Wednesday, December 5, 2012

BRAT Diet

I've been having really severe abdominal pain ever since getting a stomach virus over Thanksgiving, and since it was not getting better on it's own (in fact, it seemed to be getting worse) I decided I'd better go to the doctor to make sure I'm not dying of some rare stomach or intestinal disease. After a quick chat and examination by the doc, she determined that I simply have gastrointestinal distress as a side effect of the stomach bug. Basically my intestines got totally ripped to shreds and cleaned out of any bacteria (good or bad) that is needed to process food, so every time I eat it's causing severe pain as my body tries to process it. Her solution? Regular doses of Pepto Bismol to coat the intestines and allow them to heal, combined with the BRAT diet.

I vaguely remember my mother telling me about this before. It is historically prescribed for patients with gastrointestinal distress and consists of foods that are relatively bland and low in fiber: Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. My doctor told me to discontinue all the cold medicine I was taking (did I mention I also have a head cold?) and eat only these foods after first taking the Pepto. So I went home and did just that; made myself a piece of whole grain toast for dinner with a banana. I spent the entire night doubled over in pain and convinced that my doctor is a complete quack.


But in the morning I did some more research on the BRAT diet, which it appears I had misinterpreted. Whole grain bread is full of fiber, which is hard to process and makes gastrointestinal problems much worse! I also had a diet 7-Up because that's what my mom used to give us when we were sick, but apparently carbonated beverages are also forbidden. So it's no wonder I had a miserable evening.

So now I'm faced with a dilemma... white rice and white bread are strictly in the OFF LIMITS section of my regular diet. I would never ever buy either one! But I want to follow my doctor's orders because I'm so desperate to alleviate the pain and get back to normal life, so I'm trying to stick to the rules. Today I had a banana for breakfast and I ordered some plain white rice from the deli downstairs for lunch. But I could only eat about half of it because it was so dang boring and bland. (Ah ha! Perhaps I've discovered the key to weight loss... just give yourself a really boring, restrictive diet and you won't want to eat that much).

I am finally starting to feel a little bit better, and I'm desperately hoping I can get a good night's sleep tonight. I'm still not sure how I will bring myself to buy a loaf of white bread for my dinner of toast and applesauce tonight... it's just so counter intuitive I can't stand it!  

8 comments :

  1. I must have a really plain palette because for some reason the BRAT diet sounds really good to me!! I had applesauce yesterday and am eating a banana right now, so I guess I'm halfway there! I think I'll go down to Tully's and get a croissant, does that count as white bread?

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  2. oh man sarah this sounds like what you have been dealing with! i hope it all ends soon ad as bland as it is for right now, it will help you to feel better and then back to eating non-bland foods!

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  3. Ugh, I'm so sorry you have to go through that (and eat all that boring stuff)! At least it seems to be working a little? Hang in there!!

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  4. Oh no :-(. Hope you feel better soon. Maybe a baguette instead of plain old white bread?

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  5. Oh man hang in there friend! :(

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  6. I hope you feel better soon! Being sick is one of the hardest things for me as a gluten-free person, because I was always taught to eat toast after a stomach bug! GAH.

    Feel better

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  7. Ugh...I hope you are starting to feel better. And can eat more than just BRAT. That would get old quick.

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  8. Thanks everyone, I am finally starting to feel much better!

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Talk to me, Goose!