Diverticular disease is a gastrointestinal condition that includes both diverticulosis and diverticulitis. More than one in 10 Americans over the age of 40 has diverticulosis, a chronic intestinal disorder characterized by small bulging pockets along the inside of the large intestine, or colon. When these pockets become inflamed, this acute disease is called diverticulitis. Your doctor may restrict milk and other dairy products during certain phases of diverticular disease.
Symptoms
If you have diverticulosis, you may be largely symptom-free. Other times, you may experience abdominal cramping, bloating, pain or constipation. The first symptoms of diverticulitis are typically tenderness and pain in your lower left abdomen. You may also notice a change in your bowel habits, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills. Once you've identified the symptoms of acute diverticulitis, it's time to eliminate milk from your diet, says the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, or NIDDK.
Prevention/Solution
A high-fiber diet is the best way to manage ongoing diverticulosis, according to the Cleveland Clinic. By eating plenty of fiber and drinking lots of milk and other liquids, you give your body a chance to produce soft stools that pass easily through your large intestine. When you experience the abdominal pain and other symptoms associated with acute diverticulitis, it's time to switch to clear liquids and give your colon a rest. You should feel better after two to three days on clear liquids, and can begin adding low-residue foods such as milk and other dairy products back into your diet, according to MayoClinic.com.
Identification
Residue refers to any food that passes undigested through your small intestine and arrives in the large intestine to be formed into stool. Milk and other dairy products are considered low-residue foods that are forbidden on a clear liquid diet. In general, clear liquids are those you can see through, along with foods that melt to form clear liquids at room temperature. They include broth, consommé, pulp-free juices such as apple and grape, water, frozen treats that don't contain milk, and tea or coffee without milk or cream.
Benefits
The residue from milk and other dairy products increases the size and number of your stools, says MayoClinic.com. When your diverticular disease is under control, that effect works in your favor. If you have a flare-up of diverticulitis, however, you want to eliminate milk from your diet so that you'll have fewer and smaller bowel movements, reduce abdominal pain and diarrhea and get through your flare-up as soon as possible.
Warnings
After two to three days on a clear liquid, milk-free diet for diverticulitis, you should begin to feel better. If your pain gets worse, you are dehydrated because of vomiting and diarrhea, or you develop a fever, contact your doctor for more intensive treatment.
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