Gastritis Support Group

Gastritis is a medical term for inflammation of the lining of the stomach. It means that white blood cells move into the wall of the stomach as a response to some type of injury. Gastritis has many underlying causes, from infection with the bacterium H. pylori, bile reflux, or excessive consumption of alcohol or certain foods or drugs like aspirin.

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What foods cause you problems?

Andy1986
Andy1986
Hi all
I have been suffering with gastritis on and off for 3 years now. In the last year it has been bad and never really gone away. I think there must be something I am eating that keeps aggravating it, I already have a long list of foods that seem to make me feel worse, and I was wondering what other people found? These aren't your typical chocolate/curry etc, but seemingly innocent foods:

Cucumber - literally the worst food ever, wont touch it again in my life after the pain it caused me

White rice - no idea why I cant eat it, but if I have it or even have something with rice flour in it, I get stomach pain. Oddly I seem to tolerate brown rice much better, but generally avoid both now

Boiled carrots - don't know why but make me feel nauseated and have to go to the toilet

Quinoa - again no idea why this gives me stomach pain but it does. Some say you need to wash it very thoroughly but I just dont risk it anymore

Tofu - tried this as it seems like an easy to digest meat alternative, but something in it aggravates my stomach, I think it may be the calcium they add to it, certain calcium compounds seems to irritate my stomach, I cant take cheap ant-acids because of this.

So what do other people find cause problems?
guskoburido
guskoburido
Hi, it could be that you had the inflammation for so long that you have lost the digestive enzymes to digest rice, it should be the easiest to digest food. I also had inflammation unrelated to gastritis and couldnt eat rice for like a year but now I eat it like a summo wrestler. You should try to find the root cause of your gastritis again.

For me everything causes problems ^_^ in a flare. Right now living on rice,fish,carrots,bananas and today i'll try potatoes hopefully.
smilelikeyoumeanit
smilelikeyoumeanit
I struggled with white rice for ages then found brown basmati was ok... but then things seem to change - possibly my IBS rather than gastritis... so now white jasmine white is ok...whilst brown rice is more of a challenge.
Likewise with bananas - fine for ages - a safe food... then one day... not good at all & never been good again.

Maybe look into FODMAPS to see if any of the foods you mention are blacklisted on there.

Quinoa & Tofu also bad for me.

In my experience there are certain foods that are logical to avoid (low pH/acidic) foods... But there also trigger foods that seem to defy logic.
serenityalways
serenityalways
I'm also trying to figure out what's causing the burn. I'm wondering if it's the soy milk? Cashew milk? Maybe the bananas? My diet is so limited now. Even the papaya bothered me this morning.
smilelikeyoumeanit
smilelikeyoumeanit
Apologies for my assorted typos in that reply. Typing too fast. Forgot to say your calcium theory makes sense.
smilelikeyoumeanit
smilelikeyoumeanit
Fat content in cashew milk might cause problems. Soy ok for some & not for others.

I can't get my head round papaya being safe... even though it clearly is for some people... the pH is slightly acidic & might vary depending on how ripe the fruit is. Also it contains proteolytic enzymes that could hurt.

The other reason of course is it might not be the food hurting. If you're not taking acid suppression meds then it'll just be your own acid production hurting the lining regardless of what you eat.
Sara59
Sara59
I can't eat cucumber either, something in it really stirs up irritation for me and also causes gas. I do okay on white rice but can't stand the taste and texture so I add corn to it. I tolerate that pretty well. Carrots are ok but I hate the way they taste cooked. Brown rice is too harsh for me. Never ate tofu or quinoa and because of that, if I did, my stomach would rebel. Chicken okay. No eggs anymore, ate too many over too long a period of time I think. A little milk, banana, pasta, some cheese, peas, green beans, and butter not margarine. No condiments, no pepper or spice, except a little cinnamon now and then. Some salt. I try to alter my foods often because I tend to become sensitive if I don't. This is just me though. If you do well on brown rice use that until you can't stand to look at it. I take Zantac for acid reduction. I started taking it after I eat and found it works better that way. PPI meds have begun to have the opposite effect, so I quit with them.
Danny27
Danny27
3 Years huh? I'm gaining on you, 2 1/2 here of severe gastritis.
My foods that seem innocent yet cause lots of pain are as follows.

Cereal - Don't know why, ive tried the healthy stuff to the kid stuff, its just no good

Chicken Noodle Soup - Gave a pretty good inflammation attack.

Yogurt - Was fine for over a year, then on my second year it just became painful for some reason

I have many more but they slip my mind right now. Maybe this'll be helpful too, here are some strange things that I do tolerate for some reason.

Starbucks Green tea Frap (non fat milk no sweetner) - I may cause mild inflammation some days, but to have some flavor...

Peanut butter - This stuff is just fat and oil, no idea why I can tolerate it (within reason)
freelee
freelee
Has anyone tried the FODMAP diet - it may explain why you can and cannot eat certain foods