Gastritis Diet: Banana, Avocado, and Chocolate?

A few changes in diet are probably necessary when you have gastritis. Gastritis diet may vary between individuals, but it’s always worth a try to avoid any bad things that irritate the stomach lining so you can recover quickly. The common culprits include acidic foods, spicy and fatty foods! How about bananas, chocolates, or avocados?

Many healthy, whole foods (including some fruits) are naturally acidic by nature. Does this mean that you need to avoid them?

NO, because though they’re acidic, they’re also loaded with essential natural components that allow the body to turn them easily into alkaline. So, most fruits are actually alkaline after they have been metabolized – except a few such as prunes, plums, and cranberries since they have different acids that your body can’t metabolize easily.

However, your stomach is the first organ that processes what you eat. Acidic foods, including some that turn into alkaline after metabolized (for examples acidic oranges, pineapples, and tomatoes), could be too strong for your stomach lining when you have gastritis.

Can you eat bananas for gastritis?

Bananas can be one of you best highly-convenient snack foods. Because they are not only delicious, but also good for your heart and digestion! They contain lots of essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fibers, and a few amounts of protein.

Pectin, a kind of fiber that gives the structural form of bananas, is good for the health of your cardiovascular system, because it can help control blood sugar after meals. Bananas are also high in potassium and a decent amount of magnesium. Having plenty of dietary potassium and magnesium is important for your heart health [reference].

Resistant starch, typically found in unripe (green) bananas, is essential fiber to help escape digestion. It is good to help sustain beneficial gut bacteria.  And bonus, both pectin and resistant starch can help slow stomach emptying, which is so helpful to control your appetite and weight gain.

The amounts of pectin and resistant starch deceases as bananas ripen. But this doesn’t mean you have to eat completely-green bananas. Just make sure they’re ripe enough to eat!

So in general, we can say bananas are good for digestive system, including the stomach. But, are they safe to eat when you have gastritis?

Bananas may cause symptoms such as headache, itching, and wheezing in people who have an allergy to this tropical fruit. For example, unripen bananas have the allergy-causing proteins found in latex, which could trigger allergic reaction if you have a latex allergy (also called ‘latex-fruit syndrome’).

And as mentioned earlier, they are very high in fibers. Too much fiber could be counterproductive, this might worsen your stomach pain /cramp and bloating, which is especially true if you don’t get used to diet high in fiber.  

It seems that what is OK for most people may be bad for you. If you do find that bananas make your symptoms worse, it’s worth a try to skip them for a while until your gastritis heals completely.

Is avocado OK to eat with gastritis?

Avocados are often presented as the ultimate, super-food rich in in heart-healthy fat content. They have become a staple in many healthy-diets for heart health. They are also popular to help lose weight and good for the health of digestive system.

But though they have super-food status, they might be not safe enough to eat for everyone – especially those who have latex-fruit syndrome. About 30-50 % of people who suffer from a latex allergy will also have allergic reaction to avocados, according to an article published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. How about gastritis?

Like bananas, avocados are safe to eat for most people with gastritis. But some people may find that their gastritis symptoms get worse after eating these green fruits. So if you find that they are too hard to digest by your stomach, you may need to reduce or eliminate them for a while.

Even though there are no any discomforts after eating avocados, try to eat them no more than half of one a day (women) and two-thirds of one a day (men).

Still, moderation is the key! Also, eat a wide variety of healthy-fat foods such as seeds and nuts.

Bloating and feeling of fullness (especially after meal) are common in gastritis. And excessive consumption of avocado may worsen these symptoms.

FODMAP contents of avocados can also be a reason why you need to eat them in moderation. FODMAPs stand for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols. These complex molecules are probably more difficult to be processed by some people, leading to a number of discomforts such as stomach cramps, bloating, and fullness.

In addition – try Aloe Vera along with moderate consumption of avocados. It can help boost the health advantages from foods you eat and reduce adverse effects of avocado. It might also have an effect to help ease the inflammation of stomach lining, boosting your recovery more quickly.

How about chocolates? Keep reading!