I have Gastroparesis: Here’s What I Eat For Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner
What to eat? Hmmm…
If you suffer from gastroparesis, you know eating takes on a whole new meaning. Often we aren’t even sure what “trigger foods” we need to avoid, let alone be confident about what we put in our mouths.
I have a few food items that I can count on. I’ve learned, even though I may get sick of eating the same foods over and over again, it’s much easier to feel good than deal with symptoms.
But first there’s a trick that every-single-person with gastroparesis needs to know.
Before you eat: you must take a digestive enzyme. I’m not talking about some papaya chewable you get at the health food store. I’m talking about some effective enzymes to help your belly do what it’s designed to do. I didn’t learn this right out of the gate. I had to suffer through a few years until finally, I was introduced to an enzyme supplement that worked for me. This trick made a gigantic difference in helping my belly heal.
Breakfast: Here’s what I Eat – Find a protein powder your body can handle
First thing is first – if you’re feeling sick in the morning…you have to approach food tentatively. I used to wake up feeling super sick, so sick I could hardly hold my head up. I would get up, put a cold wash cloth on my face and swish some good ol’ Listerene around in my mouth trying to alter my sick state of being. (Desperate times call for desperate measures, mouth wash will work, right?) I couldn’t seem to get my body to accept food at all, but certainly not before 9am. Currently, now in my healthiest state, I still don’t eat until before 9am…it just seems to work better for me.
Have you ever thought seriously about the timing you put food n your body? Maybe you shouldn’t eat until later in the morning? Maybe mornings just suck all together and noon is better for your belly. Or, you might find that food first thing in the AM is EXACTLY what your belly is asking for. Once you can decode some of the sensations in your stomach, it will help you understand when to put food in, and when to wait.
You’ll soon learn…when I feel sick in this way…it means I need to eat. Versus, when I feel sick, in this weird way, it means stay away from food.
I make a smoothie with protein powder and a little flavoring. Sometimes I throw a handful of blueberries in the Nutribullet and let it whirl away.
Protein powder is key to getting your strength back. I tried over 30 different brands from whey to pea protein and everything in between. Find one, shrrring it up in your little blender, and drink it daily.
Egg whites are another good option. Sometimes I will start drinking my small protein shake in the morning while popping egg whites seasoned with salt and pepper into the microwave. Small bowl, lightly greased with olive oil, cook for about 20 seconds and bingo – eggs my body can handle. Why not the yokes you ask? The simple answer: fat is harder and takes longer to digest. In the beginning, when you’re attempting to ease your body into food, egg yokes may be asking a bit too much.
Oats with fruit? Does your body handle oats? Maybe a splash of almond mild and some apple spice to make it dee-lish. How about Chia Seed Pudding? It’s so easy to make, delicious and full of goodness. Oh the options are endless.
Less is More
We no longer eat the normal portions that you may be used to. Filling a bowl, or loading up a plate with food may be a normal habit, but it’s one that needs to be slightly altered. You see, it has an effect on your emotional state. A big plate of food that you may have been able to polish off with ease in the past...is a different story now. Go slow. Take less than half of what you used to eat, and plan on leaving food on your plate. Here’s why…
At some point, we have to start listening to our bodies. If we slip into our old routine, and we don’t slow down, feel, and listen to our bodies, we will end up in a “sick moment”. Not because we did anything wrong, simply because we slipped back into our old routine. I call this old routine our Pre-GP life.
Now that you are making adjustments to how you consume food; as you’re eating, you automatically feel inwardly towards how your belly is functioning. You send your mental troops inward and you listen to how this food is being received. Deliberately slow down. Chew your food…20-30 times. Really taste it. Allow your saliva to begin doing its job in your mouth of breaking down your food before you even swallow. These little steps are what give your stomach the chance it needs to start working for you.
When you start to feel full..STOP.
Now many of you will deal with bloating. You may find you take one or two bites, your belly gets huge, you feel sick, and even though you just sat down to eat…you can’t eat another bite. This is totally normal, and all part of the GP process. Most important thing to be aware of…please, I beg you, don’t clobber yourself because this has happened. Don’t get mad at your body. Don’t feel like you’re broken. Do your best not to resent your belly for not functioning properly.
We are going to love our bodies back into functioning. AND we can’t love our bodes and rage away in our minds ALL AT THE SAME TIME. You can’t be both positive and loving to your body and negative at the same time, so it’s time to pick a lane.
Do you believe your belly will start working normally?
Belief is key. You are the only person who can believe your way back to health. It all starts with you. If you are resigned to this sickness as your new normal. Gastroparesis will take over your life. Don’t let it! Believe in your belly, believe in the ability your body has to function properly. It all starts with you…I know you can do it.
Now, let’s talk about lunch…
Lunch: Here’s the Scoop...it should be the biggest meal of your day
But before taking your first bite –>You guessed it: Enzymes again before you eat. These babies are your new best friend!
As you peruse your food options for lunch, ask yourself ahem…rather…ask your belly – honestly and directly, “what would be the perfect thing to put in my body for lunch?” Then….shhhhhh, listen. What did you hear? (And don’t joke with me and say Doritos.) 🙂 Although chips may satisfy you in the moment, and it may even be something your belly can handle from time to time – you cannot build a sustainable healthy life on Doritos. I know, I tried living on Baked Lays for 8 months. It didn’t go so well for me.
Lunch should be the biggest meal of the day. Why?
Your body is typically moving around a bit during the day and has lots of time to digest this meal before bed. You see most of us suffering with gastroparesis display some sort of delayed emptying in our stomach. Motility disorders also keep food from moving down the pipes, along with a myriad of other diseases and illness that wreak wretched havoc on our digestive system. In the world of GP, being upright and mobile, assists our food in digesting. Movement is good. Eating a big meal, feeling sickly, and then laying down for a nap to try and feel better…is often a recipe for disaster. I’ve done this more than once, waking up from a 20 minute nap, my food just starting to digest; I would open my eyes and immediately grab a garbage can to wretch in. Feeling sick to the point of gagging up the very food I was hoping to keep down.
Often lunch isn’t a long drawn out meal. We are eating while standing over the sink, or eating while in the car, or eating in front of the computer. It takes a substantial mindset change to make this lunchtime meal the most important meal of the day.
Lunch: Here’s What I Eat
After my enzymes, I’ll usually have another half serving of a protein drink. I can eat salad now, which has taken me many years to achieve, so I find myself eating salads at nearly every meal. I couldn’t do this without enzymes. They help our system breakdown food, allowing our body to absorb more of the nutrients.
What if I can’t eat salad? What the heck do I do if veggies don’t really work for me?
Well, let me tell ya…
Number one, you need to get some powdered greens and drink that stuff. At your own pace of course, but do your best to drink your greens. I still take slow sips of room temp liquids, and this includes my powdered greens.
*Wanna kill it in the nutrition department? Dump some powdered greens in your protein shakes…start small at first, but start. This gives your body a little more to work with! #GPWarrior
OK Wip, powdered greens. Roger that.
So, back to lunch. Specifically, what do I eat if salads and veggies aren’t an option?
I like to look towards the sweet potatoes of life. Can you slice’em, and pop’em into your air-fryer? Maybe dip them little sweet potato hotties in a sauce that doesn’t make your belly flip upside down? (Ranch or honey mustard anyone?) How are you with chicken? Is there a certain way you can prepare it that is always “safe” for you to eat?
How do you do with bread? Have you gone down the gluten rabbit hole? If regular bread is a viable option, then check out the sprouted versions of organic bread in the stores these days…some good new breads to choose from, and “sprouted” is more easily digested. What do I put on the bread? Like what kind of sandwich is good when you have GP? If you have a lactose issue, stay away from cheese, obviously. Lunchmeat is a tough one. It’s basically loaded with crap. If you can get your hands on some roasted chicken – I try to stick to organic – then a quick and easy sliced chicken breast plopped on the sandwich with a few avocado slices should do the trick. If mayo is agreeable to you, you could zip it up with a teeny tiny bit of sriracha sauce just for flavor. Mix-and-max that chicken into sandwiches that make your taste buds zing. Want to avoid all things hot sauce? …How about a little pesto spread to kick up the flavor a bit?
Pasta! Now here’s a substance I can get behind. If it looks like a noodle, and tastes like a noodle…I’m ALL THE WAY IN. Pasta can solve lots of hunger problems. It doesn’t give you much nourishment, but man-o-man does it hit the spot when nothing else works. Beware of the red sauces…they can be difficult for us GP-ers. But a small steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup, with lotsa noodles…can I just say, this is sheer heaven to anyone with a broken belly.
Soups can be your friend! Can you say butternut squash soup? Oh holy moly, goodness CAN be had be all. How do you handle ground meat? Ground organic beef, chicken, turkey may be an option. Some folks with gastroparesis swing both ways on ground meat. You can either handle it well, or you can’t. You’ll know after you dig into some meatballs or a gooey casserole. It works or it doesn’t. If it works – you have lots of options for good food.
Dinner: Here’s What I Eat
Yep. Enzymes first. Shocker, I know.
#1 Rule – DON’T EAT LATE AT NIGHT.
Try to give yourself a good 3 hours to digest food before you go to bed. This can mean the difference of waking up feeling good or waking up feeling like dawg doo doo. I struggle the most with evening munchies. I have stretches where I do great – then I forget the importance of eating early, and I experience a few rough mornings…let me tell you, those rough mornings help me get myself back on track.
Can you quit eating by 7pm? How about 6:30pm? The earlier you stop eating, the better chance you have of feeling decent in the morning.
Yo Wip, back to dinner, what are we gonna eat? I’m used to dinner being my biggest meal of the day.
How about fish tacos? Can you handle some sort of fish that you pop in the air-fryer? Maybe add a little guacamole you whipped up real quick from the leftover avocado you had at lunch.
Or, how about slicing up some chicken, pop it in the pan on med-high heat, salt, pepper, a little granulated garlic and onion powder (if you can tolerate garlic and onions by all means cut some up and toss them in a hot skillet.) Grab a couple tablespoons of your favorite brand of organic salsa and mix with a couple tablespoons of sour cream or Tofutti. (Tofutti for our lactose intolerant friends – it’s truly is the best substitute for sour cream.) A couple organic corn taco shells heated in the microwave and you’ve got dinner.
If you can handle ground meat, rice may be an option for you also. Try to stay away from the pre-packaged mixes unless they are organic. Many of the pre-packages rice and pasta meals are basically a chemical crap storm in a box.
*Note – it’s habit breaking time. Back to dinner – a couple of small tacos, and you may be thinking…that was delicious, I WANT MORE. Remember…this is when we honor our commitment to ourselves to eat a smaller dinner. Wip, does it really make that big of a difference? YES. It truly does. Large amounts of food are difficult for a sluggish digestive system to process. Because our activity levels go down in the evening, the food we eat in the evening will often sit in our bellies overnight…getting all gross and putrified. We wake up with this “mess in our gut” and we feel like the south end of a north bound rhino. It’s really awful, and your psyche somehow knows you have rotting, disgusting food in your stomach, just sitting there…making you feel worse. THIS very situation starts the day off in a tailspin, and often we spend the rest of the day trying to recover from our rough morning.
Let’s get out ahead of this! Let’s eat small meals earlier in the evening. Giving our bellies lots of time to digest and absorb the food we just ate.
It sounds so simple, right? This isn’t rocket science folks, it’s just a few little variances we can make in our behavior that make a huge difference in the way we feel.
Everything you just read about lunches, and dinners, and protein powders, and enzymes…all-of-it…can make an impact. When you’re sick, anything that can help…anything that changes a symptom for the better, is a good thing.
Remember, it’s not what you do next week that matters. It’s what you do in the next hour that can change your life.
-WipGirl