When you're recovering from a flare-up of diverticulitis, a soft diet gives your colon the opportunity to heal until you're ready to advance to high-fiber foods. During acute diverticulitis, a clear liquid diet allows the painful inflammation of the diverticula, herniated pouches in your intestinal lining, to subside. In the transition between the acute phase and recovery, your health care provider may restrict you to soft, low-fiber foods that won't irritate your digestive tract.
Definition
The Harvard School of Public Health estimates that one-third of the population of North America over the age of 45 has diverticulosis, the presence of small sacs, or diverticula, in the intestinal lining that protrude through weakened areas in the digestive tract. These sacs may occur anywhere in the intestinal tract, but appear most often in the colon. Excessive pressure on the colon, such as the pressure of straining to pass hard stools, contributes to these herniations. You may be asymptomatic for years before a diverticulum becomes infected or inflamed, a condition called diverticulitis. Fecal matter, or food particles lodged in a pouch, may cause inflammation, infection, bleeding and occasionally a perforation.
Guidelines
In less severe cases of diverticulitis, adhering to a clear liquid diet followed by a soft diet may be the only treatment your provider recommends. After the abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting associated with diverticulitis begin to resolve, you may be able to eat foods with a low fiber content. During this phase of recovery, avoid nuts and foods with seeds. These foods are high in fiber and may aggravate a sensitive colon.
Options
Low-fiber food options include white rice, eggs, cheese, yogurt, processed cereals, seedless canned fruit and vegetables, well-cooked meat or fish, pasta and soft desserts such as custard or pudding. Liquids include water, milk, juice without pulp and broth. Although you should omit nuts from your diet until you've advanced to high-fiber foods, you can eat smooth peanut butter while you're on a soft diet.
Prevention
Diverticulosis is more common in industrialized countries such as the United States, where many people eat a low-fiber diet that emphasizes processed foods, notes the NDDIC. After you've resumed eating solid foods, a diet rich in fiber, especially insoluble fiber, may reduce your risk of flare-ups. Once your health care provider advances you to solid foods, you can gradually increase your intake of insoluble fiber -- found in leafy or cruciferous vegetables, fruits, whole grains, wheat bran, nuts and seeds -- by 5 to 15 g per day. (See References 1) Work up to a daily fiber intake of 25 to 30 g daily, along with eight glasses of water per day to soften stools. (See References 1)
Considerations
In the past, popular wisdom declared that people with diverticulosis should avoid nuts, popcorn, and vegetables or fruit with seeds to prevent particles of these foods from irritating the colon and provoking diverticulitis attacks. However, clinical evidence does not support this theory, according to the Mayo Clinic. You should avoid fiber-rich foods, including nuts and seeds, while your colon is healing. However, once you've recovered, a high-fiber diet may prevent further flare-ups by making stools easier to pass and decreasing pressure on the colon.
