Cereals for pancreatitis

Cereal dishes are among the first to appear in the diet of a patient with pancreatitis: from the second or third day after the acute attack has been relieved. And then they are constantly present on the table. Most cereal dishes are well absorbed by the digestive system, without straining the pancreas, which is incapacitated at this time. What cereals should a patient with pancreatitis stock up on, and are all cereals equally useful?

Which ones are allowed and which ones are not?

Speaking about porridges, it is not worth generalizing that all of them are appropriate in the patient's menu. Although, in general, properly prepared porridges have a positive effect on the pancreas, not all of them are perceived by the rest of the digestive organs. Dietitians have determined which ones are allowed and which ones are not in their recommendations, and the patient is obliged to follow their advice.

The following porridges are prepared from cereals for pancreatitis:

• rice;
• semolina;
• buckwheat;
• oatmeal;
• pearl barley.

In the acute period, millet, barley, wheat, corn, and bean porridges are contraindicated. Barley and wheat will be useful during remission, occasionally appearing on the table, and the rest of the listed types should not be present in the diet either during incomplete or stable remission.

• The first dish to appear on the sick person’s table is rice – already on the 2nd or 3rd day. During the week, buckwheat, oatmeal, pearl barley, and semolina are included in the diet menu.

In the acute phase, viscous, thin porridges are useful - on water or, in extreme cases, half with milk. No sugar-butter-salt. The boiled mass is rubbed or beaten with a blender until smooth. For this purpose, you can pre-grind dry cereals and cook a liquid dish from them.

During remission, there is no need to grind cereals or mash porridge. The gentle diet is stopped, porridges become crumbly, their taste is improved with sugar and butter. Such dishes contain more nutritional components than viscous ones. If the pancreas reacts to them normally, then it is allowed to eat porridge with milk.

Buckwheat for pancreatitis

Traditional cereal for pancreatitis is buckwheat. Nutritionists and gastroenterologists often include it in dietary rations, it is appropriate in the daily diet of older people and children. The product is unique, as it contains a whole set of amino acids that allow you to balance your diet without meat.

• There are many buckwheat diets that help reduce weight. Buckwheat is also useful for pancreatitis because it contains iron, fiber, and B vitamins.

Buckwheat is usually prescribed from the fifth day, after the pain and discomfort caused by the exacerbation of the process have ceased. The cereal is boiled and strained, without adding anything else, not even salt. At the end of the second week, more nutritious food is recommended - strained buckwheat-vegetable soup.

In chronic cases, prepare salted crumbly porridge, enriched with butter, honey or sugar in minimal quantities. Buckwheat is also suitable as a side dish for meat or cutlets. Meat is stewed or boiled, cutlets are steamed. Vegetables and greens also go well with this product.

• For people with pancreatic problems, buckwheat is prepared using a special technology: crushed grain or flakes are selected, and the cooked grain must be strained.

Whole grain is used after all symptoms of the disease have disappeared. The cereal is sorted, washed, soaked for several hours or overnight. Thanks to such preparation, the product retains the maximum amount of useful substances. The freshly cooked dish is eaten warm, at a comfortable temperature.

Rice for pancreatitis

An important feature of rice for pancreatitis is its enveloping ability. It protects the mucous membranes of the digestive organs from aggressive factors, and also absorbs and removes toxins. Rice cereals for pancreatitis are also recommended because they are easy to digest, provide long-term satiety, and do not irritate either diseased or healthy organs.

Caution in consumption is necessary only because rice has a constipating effect, and if inflammation of the pancreas is accompanied by constipation, then rice is inappropriate in the menu. And vice versa, if the patient suffers from diarrhea, then rice will serve well in eliminating it.

Rice can be consumed as early as the second day after pancreatitis is diagnosed.

• First, it is a liquid porridge with milk mixed with water.
• After a while, light chicken broth with rice appears on the menu.
• A few days later, these cereals are used to prepare a side dish for meatballs and rice puddings.

All recipes use a quickly boiling white polished product. Unpolished varieties are more useful in composition, but the coarse shell makes them undesirable in the diet of a patient with pancreatic problems. Permission for such rice is obtained only at the stage of stable remission.

Peas for pancreatitis

Peas are very tasty, it is no coincidence that they are an important product of many national cuisines. High nutritional value, satiety, and deliciousness make them a must-have product in the diet of most families. Provided that everyone in the family is healthy, in particular, does not have problems with the digestive organs.

• To ensure that your favorite peas do not cause harm during pancreatitis, you need to know when and how much of them you can eat.

Like other cereals for pancreatitis, peas are not eaten by patients who have symptoms of the acute phase. Why not? Because legumes contain coarse fiber, which can provoke additional problems - diarrhea, bloating, intestinal colic.

• In mild forms of chronic inflammation, patients are sometimes allowed to eat green peas. This is due to the presence of protein in it - a building material for the restoration of tissues of the diseased organ. Calories are also not superfluous for the body, exhausted by malnutrition and pain.

Peas are boiled and mixed with mashed carrots, cauliflower, pumpkin or mashed in the form of vegetable soup. Such a dish helps to get rid of manifestations of constipation. In addition to a high percentage of proteins, peas contain potassium, selenium, magnesium, iron, iodine, zinc, sulfur, vitamins, carbohydrates.

After remission is confirmed, unmashed dry peas are allowed, pre-soaked in cold water. The product is used for side dishes or soups, stuffed into rolls, baked as puddings. The dosage of the finished dish is determined by a nutritionist.

Oatmeal for pancreatitis

Patients should not abuse food prepared from cereals with pancreatitis. Despite all the usefulness of cereal porridges for healthy people, they can bring both benefit and harm to people with pancreatic pathologies. Even dietary oatmeal with pancreatitis is not always appropriate in the diet. At least in the first days of the acute phase, oatmeal is excluded, and when it is included in the diet, it is recommended to first grind the grain in a coffee grinder.

• In this state, the cooked cereal product acquires a uniform consistency and is easily processed by the digestive system.

Whole grains are not for patients of gastroenterologists. Also inappropriate in their diet are instant semi-finished cereals: they contain additives that are far from healthy.

Oatmeal porridge is rich in carbohydrates, proteins, starch, vitamins of several groups, minerals, mono- and disaccharides. It brings the following benefits:

• envelops and protects the inner lining of the digestive tract;
• lowers cholesterol;
• thanks to serotonin it improves mood;
• contains enzymes similar to those produced by the diseased gland.

The porridge is tasty, filling, goes well with dried fruits and other ingredients, and when combined with milk, it supports the patient’s weakened immunity.

The first thing doctors allow is a liquid water mass, without any flavor additives. A decoction of oatmeal can become the basis for a slimy soup. Then, for variety, jelly, soufflé, and pudding are prepared on an oatmeal base. As you recover, the oatmeal becomes tastier and thicker - thanks to butter and replacing water with milk.

Millet for pancreatitis

Millet, or millet, contains fiber, vitamins, minerals, fats. Porridge from such grain is considered a relatively heavy food. Therefore, dietary nutrition suggests millet for pancreatitis, but with reservations: not in all periods and properly cooked.

• Millet porridge should not be consumed during an exacerbation, as well as other cereals during pancreatitis, as well as in situations where the disease is accompanied by inflammation of the gallbladder and ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract.

When there is a lull, that is, remission, millet becomes useful. By the way, it is also included in the diabetic menu, including for children. The recipe for porridge is as follows:

• The cleaned and washed grains are filled with water in a ratio of 1:3.
• The saucepan is placed on low heat.
• The porridge is ready when the enlarged grains fill the bowl.
• Do not stir the cereal, otherwise it will be hard.
• Add more water if necessary.
• Sugar, butter or milk are added to the finished dish.
• Without milk you can make a side dish for vegetables, fish, meat.

An important point is the choice of high-quality raw materials. More delicious porridge comes from polished millet; viscous - from light yellow, crumbly - from brown grain.

Millet that has been left for a long time becomes rancid, which makes the porridge taste unpleasant. To eliminate the bitterness, pour boiling water over the cereal before cooking.

Barley for pancreatitis

Pearl barley is also one of the popular cereals for pancreatitis. It is prepared from barley grain, which has a whole range of useful properties. In particular, pearl barley removes toxins, strengthens bones, normalizes metabolism, thyroid function and the body's defenses.

• Pearl barley for pancreatitis helps eliminate inflammatory processes in the pancreas and pathologies of other digestive organs.

Pearl barley contains a complex of vitamins and minerals, fiber, proteins, and amino acids. Depending on the processing method, several varieties of the product are sold, including pearl barley, which is what crushed barley grains are called. It is more in demand: it is often used by housewives to prepare cereal soups and stuff fish.

The positive property of pearl barley is its enveloping and softening effect on the mucous surfaces of the digestive organs. This helps eliminate inflammation and dysfunction of these organs. Properly prepared food from this cereal promotes the regeneration of inflamed tissues of the pancreas.

• The porridge is prepared according to a special recipe, quite a long time. It is a heavy food, so for normal digestion it must be well boiled.

The cereal, washed in several waters, is soaked overnight in water or poured with a fermented milk product (kefir, sour milk). The proportions are a glass per liter of liquid. In the morning, the liquid part is drained, boiling water or milk is added (1:3) and it is boiled or kept in a water bath for 6 hours. You can put the pan in the oven for this time. It is eaten hot, because cooled porridge is tasteless.

Couscous for pancreatitis

Perhaps not everyone knows what couscous is and what to eat couscous with for pancreatitis. This is one of the new products, little known to Europeans. The homeland of couscous is North African and Mediterranean territories. It is prepared using a special technology - originally from wheat, based on semolina, today - from rice, millet, barley.

• In some Arab countries, these regular round pieces of the same size are a national dish.

Couscous is rich in vitamins, can cleanse the digestive tract, reduce cholesterol in the blood, improve immunity, strengthen the heart muscle. Porridge from cereals with pancreatitis is unacceptable at the stage of exacerbation of the process. Like other food, all porridges are prohibited at this time.

• After two weeks, when the pain subsides and the situation stabilizes, couscous appears on the menu, two or three times a week. The remission phase does not impose restrictions on the consumption of porridge.

It is important to prepare the product so that the diseased organ can easily perceive and digest it. If under normal circumstances it is enough to simply pour boiling water over the cereal, then with pancreatitis it should be boiled for 5 minutes. And even better, using a blender, make the couscous mass homogeneous. This is the ideal consistency for a diseased pancreas.

It is difficult to imagine a patient's menu without cereals for pancreatitis, from which delicate food is prepared, enveloping and protecting the digestive organs. Different cereals are acceptable in different ways, each has its own warnings. If you follow the dietary rules for cooking and eating, these familiar dishes are a full-fledged component of treatment, no less important than medications for pancreatitis.