If you have an ulcer, eating can often be a bit of a challenge. Ulcers can cause meal time to be painful if it’s a gastric ulcer, or can result in pain hours after eating if it’s an ulcer located in the duodenum. If you have one, you may be wondering what to eat when you have an ulcer. Here are a few tips and tricks that may make meal time a little less painful while your ulcer heals.

1. No matter what you eat, make sure you do so in small portions. Large meals will overwhelm your already sensitive stomach, and can even result in an overproduction of acid, which will exacerbate an existing ulcer. So, rather than eating a few large meals every day go for smaller more frequent ones. That helps your body’s digestive system and makes the healing process go more smoothly.

2. Focus on easily digestible foods, like whole grain seedless breads, certain low acid fruits and vegetables, low fat dairy products (the fats found in milk and cheese can be hard to digest, causing excess acid in your stomach, so aim for low fat products), lean meats, fish and creamed nuts (like low fat peanut or almond butter).

3. Above all, focus on maintaining a balanced diet. Providing your body with the proper nutrition will help it heal much faster.

4. Avoid the following foods if you have an ulcer: Vegetables like onions and tomatoes, anything high in acid; breads that are high in fat like croissants; high acid fruits, like grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and citrus juices; whole milk products and creams; highly seasoned meats, poultry and fish; deli meats; sardines; fried foods; nuts; gravy; and high fat desserts, like cakes, cookies, pastries and donuts.

5. The important thing to remember when you’re trying to let your ulcer heal is to avoid foods that upset your stomach regularly, or can cause heartburn. Things like spicy foods, alcohol, caffeine and garlic can all irritate the stomach and result in additional stomach acid your ulcer doesn?t need.

Here are a few things to add to your new dietary habits that may help your ulcer improve:

1. Reduce your stress level. If you know a meal is going to be painful, try to relax about it. Stressing over it will only make the pain worse. Stress signals your body to produce more stomach acid, which will irritate your ulcer. So, if you feel stress coming on in any situation whether it’s the morning commute, something at work, or your kids at home stop and take a deep breath. Avoiding stress now can have a pretty major impact on pain later.

2. Stop smoking and focus on a healthy lifestyle. Smoking is known to increase stomach acid production. Smoking also slows the body’s ability to heal. Eating healthy and exercising regularly will help your body heal faster.

Practicing all these techniques should help your ulcer heal normally so you can move on with your life.

Still want to know more? Well, stop wondering what to eat when you have an ulcer and head over to refluxremedy.com for more tips and tricks.