Foods That Give Your Pancreas a Break - Ask a Nutritionist

Transcript:

Teresa: Hello and welcome back to “Ask a Nutritionist”, our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition. I am Teresa Wagner. I am a registered and licensed dietitian at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, and today we're talking all about the pancreas. Most people don't think about their pancreas until something goes wrong, but this important organ is constantly working on digestion, blood sugar balance, metabolism, and overall energy.

And when it becomes inflamed enough to the point of pancreatitis, the effects can be painful, serious, and sometimes even life threatening. In this episode, we're breaking down what the pancreas does, the root cause of pancreatitis, and how diet and lifestyle choices can either stress or support your pancreas.

Roles of the pancreas in the body

Let's start with explaining the role of the pancreas in the body. The pancreas is a long, flat gland that sits behind your stomach and it has two major jobs. The first is blood sugar regulation. Think of the pancreas like your blood sugar thermostat sensing when it gets too high or when it gets too low.

The pancreas produces insulin, the hormone that helps move glucose from your bloodstream and into your cells, and it produces the hormone, glucagon, which helps raise blood sugar when it drops too low. If your blood sugar drops too low, you may feel that hangry feeling: weak, shaky, unable to focus. This means your pancreas is hard at work; signaling the liver to bring that stored glucose back into circulation. The pancreas is always working to keep your blood sugar stable.

So when you eat for blood sugar balance, it makes your pancreas's job easier. In contrast, high carb and high sugar diets puts our blood sugar on a rollercoaster ride, making our pancreas work tirelessly, which can lead to burnout long-term.

Its other job is to help with digesting our foods. The pancreas produces digestive enzymes that break down the three macronutrients, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. They do this with their respective digestive enzymes, lipase, protease, and amylase, which are released in your small intestine.

Think of your pancreas like a key maker. The food you eat is full of nutrients, but it's all locked up inside big, complex molecules. Your body can't absorb them while they're still locked. When your food reaches your small intestine, the pancreas sends out digestive enzymes, and each enzyme is like a specific key.

One key unlocks carbohydrates. One key unlocks the proteins, and one key unlocks the fats. Those nutrients are then unlocked and your body can absorb them and put them to work. Without the proper keys, you can't access those nutrients inside.

So when we talk about the health of the pancreas, we're talking about both digestion and blood sugar balance. When we're healthy and eating in balance, our pancreas should work well, but under certain health circumstances, the pancreas can become inflamed, causing pancreatitis.

Pancreatitis can result when the pancreas is inflamed

Pancreatitis can be serious, causing severe pain in the abdomen and spreading into the upper back. It usually worsens after eating, especially after a high fat meal. It can also cause nausea, vomiting, plus fever, and swelling of the abdomen. As you can tell, this is something we want to avoid if possible.

So now let's answer the question, how does pancreatitis develop? Normally digestive enzymes are inactive until they reach the small intestine downstream. In pancreatitis, those enzymes become activated too early inside the pancreas and begin irritating and damaging the tissue.

That inflammation can be acute, meaning it's sudden and short term, or it can be chronic, meaning long term and recurring. The most common causes of pancreatitis are gallstones, heavy alcohol use, very high triglycerides, autoimmune conditions, certain medications, uncontrolled blood sugar, or if there was physical injury to the abdomen.

What you can do to prevent or repair pancreatitis

Over time, chronic inflammation of the pancreas can impair digestion and insulin production. That's why nutrition plays such a powerful role in both prevention and recovery. Let's say you've either had pancreatitis or you want to prevent it from happening. What can you do to support your pancreas or repair it after pancreatitis?

Diet is key to the healing process. When the pancreas is inflamed, it needs less stimulation and more nourishment. In general, we want to follow an anti-inflammatory diet. And what does that mean? It means a diet that is full of natural whole foods, rich in nutrients, and low in those hyper palatable, manmade, high sugar, refined flour, and refined oil-based foods that create inflammation.

An anti-inflammatory diet includes lots of colorful vegetables and low sugar fruits that are rich in antioxidants that help fight inflammation. They provide nutrients without spiking our blood sugar dramatically.

Next get your protein from high quality sources. With pancreatitis, you may need to avoid fattier meats. So we emphasize leaner meats like poultry, white fish, Greek yogurt, or eggs. With eggs, since they have a fair amount of fat, sometimes it's helpful to limit to one yolk and then add, say a half a cup of 100% egg whites for added protein without increasing the fat content. Protein supports tissue repair and is key in stabilizing blood sugar, both very important with pancreatitis.

Moving on to fat. It's one of the most common questions in regard to pancreatitis is do I need to eat a low fat diet? During acute pancreatitis, a lower fat diet is usually recommended in early recovery to reduce pancreatic stimulation. Chronic pancreatitis, so when it's ongoing, you can continue to eat healthy fats like avocado, olives, olive oil, nuts and seeds, especially if you're taking additional enzymes, but you want to add them in slowly so you can see what your tolerance to that fat is.

High fat foods like fatty meats and fried foods should still be avoided to prevent flare up. But don't be completely afraid of fat. You still need it from good quality sources. Remember that avoiding fats completely can lead to reduced absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, which can lead to nutrient deficiencies and also increased cravings and blood sugar swings.

We need some healthy fats to keep blood sugar stable, which will ease the workload on your pancreas. So instead of no fat, focus on avoiding fried foods, fatty meat, and ultra processed foods made with those manmade fats. Instead, choose small portions of healthy fats from real foods. Quality matters when it comes to dietary fat, and we don't recommend total elimination.

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So keys to supporting your pancreas are first and foremost, stabilize your blood sugar with a balance of real nutrient dense anti-inflammatory foods. Avoid putting strain on your pancreas with big sugar spikes and crashes by pairing real food carbohydrates with protein and fat, and limiting refined sugars and ultra processed foods.

Cut out alcohol

Second, cut out alcohol. Alcohol is a major trigger for pancreatitis and chronic pancreatic damage. If your pancreas is in danger, you will need to abstain from alcohol.

Manage triglycerides

Third, manage triglycerides, high triglycerides increase pancreatitis risk. If alcohol was a factor in developing pancreatitis, abstaining will help to reduce triglycerides, but other dietary factors strongly tied to high triglycerides are sweetened beverages from coffees to sodas, to sport drinks, to energy drinks.

Also refined carbohydrates. Things like breads, crackers, chips, pasta, white rice, pastries, and desserts, and well, ultra processed foods in general. Eating a real food whole foods diet will help lower triglycerides the most, but you can also benefit from supplementing with omega-threes and including regular movement in your daily routine.

Stay hydrated

Another simple tip to help the pancreas is to stay hydrated. Water supports enzyme transport and overall organ function. Aim for half your goal body weight in ounces of water as a daily target. So if your goal weight is 140 pounds, aim for at least 70 ounces of water per day.

Strategies for this could look like putting a glass of water on your nightstand and drinking it first thing in the morning when you wake up before you have your coffee or putting a water bottle on your work desk so you look at it more and you'll remember to drink it.

Take water with you in the car so you can drink it while running errands or on your commute to work. But please, if your water bottle is going to be left in a hot car, always use glass or stainless steel, never plastic, as those plastics can leach into your water. It's better for you, your pancreas and the environment.

Luckily, there are so many fun water bottles out there, Stanley's, Yeti, Owala. The choices are truly endless for those glass and stainless steel bottles.

Size of meals may need to be reduced

If you've experienced a pancreatic flareup, you might need to reduce the size of your meals as well. This is helpful until you heal. Large meals require a large release of digestive enzymes. If the pancreas is inflamed or weakened, that surge can cause discomfort.

Smaller, more frequent meals reduce the workload on digestion and can decrease post meal pain in chronic pancreatitis. While recovering from pancreatitis, four to six smaller meals per day may work better than two to three large meals.

Consider adding in a digestive enzyme supplement

I also want to bring up adding in a digestive enzyme supplement. In chronic pancreatitis, the pancreas may not produce enough digestive enzymes. In this case, you may experience bloating after meals, greasy or floating stools or weight loss without trying to lose weight. All of this can lead to nutrient deficiencies if you're not digesting your food properly.

In these cases, supplementing with digestive enzymes can be very beneficial. You may even receive a prescription pancreatic enzyme medication from your doctor. These digestive enzymes, they don't heal the pancreas, but they reduce the workload and improve nutrient absorption when pancreatic function is low.

Sample day of pancreas friendly eating

So now I want to share a quick sample day of pancreas friendly eating. Here's what a balanced anti-inflammatory diet may look like. Breakfast, it might be Greek yogurt with berries and chia seeds and maybe a little extra protein powder stirred in in order to up the protein for that meal.

A mid morning snack could be a hard boiled egg with a slice of apple dipped in a tablespoon of almond butter. Lunch could be a salad with grilled chicken, a half a cup of quinoa, cut up vegetables like bell peppers, and cucumbers and carrots, tomatoes, and a third of an avocado.

An afternoon snack could be cottage cheese with cherry tomatoes sprinkled with some sea salt and pepper, throw in some fresh basil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and it's a high protein caprese like snack.

Then dinner could be a sheet pan dinner with white fish, a side of broccoli and some diced sweet potato tossed in a little bit of a avocado oil. Then don't forget to hydrate with water throughout the day. These meals and snacks are simple, balanced, and anti-inflammatory.

Wrapping it up

To wrap things up, your pancreas is a quiet, powerful organ. When it's healthy, digestion feels smooth, and blood sugar feels stable. When it's struggling, your body lets you know. The keys to supporting pancreatic health are balanced meals for stable blood sugar, avoiding alcohol, moderate amounts of healthy fats, carbohydrates mostly from high fiber, whole food sources.

Eating smaller, balanced meals when needed, and trying a digestive enzyme when you eat. If interested, check out our Key Digestive Enzymes on our Nutrikey website at nutrikey.net for a quality source of digestive enzymes. Thank you so much for listening.

If you found this episode helpful, please share it with someone who might benefit. Our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple, yet powerful message. Thanks again for listening and have a great day.