Bland Food Diet

I have been diagnosed with chronic gastritis and have been recommended to follow a bland food diet. Can someone please advise on what is a Bland Food and how will it help me?
(October 14, 2010)

With the increasing prominence of obesity all over the world, some countries have gone to the extent of declaring the condition a pandemic. While the most obvious effect of the condition is the negatives that it places on a person’s aesthetic appeal, this is by no means the biggest problem that an obese individual is likely to face. Under the surface, a number of rather serious conditions start to develop. Most obese people are under serious threat or severe and life threatening conditions such as heart failure, respiratory illnesses as well as stroke. Before looking at the methods of preventing the condition from developing even further, it is important to understand the root cause of the problem.


There are two primary causes of the development of obesity – a lack of healthy nutritious food and a lack of adequate exercise.

The first cause, an unhealthy diet is a rather common problem and can be blamed on the fact that our fast paced lifestyles do not allow us the time to prepare nutritious meals – causing us to rely on junk food such as hot dogs and burgers. However, these foods are distinctly lacking any kind of nutrition and contain nothing but empty cells that serve no purpose other than adding themselves to the fatty tissue in the body.  Adequate exercise goes a long way into burning the additional calories that the body has stored in the fat tissue. A lack of exercise in your daily routine matched with an unhealthy diet will result in the fat cells expanding even further. There are a number of bland diets that will not only help a person deal with the weight problem, but also beat a number of other medical conditions that are likely to be present at the time as well. For instance, a lot of the bland diets are known to be very effective methods used in the treatment of conditions such as peptic ulcer disease, reflux esophagus and dyspepsia.

A bland diet primarily consists of a mixture of soft foods that have a low acidity level as well as minimal seasoning with rather strict restrictions on carbonated sodas, chocolate, coffee and dried beans. Some of the allowed soft foods that are present in most bland diet menus include cream of wheat, cooked rice and mashed potatoes. The portions are substantially controlled in order to minimize the effects of digested food passing through the digestive tract will have on the body.

Bland diets will usually allow the individual to intake certain amounts of milk and milk products although any chocolate flavored dairy products are very high on the disallowed bland diet food list. While a bland diet helps the individual with weight loss, given the restrictions on his or her food intake, it does not work particularly well as a long term weight loss program. However, the bland diet foods will help patients recover much faster from medical conditions that are present in the gastrointestinal tract. The combinations of bland diet foods help reduce the amount of stress placed on the digestive tract throughout the digestion process.

Benefits of Bland Food Diet 

Doctors usually recommend a bland diet that contains foods which are extremely soft and almost very lightly spiced in addition to the food substances being extremely low in fiber. This diet is meant to be followed by someone with either gastric ulcers, problems related to the bowels, vomiting, or gastritis etc.  Bland food diets are also highly recommended to patients who have recently undergone surgery of the stomach or intestine. The diet prescribed by the doctor usually differs from person to person, but the diet usually is devoid of any kinds of heavy seasonings or spices. Most people do not however favor a bland diet owing to the lack of salt or seasonings in them. Please check if your doctor has given you a list of foods to be eaten in the diet mentioned to you, else you can start with eating mashed potatoes or salt-free light soups for your problem. You will need to check the kind of foods that are permissible to eat in your condition, in addition to the duration that the diet has to be maintained.

Foods in a soft or bland diet are usually highly digestible due to extremely low fiber and being extremely tender. The purpose of the diet is to prevent those foods that can cause further problems to digestion, in the current condition the patient is experiencing. Aerated colas and alcohol are completely off the list in this particular diet and so are fatty foods, deep fried substances, gas-causing vegetables or legumes. All types of pepper and spices must be stayed off in this particular diet, whole chocolate and cocoa products are also harmful for a patient with stomach and intestinal issues. Rich desserts or pastries, salted snacks and chips, fast food items, meats that are seasoned or cured etc. are some of the foods that must be avoided by someone following the bland food diet.