What are the dietary taboos for pancreatitis?

The most important dietary taboos that patients with pancreatitis should ingrain into their bones are that they must not drink alcohol at all, and they must avoid heavy foods that are high in fat and oil as far as possible. During an acute attack, they are not allowed to drink or eat without permission. They must follow the doctor's instructions.

I have been in the gastroenterology department for almost 12 years, and I have seen too many patients who are "all right". I just admitted a 32-year-old programmer last month. Last year, he suffered from mild pancreatitis and was hospitalized for a week. Last week, he couldn't resist the persuasion of his colleagues, so he drank two cans of cold beer and grilled half a handful of grilled pork belly. That night, he curled up on the ground in pain and trembled. He sent him to the hospital to find out that the amylase level was 12 times higher than the normal value. He was hospitalized for almost ten days before he recovered. In fact, the pancreas is like a small processing factory that specializes in producing digestive enzymes. The fats and proteins we eat are all broken down by the enzymes produced by it. Alcohol and high-fat foods are like unreasonable rush orders. As soon as they come in, they force the factory to operate at full capacity and overload production. The pancreas with pancreatitis has been injured to begin with, and the parts have not been completely repaired. It is easy to "explode" if it is rushed. The excess digestive enzymes leak out and can even be digested by the pancreas itself. The pain is mild, but in severe cases, even the surrounding organs will suffer.

There are quite confusing opinions on the taboos for pancreatitis on the Internet. Some say that eggs and milk cannot be touched in this life, while others say that as long as you don’t drink alcohol, you can eat anything. In fact, these are too extreme. I met an aunt a while ago. After she was discharged from the hospital, she read on the Internet that she could not eat anything. She only drank white porridge every day. When she had a follow-up examination after half a month, her albumin was extremely low, which made her recovery slow. In fact, as long as the acute attack period has passed, you can eat boiled egg whites, low-fat or skimmed pure milk, low-fat and high-protein foods in small amounts, as long as you don't touch fried poached eggs or whole milk with a lot of sugar. Some people also ask whether they can eat spicy food. If you have a physique that eats spicy food all the time in the Sichuan and Chongqing areas, and the recovery period has been more than half a year, it is not completely impossible to eat some mild spicy food occasionally. However, in the first three months after being discharged from the hospital, you should try not to touch spicy foods such as chili peppers and ice drinks, so as not to stimulate the pancreatic secretion.

There are also many people who have a misunderstanding. They think that they need to take supplements when recovering from a serious illness. They stew old hen soup or stick bone soup and drink it just after being discharged from the hospital. In fact, the floating oil is all thunder. Drinking it is no different from eating fat meat directly. If you really want to drink the soup, you must skim off all the oil and drink it clearly. Even if you have been recovering from pancreatitis for three to five years, it is best not to touch the commonly eaten shortbread, fat meat, animal offal, butter hot pot, and cream cakes. A few years ago, I met a patient who had recovered from pancreatitis for four years. I thought he was completely fine. I went to eat an old hot pot full of butter with a friend. Severe pancreatitis broke out that night, and he was not saved in the end. It was a pity.

To put it bluntly, there are not so many fancy rules about taboos for pancreatitis. The core thing is not to put extra burden on the pancreas, and don’t take the chance that "just one bite will be fine." If you really end up in the hospital because of one bite, you will be the one who suffers.