're diligent now and maintain the diet.

I don't know where you are but here in Australia we have Lite n Easy who deliver healthy food.  I've posted low fat recipes here before which were put out by a recipe book producer who happens to have pancreatitis.  There are a variety of recipes to choose from. 

You really, really don't want to experience all of the ghastly symptoms of this disease lance95170, you have to accept you have it and do all you can to minimise the potential damage.

Hi, I've tried to find such a list too and it doesn't exist and the hospitals don't even tell me I should follow a specific diet! I have found that I have to do the grocery shopping now and I buy a lot of fruit and veggies. I eat mostly salads and for protein I cook chicken breast (skinless) and turkey. I'm not a fish eater, but I hear it is ok to eat as well (certain kinds anyway). I eat a lot of beans (mostly vegetarian ref ride beans) as well. It's a boring diet because it's pretty much the same thing over and over, but if it will keep me from having another attack I'm fine with it. I eat small meals, about 5 times a day and stay under about 5 grams of fat per meal. My last attack was June 2016 so so far so good, but you never know. It's. A very wicked, unpredictable disease so I just pray a lot too! Good luck to you!

If you live in the US I would be very interested if you find a food delivery/meals planned for you. To my knowledge there are none. What makes it most complicated is to have brittle (erratic) diabetes.

Good luck!

Jo

Is this a practical joke. Don't eat sweets, limits your carbohydrates  only monosaturated fats and no steaks, and fatty meats,  and if eating meat, limit portion and times per week, no alcohol, no candy, no baked goods, fresh vegetables and fruits cooked or raw and no bread, or minimal. Which would you rather have limited food intact or pancreatic disease and poor health with possible fatal  attack.

This is the recipe book put out by the National Pancreas Association in the United States.

https://pancreasfoundation.org/patient-information/nutrition-advice-recipes/

Easy stuff to put in the fridge are:  No fat yogurt, skim milk or check out almond milk as another low-fat option, packaged egg whites (use when making pancakes or even scrambled eggs or omelets.  The "fat" in an egg is in the yolk, but there's no reason why you can't use at least one whole egg and the equivalent of 2 eggs in the egg-white product to make scrambled eggs.)  Make oatmeal with bananas or any other fruit and your low or no-fat milk.   While recovering from an acute attack, you will want to stay on clear liquids for a couple days (although they may have put you on that while in the hospital) then start including easy to digest foods like yogurt, oatmeal, Noodle soup, etc.  Don't drink carbonated beverages -- move to cranberry, pomegranate, pineapple, apple, and other non-citrus juices first, then start to add them in to your diet.  You can add sparkling water after a couple weeks,  (and I've found that really good juices can stretch when you mix them half and half with sparkling water).  Eat more veggies and fruits.  Do NOT eat anything fried.  Grill or bake things.  If a recipe calls for cooking oil, use half of what it calls for.  Same idea with salad dressings - we can get some that are actually "no fat" but you can make your own.  Again, I keep the oil to half or even a third of what you normally might use, and go heavier on the lemon juice or vinegar.  

You're going to have to avoid things like cookies and cakes and pastries, because they usually are made with butter or shortening and the fat content for one of those treats could blow you over the amount your pancreas can handle.  Oh, and nuts and cheese are gonna be out.  I thought this was a tough hurdle to clear, because I always loved grilled cheese sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly as "comfort" foods.  But -- Nope.  Never again :-(

You are probably going to have to take charge of your own meals - although there are some recipes at that link, that can be prepared for family consumption.  My husband has enjoyed everything I've made from there.

My current "flare-up" has lasted over 2 months (although now it is a bit more under control - I'm hoping for the best as I went for over a year after my first acute attack in Novemer 2015 - when I was able to live quite normally on less than 30 grams of fat per day (I let it creep up from the suggested 20 after about 4 months with no symptoms apparent).   During this one though, the GI determined (through MRI and endoscopy) that mine has evolved into chronic pancreatitis.  It has taken me longer to start to eat more "normally" - lots of days with lots of liquids and yogurt and oatmeal and maybe 5-6 small meals vs 3 per day.  My husband says it has been tough on him, but he HAS lost 10 pounds that needed to come off. 

Good luck with the diet!  

I can recommend some good low fat organic soups. Amy's organic soups in all different varieties. Lots of low fat recipes on line as well.