Is Beans Good for Ulcer Patient? What about moin moin or Akara?

Is Beans Good for Ulcer Patient? What about moin moin or Akara?

What is an ulcer ?

An ulcer is a sore in the lining of the digestive tract. This can happen when the stomach acid damages the lining of the digestive tract and can be caused Bacteria (H.pylori) or by pain relief medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, diclofenac and felvin.

There are different kinds of ulcers. They are:  gastric ulcer, peptic ulcer, duodenal ulcer and esophageal ulcer (heartburn or acid reflux).

These ulcers have one common symptom which is “Gastrointestinal Pain” which can be aggravated by different things. Ulcer patients no matter the type are usually placed on a very restrictive diet and sometimes very bland foods.

They avoid peppery and spicy foods, proteins like moi moi, beans, akara, then citrus fruits like grape, oranges, lime, lemon and anything acidic, also from carbonated drinks because of its high acidic contents, they also don’t take drugs from the NSAIDs family like ibuprofen etc

In as much as it is important that they stay away from anything that aggravates the pain or causes heartburns, the question now is how well can these foods be avoided and what are the dietary implications of doing that?

Is Beans Good for Ulcer Patient?

Let’s see the relationship between eating Beans, Moin Moin and Akara balls and worsening stomach ulcer below👇

Yes, beans worsen gastric ulcer pains and heart burns in some persons through a mechanism not yet understood in medicine but….. Beans is a highly proteinous food and one of the highest sources of protein and totally avoiding beans and it’s other babies like moi moi and akara is not a totally ideal option except you have other sources of protein which cannot fully replace Beans.

Beans help for muscles and body build up, repair of body tissues etc. A removal of this plant protein means you will be left with more carbohydrates and starchy foods which make you prone to weight gain or becoming overweight due to their high calorie content.

That is why weight loss is more protein and less carbs, healthy eating is more protein and less carbs. So what do you do?

JUST DILUTE:

For every 6-tablespoon intake of beans, drink at least 100cl of water, if you are taking sachet water which is 60cl, take 2 of it, if you are taking 75cl bottle of water, drink 2. Water helps for easy digestion and controls the pH of your system, because water is neither alkaline or acidic, it is neutral. So you can’t totally avoid beans, for a medium sized moi moi or 3 balls of akara, take same measurement of water. The more water, the less pain from the ulcers

Antacids are palliative, they don’t cure ulcers but only help to temporarily relieve the symptoms for the body to start it’s healing process.

Take more water than you eat when you eat beans, you can’t completely cut it out from your diet except there is an allergy attached to it and as advised by the doctor. You need beans more more than you need rice in your body. Carbs are good but proteins are better.

In summary, eating beans of course aggravates stomach ulcer and GERD in some. persons  , but since beans is largely proteinous and a critical part of a healthy diet, looking for an alternative source of protein or eating little of beans and drinking plenty water thereafter may help relieve the pains of ulcer.

Also, products of beans like akara and moin moin with akamu (pap) are more tolerable with peptic ulcer. Eat them instead of beans.

CAVEAT: Some persons with stomach ulcer will eat beans and will not develop pains or heart burns while others do. There are also some people that will eat akara (bean cake) and moi moi without ulcer pains but will not tolerate eating beans alone. Know your category please.

Sunday Dare and Dr Udomoh