The white meat of chicken, well masticated, is readily digested.
After an acute attack, as the solid food is resumed, it should be given regularly and in small amounts.
Thorough mastication is important. The food should be chewed until it is reduced to a pulp.
Fats and food cooked in fat must be avoided. Dried beef, lean boiled ham, and salt fish agree better with some than fresh meats. All sweets must be forbidden. Starchy foods are apt to produce “sour stomach.”
Avoid meat with tough fiber, too fat meat (pork), sausage, lobster, salmon, chicken salads, mayonnaise, cucumbers, pickles, cabbage, tea, coffee, alcohol, pastry, too much sweets, and cheese if it disagrees.
Five to six light meals a day are preferable to three heavy meals.
The flow of gastric juices is constitutional, thus the regulation of digestion depends on the general vitality as well as on foods. The circulation must be forceful, the habit of deep breathing and of regular periods of complete rest of body and mind must be established.
Since one with chronic gastritis is liable to have many idiosyncrasies, he should not be urged to eat foods for which he has a dislike. The easily digested foods should be prepared in various ways and served in an appetizing, dainty manner.
There are four special phases of chronic gastritis: Mucous Gastritis, Hyperchlorhydria, Hypochlorhydria, and Achlorhydria.
In Mucous Gastritis there is a profuse secretion of mucus in the stomach. In this case it is always well to wash out the stomach before introducing food, as suggested above.