The walls of your intestine contain small pockets called diverticula. When these small pockets bulge and become infected and inflamed, you have a condition known as diverticulosis. Diverticulosis can be very painful, especially during a bowel movement. While treatment for the infection requires antibiotics or other therapies, a diverticulosis diet may help relieve the associated pain. The diet will not cure the diverticulitis, but it will give your digestive tract a chance to heal while you are being treated.
Treatment
Diverticulitis, the inflammation of the diverticula, is treated with antibiotics or other therapies. But this may take a few days or weeks. Meanwhile, your doctor may recommend a diverticulosis diet to decrease intestinal irritation during the healing process. The diet has three phases: liquid, soft foods and high-fiber solids.
Diet During Attack
During an active diverticulosis infection, your doctor may recommend that you follow a clear liquid diet for two or three days. Permitted foods and beverages include broth, clear sodas, pulp-free fruit juices, ice chips, ice-pops, plain gelatin, water, tea and coffee without cream. The purpose is minimizing solid wastes that irritate the digestive tract and increasing fluid flow to remove any solid wastes lodged in the inflamed diverticuli.
Soft Food Stage
Once symptoms begin to resolve, your doctor may recommend that you slowly introduce low-fiber, low-residue soft foods. Low fiber, an intake of less than 10 g daily, continues to minimize the flow of solid wastes through your slowly healing intestinal tract. Permitted foods include canned fruits, eggs, white bread, buns, plain bagels, soda crackers, English muffins, pulp-free or low-pulp fruit juices, low fiber plain cereals, milk, plain yogurt, cheese, smooth peanut butter, very tender meats, poultry and fish, white rice, plain pasta and well-cooked vegetables without seeds or skin.
At this stage, high-fiber foods, even if they are soft, should be avoided. For example, it is best to avoid whole grains, prune juice, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds.
High-Fiber Stage
After an attack of diverticulitis has been treated with antibiotics and your intestinal tract has healed with the soft-food, low-fiber diet, your doctor may recommend a high-fiber diet. Slowly increase the amount of fiber in your diet to allow your body to adjust. The American Dietetic Association advises aiming for 25 g of fiber per day if you are female and 38 g if you are male. As you increase your fiber intake, also increase your water intake to about 1.5 liters per day. The high-fiber diet helps keep you regular, encourages complete elimination of waste and decreases the pressure placed on your colon, which helps prevent the formation of new diverticuli. To increase fiber in your diet, your doctor may recommend a fiber supplement.
Complications
Most bouts of diverticulitis resolve in two or three days after medical treatment begins. But some complications could require hospitalization. Contact your doctor if you experience symptoms such as fever, worsening abdominal pain or inability to keep clear liquids down.
A clear liquid diet should not be continued for more than a few days, because it cannot provide enough nutrients to sustain your body. If you cannot transition to the soft-food, low-fiber diet within a few days, call your doctor.
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