Hellobee

Eating, especially recently, has become one of the most difficult areas of my life. In a lot of families, difficulties around eating are due to the children of the family. However, in our household, challenges around eating have always revolved around me and my chronic illnesses. I was recently, finally!, diagnosed with gastroparesis, which, in layperson’s terms, is a partially paralyzed stomach. I was diagnosed in November of last year, but I have had gastrointestinal issues since childhood. It is often very hard for me to eat anything without severe nausea and vomiting. Gastroparesis has proven to be the hardest of my many chronic illness conditions to deal with, and after my hospitalization for it two weeks ago, I am still figuring out how to nourish my body without ending up admitted to the hospital again. That was such a scary experience and I’m hoping to not repeat it.

Here are some strategies I use and ways my family, who do not have the same health conditions I do, eats as well.

Osso Good Bone Broths and Paleo Soups: Bone broth and brothy soups have become one of my first lines of defense when I’m in a flare and can’t keep down much that is solid. The best soups and bone broths I’ve found are through Osso Good Bone Broth. They sent me a sampler to review, and they are truly excellent, unlike some other bone broths I tried (grocery store brand) which tasted like dog food smelled. The Thai Carrot paleo soup is seriously one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. It’s rich, but not too heavy; creamy and satisfying, with a hit of heat at the end that stays on the palate. You can really tell that there’s the bone broth in it. It makes it feel more filling. Note: I did reach out to Osso Good to ask for a sampler pack to review, and they gave it to me, but the review itself is 100 percent my own. I searched them out because of their very high reviews and because I wanted good, reliable bone broth. I don’t have the time or energy to make my own and didn’t like what I found in grocery stores.

Protein drinks: I haven’t found a favorite for these yet, but in addition to bone broth, on bad liquid diet days I’ll do gluten free, lactose/dairy free protein shakes. I also try to drink a lot of tea and Gatorade. They tend to stay down well, and the more I can keep hydrated, the better.

A strict diet: I have tried a number of strict diets, and it’s always hard for me to stay on them because it never feels like they’re helping, and it’s a hard mental block to get over: to give up so many things and feel like you’re not getting better. I also know I don’t often stick with them long enough to see results, though, because of the mental block. I was gluten free for my last few years of college and it actually seemed to help a lot, but I started eating gluten again in college. After this last hospitalization, the hospitalist recommended I go gluten free again for at least a month, as well as dairy free. These restrictions definitely don’t help everyone with gastroparesis, but maybe they will help me.

In addition to dairy and gluten free, I do not eat corn, most beans (lentils seem to be ok; chickpeas are not ok: had a very bad experience with hummus), I eat low-fat, and minimal fruits and vegetables. All in all, with all those restrictions, mealtimes are challenging, but I am slowly finding things that are nourishing and don’t find flares. After I’ve been on this diet for a while, I’ll write a follow-up post to see if it’s helping.

Portion size: Most resources for gastroparesis recommend eating multiple small meals throughout the day. However, I struggle with this. My gastroparesis means I am often not hungry at all until the evening. I know I do better on days I eat earlier, though, so I should mention here I take anti-nausea meds as well. I don’t take them everyday, but when I do they usually help tremendously. Diet can often really help for people with GP, but I don’t want this to come off as a diet-is-everything post. Medication is often extremely important for many Chronic illness conditions, and everyone’s body and treatment is different.

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Navigating my special diet with its constantly moving goalposts and then the ordinary diet of a 5-year-old and two other adults is a constant challenge for our family. The fact that Snowy is not a picky eater helps tremendously. She will usually eat what my mother-in-law and husband are eating and I will eat something different based on my dietary needs. Some of our go to’s are rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes; spaghetti; and chili. She also likes pizza and hot dogs, though she doesn’t like mac and cheese.

She’s also a very snacky kid, and we always keep the fridge stocked with her favorite healthy things. These sometimes supplement meals and are sometimes meals in themselves. These include all kinds of fruit, cucumbers, pickles, carrots, lunch meat, and cheese cubes. The kid could live on fruit and vegetables if she was given the option.

Do you or someone else in your family have complicated dietary needs that make eating hard? How do you navigate it?