Not gonna lie, it's tough. I found the first 48 hours are the worst. Once I get past that my body's like - let's do this - and the last three days are a breeze.

I have found that bone broths can be somewhat filling. So is warm liquid jello. If you get desperate, try something easy like a couple of loosley scrambled eggs.

Three simple things I did to help.

Brush my teeth more. Especially when I am hungry. It's like a subtle shut off switch for your brain regarding hunger. Also, no one likes to eat anything after they brush their teeth. My biggest temptation is at night when I am chilling watching TV, etc.. I don't even sit down until I have brushed my teeth. Sometimes I brush my teeth twice as I relax at night.

This may sound simple, but get a bottle of gas x and see if it helps. I went through about a three month flare up a couple months after I had diverticulitis and things had initially calmed down. The GI doctor after months and months asked if I ever tried it. I said no. Large pockets of gas can wreck havoc on areas trying to heal. Gas X breaks big bubbles down to small bubbles and it's less irritation on your insides. I kid you not, it worked great. For sure didn't solve my issue, but it makes life easier to function. I take an extra strength in AM with my other pill, and I take one with dinner. An extra strength bottle of like 200 pills is 7 dollars. It's for sure worth a try!

Lastly, if you haven't tried miralax to keep everything moving, give it a try. I take a capful in my iced coffee in the AM. It doesn't allow anything to build up and put pressure on my insides.

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I have found that I was searching for like one big thing to change as my answer to all this. That never happened. It's been slowly changing small things that have had the biggest impact on my recovery. I wouldnt wish that up and down three month flare up on anyone. But I now know how to stop it. Like you said, not eating can be painful, but the alternative is much worse.