Purition for gastroparesis & GERD: Georgie’s review

Georgie is a chronic illness warrior and blogger on a mission to help those who are living with the chronic and often unpredictable gastrointestinal illness of gastroparesis.

Gastroparesis (also known as delayed gastric emptying) is a long-term and chronic digestive condition that affects the movement of the stomach muscles. As the stomach isn’t able to empty itself properly, food stays in the stomach for longer than it should. This leads to a range of chronic digestive symptoms including nausea, heartburn, severe bloating and abdominal pain.

For Georgie, the first step to recovery during a gastroparesis flare-up is a liquid diet—and that’s exactly where Purition comes in! Our wholefood shakes allow her to nourish her body with the abundance of goodness in real food, even though she’s not able to eat solids. Today, she shares her experience of gastroparesis with us, including how she uses Purition to support her flare-ups.

My gastroparesis story

For many years before my diagnosis, I had overwhelming nausea, lack of appetite and pain after eating a main meal. I also experienced bloating and heartburn.

I now take a range of medications that have in turn been lifesaving. However, they do also come with adverse effects and that’s where natural therapies have helped, alongside my daily prescribed medication from my specialists.

Low-fodmap & liquid diets

I’m having a difficult day, I stick with a liquid diet (such as broths, clear sweetened liquids and Purition). As symptoms ease, I can then eat a limited diet of low-residue, liquid or pureed food (this includes low-fibre, well-cooked, low-fat foods such as broths with the addition of rice, low-fibre crackers and so on). On good days, I can manage things well with the low-fodmap diet. I’m also very careful to sip water between meals, engage in light exercise (I love Yoga or gentle walks), practise mindfulness, sleep slightly upright and work on anything that can help to nourish my vagus nerve (closely related to Gastroparesis).

There isn’t an official Gastroparesis diet, however, there are a plethora of opinions and suggestions on food plans, foods that can help, and foods to avoid. However, there can be no doubt that many sufferers like myself can feel better for changing how and what they eat. One of my starting places was to visit a registered dietitian. This really helped me understand the different phases of a Gastroparesis diet and how I can maintain my weight as best as possible. As of 2020, I follow a low fodmap diet and that has helped immensely. 

Using Purition for gastroparesis

During a Gastroparesis flare-up, I go to my emergency liquid diet plan, which includes broths, smoothies or clear sweetened liquids. I’m a huge fan of vegan or dairy-free protein drinks. Unfortunately, they are not as easy to come by as you might think!

So many protein drinks and meal replacements are laden with artificial ingredients and sugar and I have really struggled to find something to match the abundance of goodness from the food I’d normally enjoy eating outside of a flare.

That’s where Purition comes in! Finding Purition has been great because each sachet is a balanced blend of protein, fibre, healthy fats from real food that provides health and fitness essentials, including naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals. This is all ideal during a Gastroparesis flare.

I’m a huge fan of the flavour ranges in particular. They are so stunning, creative and enticing! There’s something for everyone. In addition, these meal replacements make me feel like I’m ‘playing’ in the kitchen, but nothing as mentally and emotionally trying as cooking.

Tips for dealing with flare-ups

It’s so vital to seek support for your individual needs. I find a very simple question to ask myself is: What brings contentment, peace, and beauty to my soul whilst I manage this? From my own experience of battling with both chronic health and mental illness, an examination of the best tools and resources to experiment with takes an immense amount of compassion, grace and patience.

For some people, having a bath with salts and oils might help them become grounded and alleviate some pain for a while. For others, it might be medication and going to see a therapist every week. Remember that nobody knows your mental health or illness better than you do. It’s important that you do things that feel like they’ll truly benefit you, not just because other people do them.

And whatever methods you use to soothe yourself, be patient with yourself. It took me many years into my Gastroparesis diagnosis to find anything to help me. And truly, the search never ends but I understand my body and mind much more now!

Thank you to Purition for introducing me to your brand. I hope that this blog can reach someone who is vegan or dairy-free and searching for ways to help them during a Gastroparesis flare!

If you’d like to learn more about gastroparesis, check out Georgie’s blogs:

• What is gastroparesis?
• Natural therapies for gastroparesis
• Purition review