Gastric Diseases and Their Management Through Proper Diet

Gastric diseases are prone to recurrent episodes, primarily due to irregular dietary habits in people's daily lives. For patients with gastric issues, dietary adjustment is diverse, requiring attention to both eating habits and food choices. Proper dietary management can help prevent recurrent gastric problems in many patients, emphasizing the importance of caring for the gastrointestinal system. So, what does a reasonable diet for gastric patients look like?

1. Regular Eating Patterns

The activities of the stomach follow a regular pattern. Irregular eating habits disrupt the rhythmic secretion of gastric juices, weakening the normal protective barrier of the gastric mucosa and causing disturbances in gastrointestinal motility and suppressed digestive functions. Therefore, it is crucial to eat regularly and quantitatively to maintain the rhythm of normal digestive activities. Adjust meal times, eat on schedule, and avoid overeating, undereating, irregular meal sizes, or skipping breakfast.

2. Attention to Portion Size

The digestion process repeatedly stimulates the gastric mucosa, and the larger the portion size, the heavier the workload and burden on the stomach. It is advisable to eat until moderately full, avoiding overeating that can overly expand the stomach and increase gastric acid secretion, worsening symptoms. Always control meal portions, not overeating favorite foods, and also avoiding eating too little. Eating when extremely hungry or drinking when extremely thirsty can lead to weak and uncoordinated gastric activities, worsening gastric pain, and inadequate nutrition due to small meal sizes. It is generally recommended to eat a good breakfast, a full lunch, and a lighter dinner.

3. Controlling the Speed of Eating

Gastritis patients should strictly avoid overeating and rapid eating, as eating too much or too fast can damage the gastric mucosa and its self-protection mechanisms. It is essential to consume easily digestible foods and cultivate the habit of chewing food thoroughly. Thorough chewing mixes the mashed food well with saliva and gastric juices, reducing damage and irritation to the gastric mucosa, protecting the diseased mucosa, and facilitating digestion and absorption.

4. Food Selection

Food choices should primarily consist of soft, tender, low-fiber, and nutritious foods that are easy to digest and absorb, favoring the recovery of the gastric mucosa. Meals, vegetables, and fish should be cooked to a soft and tender consistency, including porridge, noodles, steamed buns, bread, and cooked rice. Unfermented foods like pancakes and pies, as well as difficult-to-digest foods like corn cakes, sticky rice, and New Year's cakes, tend to stay in the stomach longer, increasing the burden on the gastrointestinal system.