Desserts for Gastritis

If you have gastritis, alleviating symptoms often means cutting out some favorite foods and drinks: coffee, carbonated beverages, acidic and spicy foods. If you have a sweet tooth, perhaps the biggest sacrifice to consider is how desserts will help or hurt your gastritis symptoms. However, it is not necessary to completely forfeit sweets; in moderation, you can enjoy certain desserts, even while undergoing treatment for gastritis.

Unfortunately, chocolate tops the list of desserts to avoid if you have gastritis. That is because chocolate contains caffeine, which can irritate the stomach lining and exacerbate the symptoms of gastritis, according to Drugs.com. Therefore, you should avoid cakes, candy bars, cookies, brownies, fudge and other desserts that contain chocolate while your gastritis symptoms persist. To help manage your cravings, you may occasionally substitute small servings of vanilla cake or peanut butter cookies.

People with gastritis should also limit most dairy products, especially high-fat dairy foods like ice cream. However, small servings of certain types of low-fat yogurt, frozen yogurt, custard or pudding may be acceptable, in some cases. You should ask your doctor for advice about which you can eat while you have gastritis.

While fruits should be part of any well-balanced diet, only the ones low in acidity can help alleviate the uncomfortable symptoms of gastritis. High-acidity fruits that aggravate gastritis problems include oranges, grapefruit, lemons and limes. Avoid all when preparing desserts. However, desserts made with lower-acidity fruits like apples, peaches or berries may be acceptable as well as anything that contains bananas, such as muffins, breads or crepes.

As a general rule, people with gastritis should monitor their daily sugar intake because it is known to increase irritation and inflammation. Thus, consume desserts in moderation, making sure to round out your diet with breakfast, lunch and dinner foods that neutralize stomach acids. As always, you should avoid any foods — for dessert or otherwise — that your doctor states may aggravate your condition, and should only eat the ones that he says are acceptable.