Black hole tum, won't you come... eat up all my food.

May 15, 2012 12:16 PM

Recipes for people with peptic ulcers? Or maybe a food list, and I can figure it out myself?

So, one of my best friends likely has an ulcer. She's at the doctor now for some treatment.

She had cantaloupe for dinner last night, which seems a little sad. So, I'd like to make her a delicious, satisfying, and safe dinner tonight. Does anyone have any recipes for the ulcer-y folk? Any food lists that you've tried, and are true?

This seems like something that should be on the internet, but the info is kind of sketchy.

I was lead through to this, but it seems mostly about heartburn. Can I assume that these foods/recipes are also cool for ulcers?

Let's feed this girl!

posted by functionequalsform to Food & Drink (3 answers total)

Those dishes look ok (here's another set aimed at ulcers)--I'd probably start with turkey, chicken, or seafood.

When I had ulcers, I read a lot on the web about what to eat and what to avoid--got some lists that overlapped a bit but then contradicted each other. I also read that many such lists were still based on the mostly obsolete idea that ulcers were caused by stress and diet (as opposed to H-pylori in most cases). And that any individual's safe/unsafe foods lists could be significantly different from another's.

So I after driving myself crazy with a new diet, I started eating and drinking whatever I liked. I found I could actually eat just about anything as long as food was varied meal to meal and portions not too large. My unsafe-in-any-amount-foods list ended up being very small indeed.

Some ulcers were still visible on endoscopy nearly a year later so I might've delayed healing a bit, but I wasn't in any immediate pain/discomfort from most meals.
posted by K.P. at 12:57 PM on May 15, 2012

God, the thought of eating cantaloupe on an ulcer makes my GERD hurt. But on that note, yes, generally what will not aggravate heartburn damage will also not aggravate stomach damage.

Is she having textural problems? Some things just feel too "hard" to me and I just want to eat as soft as possible. I personally avoid wheat because it's sketchy; her doctor might want her to limit dairy for a while (or all dairy except cultured, like yogurt, especially if she's on antibiotics for H. pylori) as well.

I think the ultimate wheatless, dairy-less (if necessary) soft filling comfort food would be shepherd's pie. Go really easy on the salt, and use corn/potato/tapioca starch rather than flour to thicken your gravy.

Or maybe non-spicy, un-ketchup'd, milk-free meatloaf with some white rice and butternut/acorn/yellow squash or zucchini?

It's going to depend on what it is that's happening when she eats, but you could offer those as jumping-off points and get some feedback from her about whether those seem like they would work. It's not really a question of X is "safe" and Y is not. Person X might be happily eating tomato sauce straight from the jar while Person Y has to go lay down if they eat potato. If she's in so much pain she's down to nothing but cantaloupe, she might need to go serious clear diet (like gastro clear diet, not BRAT) for a day or two to let her meds kick in. In which case you can do your best to make tea, jello, popsicles, and broth seem fun.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:06 PM on May 15, 2012

I've had ulcers in the past, and in my experience zinc is a highly effective antacid - it's much faster-acting, and without any of the side effects typically caused by standard treatments such a Prilosec.
posted by wolfdreams01 at 1:12 PM on May 15, 2012