How To Treat Diverticulitis: Gut Health Tips

Author's Bio: Katie Bailey, MS, RD, LD, FNC

Hi everyone. Welcome back.

Diverticulitis is a condition that's becoming more and more common, and it's estimated that about 200,000 people are treated for it per year. It can cause a significant amount of pain and discomfort for many individuals. Therefore, managing and treating it effectively is essential.

So in today's video I'll be discussing what is diverticulitis and what are the symptoms associated with it?

What's the difference between diverticulitis and diverticulosis?

How do you treat diverticulitis?

What can you do for diverticulitis prevention?

And what lifestyle changes are beneficial for diverticulitis?

Hi, I'm Katie Bailey. I'm a gut health dietitian at Oswald Digestive Clinic, where we help individuals improve and resolve their bothersome gut issues. If you're interested in learning more about gut health, I'll link off our free guide Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health below in the description box.

Alright, let's get started on today's topic.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

What is diverticulitis and what are the symptoms associated with it?

Diverticulitis is a condition where the small pouches in the colon called diverticula become inflamed or infected, causing pain and discomfort. Symptoms of diverticulitis include nausea and vomiting, fever and chills, poor appetite, constipation or diarrhea. Severe abdominal pain, typically in the lower left side and sometimes even blood in the stool, the pain that's caused by diverticulitis can come on suddenly and can be quite severe, or it can be mild and worsen over a few days. Factors that increase your risk for diverticulitis include a diet that's low in fiber and high in processed foods, lack of physical activity, constipation, excessive use of NSAIDs and steroids, inflammation, obesity, and smoking. And there is current research that shows a connection between changes in the gut microbiome to an increased risk of diverticulitis.

What is the difference between diverticulitis and diverticulosis?

While diverticulosis is the presence of asymptomatic diverticula in the colon, diverticulitis represents a complication where these pouches become inflamed or infected, leading to pain and discomfort. Distinction between the two conditions are important because treatment and dietary management is going to differ depending on which one you have. Diverticulitis often warrants medical attention, sometimes a switch to a liquid or low fiber diet, and sometimes even surgery while diverticulosis focuses more on prevention measures to prevent the onset of diverticulitis.

How do you treat diverticulitis?

So conventionally diverticulitis is usually treated with antibiotics to fight the infection, as well as sometimes surgery when there's obstruction or an abscess, usually there's a switch to a clear liquid diet, so broth, clear juices, jello, popsicles, and then a gradual transition to a low fiber diet with refined grains and tender meats, plain yogurt, canned fruit. This may be recommended in order to help the colon heal and rest and decrease the workload on the digestive system in order to ease discomfort. Now if you have a mild case or just feel like a flare is just starting, you could always transition to a clear liquid diet at home and see if that helps to calm everything down.

Bone broth is a great addition at this time as bone broth is going to be very essential, have a very essential nutrients and also very beneficial for your gut health. And as you start to feel better, then you can slowly start to add in additional foods.

Now with a mild case, you may also introduce things like soothing teas and supplements, marshmallow root, slippery elm, and probiotics can be really beneficial. Probiotics are play a role in managing diverticulitis by promoting a healthy gut, and some studies actually suggest that probiotics can help to reduce some symptoms of diverticulitis.

What can you do for diverticulitis prevention?

There are many factors that we need to consider for diverticulitis prevention, including our gut microbiome, gut motility, permeability, inflammation, and stress. So we know that stress increases our cortisol levels and increased cortisol levels can change the composition of our gut microbiome and can contribute to increased permeability in the gut as well as inflammation.

This excess inflammation can contribute to the inflammation and infection that we see with diverticulitis. A balanced microbiome is important because those microbes, those healthy microbes produce short chain fatty acids, which not only help to nourish that gut lining, but they also help to reduce inflammation. These microbes are also important for bulking up our stool, so that can help prevent constipation, which is also a risk factor for diverticulitis.

Outside of diverticulitis flares, fiber is essential for prevention as it helps to nourish the gut microbiome as well as promote regular bowel movements. You want to slowly increase fiber in the diet, making sure you're also getting adequate water, and you want to choose both soluble and insoluble fiber choices as these are both beneficial, but do different things. The goal is to prevent diverticulitis by optimizing the gut through dietary and lifestyle changes.

What lifestyle changes are beneficial for diverticulitis?

So since we know that our gut health plays a vital role in the risk of diverticulitis, there are additional lifestyle modifications that we should consider. The first is exercising regularly. Exercising is going to help decrease stress, it's going to help with gut motility, and it's going to help with our weight management practice. Stress management, yoga, meditation, deep breathing, chronic stress is going to negatively impact digestion as well as the gut microbiome, getting adequate sleep in order to decrease cortisol levels and decrease inflammation. Staying hydrated, especially like I said, when we're increasing fiber in the diet, this is going to help with digestion and promote regular bowel movements. And the last lifestyle change is to avoid smoking.

To wrap up our topic for today,

Managing diverticulitis effectively includes a combination of diet changes, lifestyle modifications, and stress management. It's important to address underlying root causes or factors such as optimizing our gut microbiome, reducing inflammation, and managing stress.

If you're experiencing mild symptoms, switching to a nourishing liquid diet that includes bone broth, nutrient dense, tea soothing supplements, and probiotics may help to reduce your symptoms. If symptoms are severe, then obviously you want to go get some medical attention to make sure that you're getting the right treatment. Diverticulitis prevention is going to include eating a variety of fiber rich foods, getting plenty of probiotics and prebiotics and in your diet to support the gut microbiome, reducing inflammation, practicing stress management, all the good things for the gut.

So that's it for today's video. If you like this video, please hit the like button and subscribe for more nutrition videos. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions. And if you're interested in working with our clinic, you can click the link here to schedule an appointment. We do take insurance. You can find more information about that on our website.

Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye.

If you'd like to explore any of this information further or obtain an individualized nutrition plan, you can schedule an initial appointment at our clinic.  We also take insurance and some of our clients get full coverage, which is great.

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