A person with Interstitial Cystitis can include the following foods in their diet: Fruits like avocados, bananas, blueberries, melons, pears, apricots, dates, prunes, and raisins. Also, you can include vegetables like asparagus, celery, bell pepper, broccoli, beets, eggplant, peas, mushrooms, and spinach. Just remember that each person is different. Even foods on the safe list can still bother you.
Keep a food diary to determine what foods are tolerable to you specifically. On the other hand, there may be foods on the “do not eat list” that might work for you. For example, I can eat tomatoes with no problem. Good luck and stay strong!
Foods and Beverages that are MOST and LEAST bothersome to people with Interstitial Cystitis listed below.
| Foods/beverages identified as most bothersome to patients with IC/BPS | Foods/beverages identified as least bothersome for patients with IC/BPS |
|---|---|
| Coffee (caffeinated and decaffeinated) | Water |
| Tea (caffeinated) | Milk (low fat and whole) |
| Cola carbonated beverage | Bananas |
| Non-cola carbonated beverage | Blueberries |
| Diet carbonated beverage | Honeydew melon |
| Caffeine-free carbonated beverage | Pears |
| Beer | Raisins |
| Red Wine | Watermelon |
| White Wine | Broccoli |
| Champagne | Brussels Sprouts |
| Grapefruit | Cabbage |
| Lemon | Carrots |
| Orange | Cauliflower |
| Pineapple | Celery |
| Cranberry juice | Cucumber |
| Grapefruit juice | Mushrooms |
| Orange juice | Peas |
| Pineapple juice | Radishes |
| Tomato and tomato products | Squash |
| Hot peppers | Zucchini |
| Spicy food | White potatoes |
| Chili | Sweet potatoes/yams |
| Horseradish | Chicken |
| Vinegar | Eggs |
| Monosodium glutamate | Turkey |
| NutraSweet | Beef |
| Sweet’N Low | Lamb |
| Equal Sugar Substitute | Shrimp |
| Saccharin | Tuna fish |
| Mexican food | Salmon |
| Thai food | Oat |
| Indian food | Rice |
| Pretzels | |
| Popcorn |
Keep in mind that each person’s food sensitivities are different, so you have to do some investigating to see what your list looks like. This table is a guide.
SOURCES
Table 1. Foods/beverage dietary recommendations. From Gordon B, Shorter B, Sarcona A, Moldwin RM. Nutritional considerations for patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome. J Acad Nutr Diet 2015, Sep;115(9):1372-9.
ScienceDirect.com
TREATING INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS 