My father was following a low-carb diet eating mostly foods such as fried eggs, bacon, pork chops, salmon, cream, nuts, blue chesse, vegetables and occasionally lentils.

Yesterday he has been diagnosed with gastritis and the gastroenterologist told him that when you have gastritis any fat or fried food irritates the stomach mucosa and sholdn't be eaten.

So he can't eat bacon, sausages, pork chops, butter, liver, chichen legs or wings, cream, fatty cheese.

Since all he can eat is steamed lean meat, low-fat cheese and boiled lean fish I doubt he can follow a low-carb diet and need to reintroduce many carbs like bread, pasta, rice, potatos, crackers or he will starve with a both low-fat and low-carb diet.

Any thought or alternative way to treat gastritis?

Maybe he's not reacting to all those but a specific food. My gut reacts to nuts and dairy products, as do a lot of people.

I'd recommend a elimination diet before turning to eating low-fat, low-carb foods and possibly crashing off the diet altogether.

GI docs are horrible at diagnosing and treating problems.

As long as I stay off the processed meats like bacon, salami, sausage and carbs like beans, raw veggies or lentils my stomach is fine. A lot of docs too still swear fatty or savory foods cause heartburn or indigestion

Another cause could be low stomach acid -- a little cider vinegar or pickled foods might help. One thing that can aggravate gastritis or ulcer is alcohol.

There's a natural supplement you could read up on. I am a big fan of this supplement, I first started taking it when I had gastritis and wanted a natural solution after the ppis I were given did nothing. It's called slippery elm. Hope it helps your father.

He should eat that bland diet but include some fats such as avocado oil or olive oil. He should definitely avoid gluten and needs to seriously avoid those carb products that you've mentioned.

What caused the gastritis, some type of infection? What are the symptoms?

I once had severe gastitis eventually I quit eating for 2 weeks and let the intestines heal. The only thing I had were electolyte solutions. Then started on clear broths, when I could keep that down broth with a little chicken and celery etc.

Gastritis might indeed be caused by the oils that were used to fry the foods - if the oils used were plant oils. He can indeed follow a low carb diet if he allows himself to eat low-moderate portions of fat, and not completely fat-free. Research The Paleo Diet. Or if he really wants to restrict his food for a short time, research the GAPS diet.


BTW, Peppermint, probiotics, and digestive enzymes are beneficial to the gastrointestinal system.

I have had a LOT of trouble with recurring gastritis. I found I had to limit or give up a lot of acidic things, such as coffee, tea, alcohol, citrus fruits, etc. At least temporarily.

I also took lots of omeprazole - my gastroenterologist prescribed me a high dose of it, but lower doses are available over the counter and so I always keep some on hand. As well as numerous other stomach remedies. And on the advice of my chiropractor, I took lots of probiotics and advanced enzyme system capsules, which helped noticeably.

A good chiropractor might also help. I suggest finding one who does the Atlas Orthogonal Technique; usually the words will be in the practice's name or prominently on their signs or listings. It's what helped me, anyway; I think I needed him *and* the gastroenterologist. See if you know anyone who can recommend one.

Now that all the above has gotten it under control, I'm doing LC just fine. I can't say for sure that your father's doctor isn't right about his particular case, but we all know that most "experts" - doctors, personal trainers, nutritionists, etc. - are constantly telling us to avoid LC for various reasons and they're quite often wrong. I suspect they're *always* wrong, but I'll admit there might be cases where LC really isn't the best thing.

I plan to, if I get another flareup, temporarily go on a diet of all pasta or something, with very little fat and no sugar - starch soothes the turbulent stomach (which accounts for at least 50 of the pounds I've put on in the last 20 years), and consuming high fat *and* high carbs is very fattening and probably unhealthy in other ways too. Then when I reread DANDR last month, I discovered that Dr. Atkins recommended just that for long stalls: for a few days, going on a different diet, such as all pasta. If I have to do that, as soon as the meds and my chiropractor have it calmed down I'm going back on LC.

I hope I haven't given you too much of an infodump, but I've suffered a lot from gastritis, and would have had this weight off a few years ago without it, so I'm just really hoping some of what I've learned the hard way might help others.