What You Can Eat With Rotavirus: Diet Basics And Allowed Foods

Rotavirus infection, it is also - stomach flu, it is also - rotavirus gastroenteritis and intestinal flu. There are many names, the essence is the same - an infectious disease, coupled with all the delights of the respiratory process and supplemented by upset stools and vomiting, which is fraught with rapid dehydration of the body, especially for children and elderly. To help the patient withstand the disease more easily and recover faster after it, special nutrition is needed. A special diet will speed up treatment and increase its effectiveness, and therefore it is considered the main method of therapeutic therapy for rotavirus.

Basic nutritional principles for rotavirus

The basic principles of an intestinal flu diet are simple but extremely rewarding.

1. Drinking regime. To prevent dehydration of the body, provoked by fever, diarrhea and vomiting, the patient needs to drink plenty of fluids - 3 liters of fluid per day. Not less! The right drinks will help to normalize the body's water-salt balance.
   

   Drinking plenty of fluids will prevent dehydration

2. Fractional food. With rotavirus infection, you need to eat often - 6-7 times a day and in small portions, so as not to overload the digestive system, weakened by the disease.
   

   Fractional nutrition

3. Gentle and balanced nutrition. All products consumed by the patient should be easily digestible, saturated with vitamins, microelements and have a delicate texture.

Allowed Products

There are products that meet all of the above principles of healthy nutrition for stomach flu:

• low-fat broths. Vegetable broths or secondary meat / fish and cream soups work well. They have a beneficial effect on the microflora of the digestive system;

• lean meat and fish. On this list: boiled turkey, chicken, veal, cod, hake, pike, pike perch. Steamed, given in the form of soufflé, cutlets, meatballs;
  

  Pike fish cakes

• porridge. They are high in nutritious carbohydrates (especially semolina) and the right consistency for an anxious stomach ailment. Many cereals, for example, oatmeal, rice, have an enveloping effect, which is good for normalizing stool;

• vegetables. They are given only stewed and boiled. The best heat treatment is steam. It allows you to preserve a maximum of nutrients. The potatoes are given as mashed potatoes, no milk or fat added. Pumpkin and squash are given only in the absence of diarrhea;
• fruits. Baked apples are not sour varieties and bananas;

• crackers, biscuits. Soft, soft bread is a big load for a weakened body, moreover, it promotes fermentation. Therefore, in the diet of a patient with rotavirus, it is present only in a dried form - without a crust, from the pulp of white bread or in the form of dryers, diet biscuits;
  

  Galette cookies

• omelet or soft-boiled egg. The omelet is steamed, and the soft-boiled egg is given in an amount of no more than one, once a week;

• natural low-fat cottage cheese. No more than 1 time per day;
  

  Skim cheese

• sweets. A little honey, marshmallow.
  

  Paste

Note: at first, the porridge is cooked unsweetened, in water and without butter.

Healthy drinks

Half of the intestinal flu patient's daily diet should be fluids. They eliminate the danger of dehydration, replenish the body's supply of minerals, nourish and even help fight temperature.

These tasks are best handled by:

• filtered water;
• electrolyte solutions: "Regidron", "Gastrolit";

• still mineral water;
• rice water - shown as a coating agent for diarrhea;
  

  Rice broth

• teas, herbal infusions: green, weak black tea. The most neutral herbs with a pleasant aroma and a calming effect are selected from medicinal herbs - chamomile, mint, oregano, lemon balm;
• juices;
• broth of wild rose, raspberry - help as a vitamin and antipyretic agent;
• dried fruit compotes, sugar free;

• jelly - liquid, fruit and berry. Lingonberry, cranberry, currant are especially good;
• drinking natural yoghurts. They are given on 4-5 days of illness and in the absence of loose stools. They help the intestinal microflora to recover faster.

Note: if a baby is sick, then breastfeeding is the best option. Human milk contains antibodies along with nutrients to help your baby fight infection. In the case when breastfeeding is impossible for a number of reasons, the baby is transferred to lactose-free dry mixtures based on soybeans and dairy-free cereals. The amount of daily fluid intake of a patient with rotavirus doubles.

What not to eat with rotavirus

The list of forbidden foods includes everything that can aggravate the situation and slow down the recovery process:

• spicy, salty, smoked, pickled, fried, fatty - heavy food for a weakened digestive system, suffering from a lack of enzymes and affected epithelium of the walls;

• pasta and rye bread - provoke fermentation and putrefaction in the intestines;
• dairy and fermented milk products, including cheese and sour cream, fermented baked milk, kefir - irritate the inflamed intestines and create a favorable environment for the reproduction of pathogenic flora;
• vegetable oil - enhances peristalsis, activating diarrhea;
• pearl barley and barley porridge - hard to digest;
• fatty meats and fish - goose, veal, salmon, sturgeon, herring, mackerel - enzymatically weakened intestines will not be able to digest them properly;
• alcohol, coffee and carbonated drinks - anything that irritates the intestinal lining;

• raw vegetables and fruits. And onions, garlic, white cabbage, radishes and radishes are prohibited in any form;
• watermelon - activates peristalsis and, as a result, provokes diarrhea;
• citrus fruits, kiwi - irritate the stomach;
• sausages, purchased semi-finished products, canned food, fast food;
• sweet pastry, cakes, chocolate, condensed milk.

Features of nutrition during the recovery period

A strict diet with the above restrictions is effective during the acute period of rotavirus infection. This usually lasts no more than a week. Then, if there is a positive trend, dietary adjustments are needed to restore physiological functions.

Important! The introduction of new products is carried out carefully, in small portions, under the vigilant control of the well-being of the convalescent. Overeating is dangerous because the body has not yet recovered enzymatically and is unable to cope with a large amount of food. You can provoke an emetic reaction.

Food should be introduced gradually, while avoiding overeating

First of all, products are introduced that are healthy, with a high content of vitamins. And it is recommended to abstain for two weeks from:

• legumes;
• mushrooms;
• beets;
• rye bread;
• whole milk;
• ice cream and other products that are consumed chilled.

Note: the body needs two weeks to completely restore the damaged intestinal epithelium.

3 recipes for the right food for rotavirus infection

Rice broth

Rice broth is indispensable in the first days of the disease, accompanied by abundant loose stools. Its enveloping properties and fixing effect can stop diarrhea without the use of medication.

You will need:

• rice groats - 4 tablespoons;
• water - 1 l.

Cooking method

• rice is poured with water;
• the mixture is brought to a boil and left over low heat for 2 hours. The cereal should be completely boiled;
• the resulting broth is ground until a homogeneous mass is obtained;
• cooled and added ½ teaspoon of salt.

Steamed chicken soufflé

This dish is tender, light and, which is important with a patient's reduced appetite, tasty.

You will need:

• chicken breast fillet - 0.5 kg;
• chicken egg - 1 piece;
• flour - 2-3 teaspoons;
• salt to taste.

Cooking method:

• the chicken breast is cut into small pieces, boiled and then passed through a meat grinder / blender;
• the egg is divided into yolk and white. The protein is whipped until foam;
• add to the minced meat: yolk, whipped egg white, 3-4 tablespoons of broth, in which the breast, flour and salt were boiled;
• everything is thoroughly mixed until smooth, laid out in a mold and steamed.

Cranberry Kissel

In addition to the fact that jelly has nutritious and enveloping properties, it is an easily digestible product rich in vitamins. Cranberry jelly also has a reputation as a natural aspirin.

You will need:

• cranberries - 0.5 kg;
• water - 4 glasses;
• starch - 2-3 tablespoons;
• a little sugar.

Cooking method:

• cranberries are washed and rubbed through a sieve;
• the juice is separated from the pulp by straining;
• the cake is poured with water, brought to a boil and filtered;
• starch, previously diluted in a small amount of cold water, and sugar are added to the resulting broth;
• cook for 3 minutes with constant stirring;
• cranberry juice is poured in and cooked for another 3 minutes until fully cooked.

Video - What you can eat with rotavirus