Surely that soft diet sounds like rice, mash and soup to you. And if you follow a plant-based diet, it is possible that when it was recommended to you you found yourself in the situation of eating nothing but white bread for a few days.

The soft diet is a diet designed to give the digestive system a breakto give him little work and let him recover. It is usually recommended when suffering from an episode of diarrhea or gastroenteritis, in outbreaks of inflammatory intestinal diseases, after surgery… That is why it is a easy to digest diet, low in fiber and fat.

Let’s see how to configure a soft diet regimen adapted to vegetable dietsso you don’t find yourself in this situation the next time you have to follow a soft diet. And, if it hasn’t happened to you, you might also be interested, since normally there is always some moment in our lives when we will need to make a soft diet for some health problemsuch as gastroenteritis. But remember! Always do it with the approval of your doctor or nutritionist.

Also I will give you a weekly menu for soft diet. It will be the professional who takes you who will have to determine how many days it is best for you to follow it. In my proposal I offer you three days of strict soft diet and the rest of the week we will go gradually reintroducing withdrawn foods to return to normal, but allowing the digestive system to finish recovering. In the last few days we will also be introducing recipes that help restore intestinal flora.

• Can download the weekly menu for soft diet here.

How to follow a soft diet without eating meat or fish

The problem when following a vegetable or preferably vegetable diet is that many times, when we are given information on how to have a soft diet, the information has not been adapted. guideline to make it compatible with a diet that dispenses with foods of animal origin. But it’s interesting have options to follow it and find ourselves well.

We must keep in mind that there is a big difference between the soft diet and the low residue diet. The latter is used to clean the colon, usually for a colonoscopy-style test, and the regimen consists of a diet low in fiber, fat and lactose.

Foods to avoid

It is common exclude legumes of soft diets and also low-residue diets. But there are also other vegan foods that should be eliminated.

• Whole grain cereals and breads.
• Spices and salt.
• Fresh fruit, except the ripe banana.
• Raw vegetables.
• Whole legumes.
• The chocolate.
• Cruciferous vegetables (goodbye broccoli and cauliflower for a few days!).
• The pastries, if we take them.
• Nuts, also in cream.

In a lacto-ovovegetarian diet, it must be taken into account that not all dairy products are recommended.

On a vegan diet, vegan cheeses and cold cuts are also restrictedeither because they are ultra-processed or because of their high fat composition.

Although we will not eliminate fats completely, we will have to reduce oil and fat consumption to a minimumeven if they are healthy. Those that we can consume, in very small quantities, will be olive oil, rapeseed oil, quality vegetable margarines and avocado.

Allowed foods

On a vegan diet these are the foods you can eat to follow a soft diet:

• Cereals and refined flourssuch as white bread, conventional pasta or white rice.
• Crushed cooked legumesespecially the peeled ones. We won’t be able to make hummus because tahini is very fatty, but legume purees are suitable.
• Cooked or pureed vegetables.
• He white tofuavoiding smoking and seasonings, grilled.
• Vegetable yogurts natural without sugar, avoiding the Greek type, prioritizing that they are low in fat.
• He seitan unspiced.
• Vegetable milks, especially rice milkbecause it is the most digestive. Soy milk is not recommended.
• Vegan protein powder. This is an option that can also be taken into account in zero-residue diets, which are often complicated when following a vegan diet.
• Fruit in compote or baked.
• Bananaas long as it is very mature.
• vegetable broth.
• Light soups with white rice or pasta.

Other tips for a soft diet

It is not only important to know what we can eat, but also how we eat it.

• We want the stomach and digestive system to work as little as possible, so we must avoid heavy meals. It is better to eat a small amount, as many times as necessary, and chew calmly.
• The food should not be too cold or too hot; always better at room temperature or warm.
• If we have been prescribed a soft diet it will be because we have some digestive problem, probably gastroenteritis. In these cases, it is normal to eat much less than usual, but it is equally important to stay hydrated. Filtered juices, soft broths and water will help us do this.
• Furthermore, it is important eat consciouslyprioritizing those foods on the list that feel best to us.
• Although variety is one of the maxims for good health in nutrition, in this case we are looking for the opposite: focus only on foods that bring us calm and well-being.

Purees are your great allies so that these days you can consume vegetables. We cannot add margarine, creams or cheese to obtain a creamier texture. However, yes you can add cooked potato or rice.

Exactly like soups, which must be made from mild vegetable broths, without fat. Cooking the potato and rice with that broth, so that the starches remain in the soup, is highly recommended and digestive.

Although the soft diet It does not imply that all foods are softit is true that the majority tend to be. Don’t forget to chew well during the days that you have to follow this guideline. You can eat bread between meals, with a thin layer of avocado or margarine, or with homemade fruit compote, without sugar. Pasta is also a good option to chew, although we have to consume it without sauces or spices.

Weekly menu: 3 days of soft diet + 4 days of recovery

In the weekly menu that I propose to you on this occasion, we do not start on Monday, but on the day you should start your soft diet (day 1).

The days 1, 2 and 3 you will be strictly complying with a soft diet adapted to a vegan diet: We will base the proposals for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the foods allowed in a soft diet and we will dispense with prohibited foods. During these days we will be giving the digestive system a good rest.

In it fourth daywith the digestive system now more recovered, we would begin to introduce other foods or dishes and some raw vegetables, but little by littleto give the body time to adapt and also see how they feel to you.

Finally, we will add probiotic and prebiotic foods to improve intestinal health by taking care of the microbiota.

In the downloadable menu you will find a one-week soft diet guideline, but remember that the soft diet should not be followed without justified reason and that it should always be reviewed and authorized by a healthcare professional reference.