You may want to keep a food journal to record what you eat and how you feel.
This typically means ingesting onlyclear liquidsfor a few days.
These foods are easily digestible and will help you avoid irritating the colon and facilitate healing.
Illustration by Mira Norian for Verywell Health
These include:
When Can I Return to a Normal Diet?
It may take two to four days for your diverticulitis symptoms to improve.
Your healthcare provider will let you know when and how to resume eating a normal diet.
Get our printable guide for your next doctor’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
Eating more fiber or taking fiber supplements can help prevent future attacks.
Fiber softens stool and helps preventconstipation.
Avoiding constipation aids in decreasing pressure in the colon, which may prevent future diverticulitis flare-ups.
As you add more fiber, be mindful of your fluid intake.
Fiber requires water to work properly.
If you don’t drink enough water, stools can become too firm and hard to pass.
Drink at least 8 to 10 cups of water per day to help prevent constipation.
However, research now indicates these foods dont specifically cause inflammation, and they are great sources of fiber.
Mediterranean Diet for Gut Health
Some people find that aMediterranean dietis helpful if you have diverticulitis.
Researchers are currently investigating how the eating plan might help those with diverticulitis.
However, this is highly individualized, and there is no standard recommendation for meal timing with diverticular disease.
It may take some experimenting with different meal timing and quantities of food to find what works best.
The diet for diverticulitis is similar to severaldiets prescribed for bowel rest after surgery.
Paying attention to whether high-FODMAP foods affect your diverticulitis symptoms may be helpful in the long term.
Get our printable guide for your next doctor’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
Summary
Modifying your diet is an excellent first step to taking control of diverticulosis and diverticulitis.
Dietary changes can help manage your symptoms and reduce diverticulitis flares.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Treatment for diverticular disease.
University of California, San Francisco Health.Diverticular disease and diet.
Stanford Hospital & Clinics.Low fiber diet for diverticulitis.
2022 Dec 8;9:1012023. doi:10.3389/fnut.2022
Medline Plus.Low-fiber diet.
U.S. National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Diverticulitis.
Cancer Research UK.Diet, fluid and exercise.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Foods for diverticulosis and diverticulitis.
Strate LL, Morris AM.Epidemiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of diverticulitis.Gastroenterology.
2019;156(5):1282-1298.e1.
doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2018.12.033
UW Division of Gastroenterology.Diverticular Disease
Bae SH.Diets for constipation.Pediatr Gastroenterol Hepatol Nutr.
2018;7:1-11. doi:10.7573/dic.212526
Harvard Medical School Harvard Health Publishing.Diverticular disease prevention and treatment.
