Success!!!! Because of The MC Discussion Board - Now what?

[Smiley]

I joined this board eight days ago, followed the advice to try BRAT, had one day of recovery, and I just finished seven days with only Pristine Poop - Nothing else!! I have had MC for four years and 99.99% of my BMs have been watery or loose, sometimes a dozen or more blasts per day. Here's how I did the BRAT:
Bananas - Ripe and sweet
Rice - Brown, whole grain
Applesauce - Raw, with skin, made in our Vitamix
Toast - Gluten-free delicious bread

There ain't nothing like banana sandwiches or rice with sliced bananas and apple juice! A typical day would be:
6 or 8 Bananas
5 cups of rice
12 apples (blended)
1 loaf of gluten-free bread

The total amount of fiber is around 100 grams. Blissful to the bowels. Okay cool, but,

I am a low-fat, high-fiber, vegan guy. Any ideas about WHERE TO GO NEXT?

[brandy]

Hi Smiley,

Great job!

Since brat with the GF toast is working well for you I would stick to the brat and very very slowly try new foods to add to the brat.
Generally trying 1 food over a three day period to see how you do is safest.

Cashew butter or almond butter (buy one with the least amount of ingredients, blended almonds or blended cashews only is best.

Overcooked squash (many types)

Overcooked (to mush) green beans

Avacado (some can't tolerate due to histamine)

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, rutabags, turnips

Canned pumpkin

Baked apples or baked pear (take skin off, touch of cinnamon)

Applesauce

Vegan--Fish if you an temporarily tolerate

The problem with legumes is the fiber. Fiber is very problematic for us early on. I would not test anything from the legume family for 3-6 months out. It is just that risky. After you are more solidly healed I find I do okay with the little beans: lentils, split peas and Goya has a canned Small white beans-Frijoles Blancos that I can tolerate.
The canned beans I find are more digestible. Soak the lentils and split peas to death, boil/over cook for a long time then blender the lentils and blender the split peas. When you test these essentially make the bean into a hummus.
Bean soaked to death, cooked to death, blendered to a cream, add a little water and/or a fat, salt and pepper,
test a couple of spoons. I can't tolerate the large kidney beans or large black beans. I think they have too much fiber.

Hopefully this gives you some vegan options. Avoid salads and any raw foods for now. Be slow to add new foods into the Brat diet.

Brandy

[brandy]

Hi Smiley,

I just read your other thread. A lot of problems with MC healing early on comes from raw foods. Avoid all raw foods. Avoid salads. Avoid fruits with peels. Avoid things like broccoli and cauliflower for now they make too much gas and are problematic for us. Overcook all veggies to mush.

I can eat salads now but it was two years before I could eat a tiny salad.

Nuts--avoid all raw nuts for now. These are way too difficult for us to digest. Maybe 6-9 months out you can soak nuts and try a soaked pecan or soaked walnut after it has soaked for 24 hours.

The four problematic food groups are gluten, dairy, soy and egg. Gluten and dairy are the big big ones to avoid
most likely forever. Almost all of us have problems with gluten and dairy. Soy and egg are more gray areas.
I think around 50% test that soy is problematic and around 25% of us test that eggs are problematic. Problematic food categories will prevent you from going into remission. Remission for me means no WD.

Protein is really important for healing.

In your case since you need protein I'd be inclined to test a hard boiled egg at some point down the road.

Avoid protein powders. Many act like laxatives as they have too many ingredients.

Sometimes it is about quantity. You might be okay with 2 or 3 hard boiled eggs a week but not okay with 2 eggs a day 7 days a week if that makes sense.

[Smiley]

Oh, my word, thank you, Brandy! You have given me many things to try. I'm starting to settle into the framework of "many months." Yay, I have knowledge of the path to healing!

One thing I am wondering about, you mentioned:

A lot of problems with MC healing early on comes from raw foods. Avoid all raw foods.

When I look at my BRAT approach I notice that for the last eight days of only healthy BMs, I have eaten one dozen raw apples with skins, and six or eight ripe bananas every day. If I start peeling and cooking my apples, and stop eating bananas could that compromise my progress?

[brandy]

Almost everyone can tolerate bananas, particularly those on the greener side (have less histamines).

Raw means: raw veggies, skins from fruits, unsoaked nuts, unsoaked seeds, salads, green salads, un cooked kale salads etc

Raw foods are physically tough for us to digest early on.

You seem to be okay with bananas and one apple skin a day so go for it.

Ultimately you need to listen to your body and go by what your body tells you.

I think the "tipping point" theory comes into play. Understand that I am in a long term remission. I'm okay eating
about 1/2 cup of chickpeas every other day. Eating 1-1/2 cup of chickpeas daily would cause me loose stools due to too much fiber.

Also, to give you some encouragement I'm okay with eating the things you were concerned about:
legumes (small qty), nuts, seeds, goat cheese (sm qty), salads etc but it was many years before I could eat some
of these items.

Keep us posted on how you do and best wishes.

[Smiley]

Keep us posted on how you do and best wishes.

Brandy, Thank you for your caring, giving, and suggestions. And thank you to all the others who do the same!

Raw means: raw veggies, skins from fruits, unsoaked nuts, unsoaked seeds, salads, green salads, un cooked kale salads etc

I shall refrain from veggies until a time down the road. (Below I have more info about my reactions to the fruit skins and unsoaked almonds.)

You seem to be okay with bananas and one apple skin a day so go for it.

My regrets, but I did not explain myself very well. Let me try again:
Everyday, for the last 14 days, on average, I've eaten the following:
6 ripe and sweet Bananas
4 cups of brown, 100% whole grain Rice
8 Raw, with skins, Apples, blended in our Vitamix
One loaf of gluten-free bread (toasted)

Three days ago (thank you for the suggestion, Brandy) I added almond butter (almonds only, unsoaked. About 3 tbsp a day.) Two days ago I added steamed potatoes. (Thank you again, Brandy.)

Because of joining this forum, I started BRAT 14 days ago. And Everyday since then I have consumed over 120 grams of fiber. I am relying on the nutrients that exist in the whole food to heal my injured GI tract, and it is working.

And in the last 13 days, I have had only firm BMs, except for 2 semi-loose ones immediately after I added celery juice and lemon water. But I recovered a few hours later.

Oh, so many thanks to all of you. This forum has brought me two weeks of RELIEF that I have not had in four years of misery.

[brandy]

Whoops, Forgot to say avoid citrus: lemons, oranges, grapefruit etc for awhile.

[Smiley]

Whoops, Forgot to say avoid citrus: lemons, oranges, grapefruit etc for awhile.

Will do, thank you, Brandy!