I thought it was going to be so tough to live on a diverticulitis diet but it turned out to be easier than I expected. My doctor said to try to eat 25-35 grams of fiber. It turns out that’s not hard to do.
Bread, pasta, and cereal should be whole-grain. Food stores are way ahead of me on that one, although whole-grain pasta seems not to be as fully stocked. Still it’s available without any problem. A word of advice about whole-grain pasta – it is so incredibly filling! I discovered that I can only eat about half a pasta serving if it’s whole-grain, and I’m really not given to half-servings of anything. Generally speaking, whole-grains are more filling and stave off the hunger pangs longer.
The next item on my diverticulitis diet is beans. I was a bit nervous about eating beans. The leaflet from the doctor mentioned specifically kidney beans and black beans. I bought canned beans, although dried beans would have been even cheaper. When I rinsed the beans in a colander, the water frothed up lots of bubbles and I kept rinsing till the beans rinsed clear. When I ate them, I didn’t develop the gassy problems that beans cause. I’m not sure but I think I rinsed the gas away before cooking.
Fruits are essential to provide fiber in a diverticulitis diet. The most highly recommended are apples, pears, and prunes. I keep the apples and pears in a nice bowl on the kitchen counter. They provide a nice homey decorative touch. Prunes were new to me but I was more than willing to try after I read that prunes have the highest antioxidant of any fruit. I bought them packaged at the supermarket and I eat them “as is” or cut them up and add to my morning cereal. I got a bit of a “kick” the first time I ate prunes. I thought maybe the prunes had filled a deficiency in my diet.
I was a little relieved when I saw the list of highly recommended vegetables, mainly because it was brief. I’ve been on diets in the past where I ended up lugging home what felt like fifty pounds of vegetables. This list is much simpler: squash, potatoes, peas and spinach. I’m just fine with potatoes and delighted to include them in any meal. As for peas, I don’t have a preference but they’re easy to include. Spinach, now, that’s a little different. It happens that I like spinach, especially in a salad, but I’m not very good at washing the grit out of it and drying it. Sometimes I do all of that but mostly I’ve taken to following my mother’s example – washing spinach thoroughly, grab it in my fist and flap it thoroughly in the sink to get rid of most of the water, then plunk it into a pot on simmer. The remaining water will drain to the bottom of the pot and be enough to cook the spinach. And now we come to squash. To tell you the truth, I love the looks of squash, but I’d never eaten any. I’m still trying the various kinds. My favorite so far is spaghetti squash, which is a bit hard to cut, but easy to prepare and a joy to eat.
All in all, my diverticulitis diet has turned out to be much easier and more satisfying than I had anticipated. And I do feel healthier.
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The question really is, how can you stay on your diverticulitis diet long term?
You can find out by reading the free report printed at The Easy Diverticulitis Diet
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