An easy-to-digest diet is recommended for people with digestive problems, after operations and poisoning, and for the elderly. The diet contains products that do not overload the stomach. What should you eat and what should you avoid? Here are some tips!

What is the easy-to-digest diet? Principles

The easy-to-digest diet is by definition a therapeutic diet and consists of a simple modification of the basic diet. Meals should provide the same amount of energy and nutrients as a healthy person’s diet. The difference between the two diets lies in the way the meals are prepared and the exclusion of foods that burden the digestive tract.

If you are on an easy-to-digest diet, you must remove from your diet foods that are high in fibre, bloating and fat-soaked. Frying and baking in fat is completely prohibited. Meals should be eaten at regular intervals and the last meal should be eaten no later than 2 hours before bedtime. Dieticians recommend that the menu be divided into 4-5 meals per day. Food should be chewed slowly and thoroughly. Swallowing too quickly promotes flatulence and improper digestion of food.

What else does the light digestive diet require? Products must be fresh and meals should preferably be prepared fresh. Storing too long in the refrigerator can lead to bacterial growth. Remember that specific guidelines may vary depending on the reason for going on the diet.

Easy-to-digest diet – effects

You can feel the effects of eating an easily digestible diet after the first meal. You don’t have to change your diet completely right away. Make modifications slowly in stages and you will gain:

• improved wellbeing,
• relief for your pancreas and liver,
• a feeling of lightness,
• improved digestive function,
• weight loss if you adjust the calorie content of your meals,
• detoxification of the body.

Changing your diet also has a positive effect on the condition of your skin, hair and nails. You may notice the improvement after just one month of following the new diet.

The easy-to-digest diet – what to eat and what to avoid?

We explain which foods are recommended on an easy-to-digest diet and which are better to avoid.

What to eat on an easy-to-digest diet?

If an easy-to-digest diet is advisable for you, the foods you can eat must be, above all, fresh. Among the recommended items are:

• cereal products – light and stale wheat bread, wheat flour, barley groats, semolina, millet, fine light pasta, white rice, natural instant cereals;
• fruits and vegetables – baked, stewed, cooked, without skins or seeds;
• fats – olive oil, rapeseed oil, linseed oil, fresh butter, good quality soft margarines;
• meat – skinless chicken and turkey, rabbit, veal and, in smaller quantities, lean cuts of beef and pork, lean marine fish (cod, sole, trout), lean cured meats;
• soft and hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs with permitted fats, omelette;
• dairy products – natural yoghurt, kefir, curdled milk, buttermilk, skim or semi-skimmed cottage cheese, milk <2% fat, reduced-fat cheese;
• drinks – natural still water, light tea and coffee;
• spices – aromatic, mild herbal spices such as thyme, basil, rosemary, cinnamon, lovage, vanilla, marjoram, dill, parsley.

What to avoid on an easy-to-digest diet?

On the list of products are:

• cereal items – cereals with chocolate, caramel, honey and crunchy ingredients;
• confectionery products – such as doughnuts and sweet rolls;
• fruit and vegetables – unripe fruit, pears, plums, peppers, radishes, turnips, chives, all types of cabbage, corn, vinegar-preserved vegetables, onions, garlic, fried potatoes, Chips, fruit in syrup or chocolate, high-sugar jams, dried fruit;
• fats – lard, hydrogenated palm oil, coconut oil, hard margarines for baking;
• fatty meat and fish – neck loin, bacon, knuckle of pork, pork fat, mutton, goose, duck and salmon;
• fatty cold meats – mince, salami, sausages, pâté and black pudding;
• smoked fish and canned fish;
• pulses – soya, lentils, broad beans, chickpeas;
• dairy products – fatty milk and cream, processed and mouldy cheeses, powdered milk, fromage, raw eggs, meat or fish such as sushi or tartare;
• drinks – strong coffee and tea, liquid chocolate, alcoholic and aerated drinks;
• condiments – hot chili peppers, mustard, mayonnaise, all kinds of pickles, wine vinegar, vegeta, mustard.

What is sweet when on an easy-to-digest diet?

An easy-to-digest diet does not exclude the eating of desserts, but these should preferably be in the form of, for example, fruit preserves, compotes, jellies or seedless jams. 

The menu may also include:

• biscuits,
• oatcakes,
• meringues,
• puddings,
• jelly,
• honey. 

If you like cakes, go for recipes for light cakes with fruit. Loose apple pie, for example, would be a good choice, as well as carrot cake or pumpkin cake.

Example of an easy-to-digest diet – menu

Eating lightly doesn’t have to be bland and unpalatable. What can your meals look like?

Day 1

Breakfast: whole wheat roll with butter, good quality cold cuts, lettuce and peeled tomato.

Second breakfast: cottage cheese with honey.

Lunch: steamed or oven-baked in foil trout with new carrots and potatoes topped with a teaspoon of butter.

Afternoon: buttermilk and ripe banana smoothie.

Dinner: pumpkin cream soup with coconut milk.

Day 2

Breakfast: blueberry cereal with bananas, raspberries or blueberries.

Second breakfast: crisp bread spread with white cheese with lean sausage and skinless tomato.

Lunch: pumpkin cream soup with meatballs.

Afternoon: fruit salad with yoghurt.

Dinner: steamed chicken breast with spinach and couscous.

Day 3

Breakfast: rice cereal cooked in milk with bananas.

Second breakfast: oatcakes with cranberries.

Lunch: mushroom cutlets with couscous and pickled cucumbers.

Afternoon: freshly squeezed citrus juice.

Dinner: roll with butter, cold meat, peeled tomato, lettuce and hard-boiled egg.

Day 4

Breakfast: millet cereal with prunes, blueberries and raspberries topped with natural yoghurt.

Second breakfast: crisp bread with white cheese, lettuce, chives, tomato and lean sausage.

Lunch: celery soup-cream.

Afternoon: a few biscuits.

Dinner: steamed chicken breast with millet groats and broccoli.

Day 5

Breakfast: cinnamon oatmeal with strawberries.

Second breakfast: wheat roll with jam.

Lunch: turkey meatballs with potatoes, dill and vegetables.

Afternoon: fruits.

Dinner: roast pumpkin soup-cream with wheat croutons.

An easy-to-digest diet – are there any contraindications?

There are no contraindications to this type of diet. Only people with food allergies should exclude products to which they are allergic from their diet. However, the list of permissible items is so extensive that substitutes can easily be selected from it.

Eating lightly requires few sacrifices and has a beneficial effect on the digestive system. If you are planning to reduce your body weight, you can also follow this diet. In this situation, you should make sure that all your meals are balanced and have the right calories. In addition, such a diet is a good idea after Christmas or a carnival. It will help the organisms to recover.

Want to switch to an easy-to-digest diet? The Fitatu app will make it easy for you!

Planning to switch to an easy-to-digest diet and want to discover tasty and healthy recipes? Download the Fitatu app from the Play Store or App Store and create your menu today. A basic web version is also available for our subscribers. And now you can use the EASY-9 discount code by going to https://www.fitatu.com/app/giftcode and get 29% off your monthly Fitatu Premium.

What can you find in the Fitatu application? 

A huge database of products and dishes, simple recipes with calorie and nutritional values, automatic calculation of calorie targets and proportions of proteins, fats or carbohydrates, as well as access to reports summarising your diet. You can also upgrade to the Premium version, where you get the ability to make shopping lists, filter products and recipes or more syncing with fit apps. Try out Fitatu now!