Am I nuts to eat nuts?

JamesEcuador · Post by **JamesEcuador** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:49 am

My Enterolab results came out as negative on all nuts so since I returned to the UK in June I've added Cashews into my diet as a snack between breakfast and lunch. For the last two months I've had superb, smile inducing norman-style BMs, on average 2 times a day. I'm sure the fibre in the nuts are helping me in terms of BMs and for the first time in a long time I feel cleaned out most of the day and have no problems with D or C.

The only issue is that in all of my BMs I notice quite a lot of white flakes which I presume are a sign I am not properly digesting the nuts. I still suffer from chronic abdominal pain, nausea (especially in the mornings) and sometimes fatigue. Is it daft to keep eat something I'm not digesting in terms of reaching my goal of complete LC symptom remission even if they are regulating my BMs (always my number one goal) and making me happy? Can other people stomach cashews and other nuts? Thanks.

Blueberry · Post by **Blueberry** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 5:52 am

That has been a problem I've been dealing with for awhile. I could get the gut working well with bowel movements, but would suffer greatly with fatigue, aches and pains, and a litany of other health problems it seemed. Personally for me of late I've found another trigger food, pork and pork gelatin. Since avoiding pork I've found my energy levels have gone through the roof of late. Still aways to go with healing, but it's nice to not always feel run over all the time.

I actually have felt the good energy comes, in part, from eating cashew nuts. I've thought it might be the mineral content in cashews helping, but don't know.

In the past I used to notice the white undigested flakes from nuts, and other foods also. What I found got rid of that, for me, was drinking a little EZ or Willards water. The white flakes are gone, and everything looks much better digested now. If interested in more information about EZ water I can post some information later. There was a news article done on Willards water, by a famous group in America called 60 Minutes. That can be viewed by googling.

JamesEcuador · Post by **JamesEcuador** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:54 am

Thanks Blueberry for your input. I have the same dilemma with cashews as I also know they are giving me an energy boost that I need to get through my working day and I don't know what I can replace them with. Coffee also helps me to get motivated but I try and limit myself to two cups otherwise it intensifies my ab pains. It's frustrating that I have "sorted out" my BMs but I can't shake off the other symptoms. Having said, I realise how lucky I am to not have D or C considering they seem to be devastating symptoms for most MC sufferers.

I'd never heard of EZ or Willard's Water before so I will research into it. Please do keep in the loop with other links about them, thanks.

Chemgirl · Post by **Chemgirl** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:00 am

Have you tried nut butters? I'm not talking about Skippy's peanut butter or something full of sugar and chemicals, but something more natural like almond butter. I have been buying one at Costco and the only ingredient is almonds.

It gives me an energy boost and I seem to be digesting it. Although I guess it would be hard to tell given it's appearance.

JamesEcuador · Post by **JamesEcuador** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:09 am

I'll check it out thanks. I've only just returned from the UK after living in Ecuador for many years and I'm still inexperienced with what's out there for people on limited diets (in comparison to Ecuador which had little)

What do you eat the almond butter with? So far I'm snacking on GF bread and crackers and both can be pretty boring after a while

Blueberry · Post by **Blueberry** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:55 am

I learned about Willards water helping with digested waste material after reading this older book:

http://www.amazon.com/Aqua-Vitae-Breakt ... B000O0YAYI

When I read that thought I would give Willards Water a try. It was true. I was still tired and worn though. The water did not improve my energy levels. Digestion appeared much better and healthier though. The undigested material that I used to see is gone.

EZ water is a term Professor Gerald Pollack came up with. Willard's water is a type of EZ water. I don't know if the other EZ waters have the same effect upon stools. I would guess they do, but can't say for sure. EZ water is easy to make, as Professor Pollack explains here:

"The Fourth Phase of Water - What You Don’t Know About Water, and Really Should"

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... water.aspx

Post by **tex** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:04 am

Hi James,

Those are all good suggestions. For a long time, I couldn't handle nuts (or even nut butters), they all gave me a bellyache. But now I seem to be able to tolerate them again. As Chemgirl suggested, you might also be able to find cashew butter in some health food stores.

Can you eat fruit? Before MC, one of my favorite snacks was peanut butter on crackers with an apple. After MC, almond butter (or peanut butter, if you can tolerate it) smeared onto a peeled apple makes a great snack. I love to smear gobs of nut butter onto the top end of a frozen banana that has been allowed to just barely begin to thaw for only a few minutes, to soften it slightly, before eating. That's my favorite snack these days. Obviously you need to peel the bananas before freezing them in ziploc bags. Similar snacks could probably be made by smearing nut butters onto various frozen berries that you are able to tolerate . . . or slices of frozen fruit.

Tex

Chemgirl · Post by **Chemgirl** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:46 am

Like Tex, I eat almond butter on apples or other fruit. I've never tried frozen banana before, I bet it's great!

I'm not a big bread or cracker eater, but I think almond butter would work well with either.

Sometimes I smear it on a baked sweet potato, but I'm strange.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:24 pm

Hi James,

Do you soak the nuts? This will make them softer and more digestible. Google soaking nuts and there is a lot of info on it.

I can eat unsoaked nuts but it is about quantity. I can eat 12 unsoaked smokehouse almonds but NOT THE WHOLE CAN.

Brandy

JamesEcuador · Post by **JamesEcuador** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:36 pm

Thanks Tex and Chemgirl. I've just got back from the supermarket with a jar of almond butter and can't wait to try it in the morning. They also had cashew butter so I will try that next. The frozen banana recipe sounds delicious and I don't think there is anything strange about a dash on a baked potato either...let's smash the system I say!

I haven't tried soaking the cashews but that sounds like a great idea, thanks Brandy

I think I can tolerate fruit. For breakfast I have papaya, kiwi, blueberries and banana with my (gluten free) cornflakes. I say "think" I can tolerate fruit because as long as I have this annoying abdominal pain that won't leave me alone I'm not too sure what I can and should handle in my diet. However, all things considered, I'm definitely improving post-Ecuador life so hopefully soon I will figure it out.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 5:37 pm

Great news that things are on the improve for you health wise now that you are out of Ecuador

hope your partner/wife is coping with the move to England

JamesEcuador · Post by **JamesEcuador** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:28 am

Thanks Gabes! The hardest part was jumping through the immigration hoops to get my wife to the UK - the previous 12 months leading up to the successful visa application had been very stressful for us and on my MC in particular. Unfortunately, governments don't think about how their draconian rules have an effect not just on relationships but also health. My wife is settling in OK now although finding a job will take time.

Now I'm back in the UK its great knowing I no longer have to worry about dirty water and parasites and its been quite exciting discovering new food options. I can also finally try out some of the recipes and suggestions I read about on here. In the last two months I've also put on 4 kgs in weight (after losing about 6kgs within the space of a year in Ecuador) so something is going right.

P.s almond butter is the shizzle...I very much enjoyed my first experience with morning tea.

Trigger2298 · Post by **Trigger2298** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 6:39 pm

I daily eat way to many nuts as once i start i can't stop and before I know it I have probably a easy 4-6oz of mixed pecans, walnuts, brazil and Macadamia nuts down. I do find I'll have a lot of inpropery digested pieces in my bm's - no other gi discomforts.