Does Cabbage Cause Pancreas Pain or Acute Pancreatitis?

Read ALL of this post because cabbage is as likely to cause pancreatitis pain or pancreas pain as you are of winning the lotto tonight or this week. Cabbage and other vegetables are NOT your enemy - they are your friend!! But ...

I can not say the same for pancreatitis support groups. 

I can not recommend support groups because most are comprised of sick people who do not learn and give off way to much BAD information and here is a VERY recent prime example:

Poster: "I have had CP for four years and only been in the hospital once but last night I thought I was on my way to ER. Has anyone had a problem with eating a cucumber or cabbage? I had both last night and was able to stay home with my pain meds but still not feeling too good. Just liquid and crackers for a few days."

Answer #1 "i eat cucumber every day and it does nothing-its one of my 'safe' foods but i gave up cabbage ages ago............... after an attack"

Answer # 2 "Haven't eaten cabbage, but do okay with cucumber. Hope you feel better soon :)"

Poster: "Thanks, guess I will skip the cabbage."

Now I can guarantee you cabbage is not the problem. Why would cucumber (a vegetable) cause ZERO problems while cabbage (also a vegetable FULL of antioxidants) does?

Does that make sense?

I am tired of wasting my time with people who enjoy being sick. That is why I have decided not to waste my time in support groups. I have told these same people and provided EVIDENCE to back up what I say yet they do NOT listen. So why waste the time? But ...

What really concerns me is that people who may want to learn how to heal join these support groups that are full of erroneous information and they get led by people who have not taken the time to do their due diligence and learn what is really the problem. Now ...

Could cabbage cause a problem?

ANYTHING is possible but I really doubt it. Cabbage causes gas in some people, just like broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables but farting is far cry from pancreas pain or an episode of acute pancreatitis isn't it?

So what may be the culprit?

First you need to know what the person ate WITH the cabbage. For example did she:

1) Have corned beef and cabbage? If so it was the corned beef causing the problem not the cabbage.

2) Put the cabbage in a salad such as cole slaw or top it with some sort of oily dressing? If so, then it was the mayo or oil that caused the problem.

3) If the poster would have said I ate the cabbage and cucumber raw with NOTHING else my next question would be what did you eat yesterday and the day before? I would ask this because ...


Raw or boiled cabbage (by itself) is as likely to be the cause of the posters complaint as you or I are of winning the lotto this week.

I eat TONS of cabbage. But ...

I NEVER eat it with beef or oily dressing. In fact I usually eat it raw or only cook it in some manner that does not require oil or animal fat (no oil, no fat, no grease, no pam spray, nothing) and top it with only spices like salt, pepper, garlic and sometimes cayenne pepper for some kick. Cabbage by itself has NEVER made me sick but I can tell you that BEEF and cabbage or cole slaw or something similar may make me VERY sick. But hell don't take my word for it because I am adding some vegetable research to back up what I say. So ...

Be sure to have corned beef and cabbage or cole slaw or some salad with cabbage smothered in an oily dressing tomorrow or this weekend, get sick and then ...

Blame the cabbage!

Vegetable research

Vegetables Help Stop Acute Pancreatitis

The medical community is finally catching up to things I have known for YEARS! They have finally figured out that vegetables are good for helping to control, even stop acute pancreatitis. They don't know why which doesn't surprise me but at least they have found out as you can read in a new study published in original form in the journal Gut on June 28, the link above is simply to an article about the study.

In 2009 they discovered antioxidants (15 years later than me) help pancreatitis pain, yet I know certain antioxidants go even farther by helping to actually stop acute pancreatitis attacks and heal pancreas damage. Grape seed, curcumin and vit C

Vegetables and or a vegan type diet is essential for healing your pancreas. I've been telling people for the last year or so to change from their normal fat filled, meat filled diets to vegetables. Especially during the first 6 months to a year after an acute pancreatitis attack. Then once the pancreas is healed you can add anti-inflammatory FISH (cold water, oily fish such as WILD salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, trout, cod, halibut, bass) along with some skinless poultry.

Why you need to do a food diary

Pancreatitis diet

Why My Pancreatitis Diet Is So Important

This is a short post cuz I really don't have anything else to say. If you have questions be sure to ask them because they may give me an idea for another blog post. If I know the answer I'll tell you and usually point you to science that will back me up. If I don't know the answer I'll tell you that too and most likely find one by doing some research.

Have a pain free day!

Pancreatitis Blog Comments

I really enjoy receiving quality comments and questions on this blog about living with and Beating Pancreatitis. If you have questions or comments regarding your acute and/or chronic pancreatitis please feel free to share. Your experience with acute or chronic pancreatitis may help someone else or you may give me a good pancreatitis subject to write about :-)

NEVER lose hope!

Always remember this: IF you believe you can be healed, you can be healed. God Almighty is still in the healing business. He may heal you completely and He may not heal you but if He chooses to not heal you like when Paul asked Him to remove the thorn (2 Corinthians 12:8-10) He'll give you grace to see you through.

I have a comment below I am going to answer here in a post because if I'd have published it in the regular manner my reader's email address would have been available for anyone who might want to spam her. Please comment, ask questions but don't put personal info (email, phone, etc.) in your comments or questions. And asking questions or making comments is NEVER a "bother" to me. So do NOT feel that way at all. If I can help you feel better, lessen your pain maybe even help you heal your damaged pancreas from chronic or acute pancreatitis, via any of my personal experience, I am more than happy to do so.

Ok, let's get to the comment.

"Hi. My name's Julie and I left a comment a couple or few weeks ago including my email address and you responded via my email address. My email is so full of junk that I thought I'd ask you a question this way instead of searching for that email. I was wondering if you ever recommend any certain nuts/seeds. I love sesame sticks and was eating them but not sure if they were affecting me or not. I love nuts but know they have fat and not sure what I should try if I put some in a rice recipe. And then I saw a recipe including sunflower seeds. I also wonder if the instant oatmeal packets are ok. I was eating a lot of the cinnamon oatmeal and didn't know if that was affecting me. I guess I'm just so afraid to get sick again and was wondering if you had any insight on any of this. I know I need to add one thing at a time and then wait 48 hours. I did that lastnight with turkey breast. So far so good. I'm new at this and sorry if I'm bothering you. I really really appreciate all you've posted and wish you had a book with all the info in it. I'm planning on printing a lot of your articles and keeping them in a notebook to make things easier. Thank you so much for whatever you can tell me. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks again :)"

My answer:

Hi Julie ...

From the sounds of things you are feeling better - that is great! I hope the New Year is kind to you and your pancreatitis symptoms remain a memory.

Just as you already know and mentioned seeds such as sunflower and nuts all contain natural oils and fat. You may or may not be able to tolerate the fat content. If you have been well for 6 months (no pancreatitis symptoms) and want to try eating some seeds and nuts I would suggest going with SMALL amounts. You may want to hold off using nuts and sunflower seeds in cooking and simply try some alone first and see how they work for you.

Instant oatmeal shouldn't be a problem. If you eat it plain. If you eat it with milk or worse, cream, you may have problems due to fat from the milk or cream.

The 48 hour thing is for fruits, vegetables and other non animal or non dairy products. Any type of animal or dairy product should be given a weeks surveillance, even 10 days to see what the affects are going to be because it takes upto 2 weeks to digest animal type proteins. And for some reason many foods that trigger instant pancreatitis pain and symptoms one day will maybe take a week to do the same next time or visa-versa.

In ALL cases of MY pain and nausea, the culprits are ALWAYS foods that contain FAT or ALCOHOL. I made myself sick one time eating oatmeal and that is how I found out that vanilla extract just doesn't work. I used to add vanilla into my oatmeal for flavor, I don't do that anymore.

If you like chocolate be advised that most chocolate manufacturers use VANILLA. Chocolate also contains FAT. It may be a source of unwanted pain so tread lightly.

If anyone has some questions that need answers be sure to ask me.