You'll need to eat easily digestible foods if you've recently had digestive tract surgery, are undergoing certain cancer treatments or have a digestive disorder like Crohn's disease. On this type of diet, you should limit your fat and keep daily fiber at 10 to 15 grams. Low-fiber, low-fat foods like tuna are your best options, but potatoes and oats can be included if they fit certain guidelines. All whole-wheat products are harder to digest and should be avoided.
Pick Tuna First
Tuna fish does not contain fiber or the tough, gristly portions found in some cuts of meat or poultry, but can prove more difficult than whole wheat, potatoes and oats for some individuals to digest. Tuna also leaves you feeling more "full" due to the satiety effects of protein.
Choose tuna canned in water, not oil, and use it in recipes that call for little added fat, such as a tuna salad made with reduced-fat mayonnaise. A high intake of fatty foods can increase your stool bulk, demanding more activity from your intestines and possibly increasing digestion time. Pregnant and nursing women and women planning to become pregnant should limit their intake of fish like tuna to 12 ounces per week to avoid excess mercury.
Prepare Potatoes Carefully
Potatoes are easy to digest as long as they are cooked until soft with the peel removed. A medium-sized potato cooked with its skin intact contains almost 4 grams of fiber, while the same potato peeled before cooking has about 2 grams. Boil, bake or microwave your potatoes and serve them with minimal fat. When adding milk to mashed potatoes, choose low- or nonfat milk and use only a small amount. Individuals trying to limit their digestive activity should have no more than 2 cups of dairy products daily.
Choose Certain Types of Oats
As a whole grain, oats contain 4 grams of fiber in every cooked cup. Regular oats should not be included in a low-fiber meal plan designed for people who need food that's easy to digest. This means no regular oatmeal, granola or baked goods containing whole oats. You can, however, eat well-cooked oatmeal that's been pressed through a strainer. You can also eat oat-based breakfast cereals that contain fewer than 0.5 gram of fiber in a single serving.
Steer Clear of Whole-Wheat
The high fiber content of whole-wheat products makes them hard to digest. A 1/2-cup serving of cooked whole-wheat spaghetti contains 2.7 grams of fiber, and medium-grain brown rice has 3.5 grams per cup. Enriched products made from refined grains are an easy-to-digest option. White rice and regular pasta contain less than 2 grams of fiber in each cooked cup.
- UPMC: Low-Residue/Low-Fiber Diet
- American Heart Association: Fish 101
- USDA National Nutrient Database: Cereals, Oats, Regular and Quick, Unenriched, Cooked With Water (Includes Boiling and Microwaving), Without Salt
- Harvard University Health Services: Fiber Content of Foods in Common Portions
- USDA National Nutrient Database: Rice, Brown, Medium-Grain, Cooked
- New York University Langone Medical Center: Low-Fiber/Low-Residue Diet
- MedlinePlus: Low-Residue Fiber Diet
- University of Virginia Digestive Health Center: Low Residue/Low Fiber Diet
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Is Potato Skin the Most Nutritious Part of Potatoes?
- USDA National Nutrient Database: Potatoes, Baked, Flesh, Without Salt
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