Ok, need help with food.

[MulkeyJ]

Ok, I thought I had it under control for just a little while yesterday. I've been eating plain rice with a little bit of honey for breakfast. Had some very ripe banana for snack, broiled chicken and canned asparagus, and canned sweet potatoes day before yesterday. Then yesterday I was starving. Had the same breakfast, but put some sliced almonds in with it for the protein. Had some leftover chicken for lunch. Had chicken, and just lettuce salad, with homemade dressing of oil, vinegar, salt pepper and dijon mustard. Had sweet potates with it. Last night had one slice of Udi's bread, it's GF, DF, SF. Yesterday afternoon, had more banana. Last night had one glass of apple juice, 100%, no added sugar, not processed. This morning it started up again...as bad as it has been. Yesterday was great. One bm in the morning, that was it all day. It was not norman, but wasn't all water either. Now I'm back to where I was. I'm literally starving to death. Tonight I broke down and took two immodium, that was about three hours ago. So far absolutely no sign I took anything.

HELP...what can I eat? I'm SOOOO hungry.

[tex]

Your downfall was probably the lettuce. Lettuce is extremely irritating when our intestines are inflamed, and virtually none of us can tolerate any amount of lettuce until our intestines have healed. Also, we have to be careful to keep our fiber intake to a minimum.

Dee's Kitchen has several hundred gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free recipes, if you need additional recipe ideas.

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7

Also, the older threads in this forum, (toward the bottom of the page), have some good meal suggestions:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=53

Tex

[Linda in BC]

The almonds could also have contributed to the problem. Nuts can be very hard for some of us to digest. Perhaps it would be best to avoid them for a while and just stick with meat, fish or chicken for relatively safe protein sources.
Linda

[Gabes-Apg]

the 'trick' to adapting to MC flare diet is accepting repitiveness.

For years our minds have been trained to do meals that have variety of ingredients, presentation, fibre, varying tastes. This is evident by tv adverts, all the cooking programs, magazines, newspapers, chefs releasing books etc.

you have to retrain your brain, tastebuds that plain basic meals is best.

I agree with TEx and LInda - during flare salads, and nuts are not the ideal. If you can stick to gooey rice and well cooked chicken, fish for a few meals you will notice a difference. and it takes a couple of days, there is no quick cure.

hope you feel better soon

[harma]

sometimes it can very difficult to figure out which food is causing the problem. I had have days that there was really nothing that could be wrong and still had a rumbling belly. Breaking my head about and almost being desperate in the evening I realized I didn't take my medication. I have the impression reading the messages here (and my own experience) only a very simple very plain diet seems to work in from the beginning until the gut has healed (which can take up to 1 - 2 years). Not only gluten, soy, dairy and sometimes egg and yeast free. It is also a battle of trial and error to find outwhich other food and ingredients can cause you problems. In this almost nobody is the same (what makes it more difficult to make general guidelines). Even with my medication (budenofalk another version of entocort) I have had mild flare ups in the last 9 months (the time I am on the diet).

Also I have discovered that is sometimes also makes a difference when and in which combination you eat the food. I eat one piece of fruit in the morning, but I have to combine it with rice. Don't ask my why, it just makes a huge difference. Melon with breakfast was a bad idea but in late afternoon was (in the beginning) fine.

The trick is to figure out for yourself which food regime works for you and than the most difficult part stick to it. I really got much better when I stopped experimenting with food, like trying to make my food more tasteful with herbs and spices (wrong idea, by the way I saw you use mustard, that also gives my problems), trying out more kind of fruits and veggies. My appetizer to make my food "yummy" is good old applesauce (and other types of fruit compotes)

So as you see it is quite normal you have these problems with figuring out, in what out on earth what you could eat and what not.

For the hunger, I agree with gabes, why don't add more rice to your food (and use withe rice not the whole grain one), and some more banana's. What I ate a lot before I was diagnosed was millet with a banana cut in pieces. Millet is gluten free (as far as I know, but please check it). It filled up my stomach for a couple of hours. The taste is not that great, so maybe as some apple sauce...

Use during one day not to many ingredients, that makes it much easier to detect what is causing the problem.

also please check your bread. After I started eating gluten free, I bought all kind of gluten free stuff. I had never so much stomach after eating that stuff. My idea is that is was due to the corn flower in all those gluten free things. There are more here that have problems with corn. Try to find things with only rice flower (difficult to find).

also nuts are still a bit NO for me (including almond milk)

[MulkeyJ]

I can eat pretty simple, I'm just really worried about vitamin and mineral content. I don't think I will be getting what my body needs, and after having had cancer and chemo, and dealing already with lupus and fibro, the vitamin thing really bothers me. I looked and can't take the multi I was taking, guess what? It has wheat and milk. My toothpaste is Tom's and it's been posted here that it has one or the other. The Lomotil? Dairy.

So, how do I get the vitamins and minerals my body needs to survive?

I've eaten pretty simple today, but did add a little pumpkin pie spice to my sweet potatoes tonight (an idea from Dee, or Polly, I can't remember where I read that).

I'm absolutely craving milk. Before this, I drank two to three glasses of milk a day. And I almost can't stand not having any at all. I can almost taste it... :(

Thanks for all the posts, I'll leave the lettuce alone for a while. Had to take immodium today and made sure it's the Immodium and not a generic, AD and all.

[Gloria]

Many of us take Freeda vitamins at www.freedavitamins.com suggested by Polly, because they are free of most or all of our intolerances. They presently have a sale on their B vitamins. Their vitamins are also available at other websites. I recently ordered calcium tablets from www.Koshervitamins.com and they arrived in a couple of days.

I understand your concern about getting adequate nutrition. I'm unable to eat any fruit, dairy and most vegetables, but I make sure I eat meat at least twice a day and a vegetable every day. I take calcium supplements at every meal, a multiple vitamin and a probiotic each morning. My last blood work, done in June showed that I was fine in every category tested except potassium, which was slightly below normal.

Getting enough calories is another matter. You'll need to eat starchy vegetables and as mentioned, rice. Try to eat only soft and well-cooked foods. I am trying to increase my calorie intake and am recording how many calories I'm consuming each meal. I used to count them when I dieted, but now it's for the opposite reason.

I was a three-glass-a-day milk consumer also. I had yogurt for lunch every day. It is difficult to change from being a dairy consumer to going without. I have made my own rice milk and am presently making almond milk. They are both cheaper than store brands, but don't have the added vitamins. You will eventually adjust to the difference in taste. Homemade almond milk is quite creamy and tasty, but some here have had problems with the store brands.

Good luck and keep us posted. Your well-being is important to us.

Gloria

[Gabes-Apg]

I look at it that

first priority - digestion working well (ie minimal occurance of flares)
second priority - nutrients from foods topped up with required nutrients in the best delivery medium (sub-lingual, IV or via digestion if no intolerance issues)

If the digestion is not working properly, then you are not absorbing any nutrients at all from anything you eat.

[tex]

Another option for milk is hempmilk, and it has a much better nutrient content than cow's milk. It tastes a bit different than cow's milk, but after you use it for a while, you will probably find that you like the flavor better than cow's milk - I did. Some of us get some bloating from it, though, for some reason or other. The downside is that it's more expensive than cow's milk, but it's richer in nutrients.

Another possibility to try is coconut milk. It's pretty rich stuff, though - lots of calories.

As long as you are still reacting, a balanced diet is impossible, because you are malabsorbing nutrients. Once you get the D under control, and your gut starts to heal, then you will be able to start managing your nutrient intake much more effectively. Until then, most of the nutrients are going down the toilet, anyway, no matter what you eat.

Tex

[Gloria]

If the digestion is not working properly, then you are not absorbing any nutrients at all from anything you eat.

As long as you are still reacting, a balanced diet is impossible, because you are malabsorbing nutrients. Once you get the D under control, and your gut starts to heal, then you will be able to start managing your nutrient intake much more effectively. Until then, most of the nutrients are going down the toilet, anyway, no matter what you eat.

I was under the impression that if we have malabsorption issues, ie., the small intestine villi are damaged, then we will not be absorbing nutrients. But if we don't have malabsorption issues, the small intestine is doing it's job and is extracting nutrients from the food we're eating.

My GI said that the function of the small intestine is to absorb nutrients and the function of the large intestine is to extract the fluid or water from the solid waste that is left. When the large intestine isn't working properly, we can have D, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the small intestine isn't absorbing nutrients.

FWIW, neither Polly nor I had malabsorption according to Enterolab's test results. Hospital testing also showed that food was passing through my small intestine at a normal rate.

Gloria

[Bifcus16]

You are right, a limited diet will not provide all your bodies needs. But if you can put up with that for a short while, you should soon be able to start increasing the variety and hence resolve that issue. And the diet you describe is probably better than many people's junk food diets!

Vitamins and mineral intake will improve as your gut improves. Read labels and find a supplement by all means, but try not to get stressed about it.

Stick to the simple foods - the chicken, rice, sweet potato. But don't limit your quantities. If you want to eat a big dish every hour, then do that. The chicken will provide lots of vitamins and minerals and the protein is great for slowing down hunger. I also ate lots of eggs during the bad patches for the protein.

Have a think about the milk craving. Could it be your body is crying out for fluid, and you need to drink more water? Is it something to do with psychology of when you drank the milk that you are missing -eg, had a big drink as a break from work, and you are associating the feeling (eg relaxation) with the activity (ie drink milk).

Rice milk may be the best alternative - you can make your own or buy it. Sadly the brands I can get are different to the ones where you are. I have one here that is downright yummy.

Cheers,
Lyn

[tex]

But if we don't have malabsorption issues, the small intestine is doing it's job and is extracting nutrients from the food we're eating.

With MC, the D originates in the small Intestine, (IMO), because research shows that if the fecal stream is diverted from the colon, (as with an ileostomy), then the histology of the colon will promptly return to normal. Therefore, it is clear than agents that cause the D, are already in place, before the fecal stream reaches the colon. IOW, if those agents were not present, the colon would probably work normally.

Your GI's explanation missed a vital point, by the way - the colon also recovers electrolytes from the fecal stream, along with the water, and those electrolytes are vital for good health. With secretory D, the fecal stream already contains a high level of electrolytes before it reaches the colon, (especially sodium), and the colon infuses additional electrolytes, (and water), to compound the problem. That's why the volume of secretory D is so much larger than osmotic, (ordinary), D, and it's why MCers are so vulnerable to dehydration.

The Enterolab test doesn't actually test the absorption of anything - it tests fat content of the stool, (which is directly dependent on fat intake), and this is assumed to be a representative way to measure fat absorption. It assumes that if fat is being absorbed normally, then most nutrients are being absorbed normally. However, not all nutrients are fat souble, and if the patient being tested does not eat a sufficient amount of fat, prior to taking the stool sample, then a false negative result is the likely outcome. The only way to get an accurate test result, is to eat a "normal" amount of fat, prior to taking the sample. This refers to a "normal" amount of fat for a "normal" individual in the general population, (not necessarily a normal amount of fat for someone who is suffering from MC, because someone with MC is very likely to reduce their fat intake, in order to minimize their symptoms).

IMO, it's very unlikely that someone might have chronic D, and not have at least some degree of malabsorption. If it were true that MC only affects the colon, (as per the description of the disease), then malabsorption would not be a common problem. Unfortunately, I'll bet that precious few of us could produce small intestinal biopsies, when we're reacting, that would test negative to increased lymphocytic infiltration. Increased lymphocytic infiltration in the small intestine, means that the small intestine is inflamed, also, and that's why the D originates there. At least that's how I see it.

Tex

[harma]

I found my gf,df, sf, yf, eg, cf multi vitamin by simple going to every shop in town that sells them and check the labels. After five or six shops I finally found one. The same for vitamin D/calcium tablets. And not very expensive. If you can't find some in the regular shops, health shops might sell some. And if that doesn't work out, check the internet. I found several intolerance free multi vitamins (and I only have checked dutch pages).

The solution is quite simple, if you can't take your old brand anymore, find a new one.

[Linda in BC]

Harma, thanks for mentioning that almond milk gives you trouble. I am still trying to figure out why I am reacting all the time. despite being GF, Df, Corn free and dairy free... I switched to almond milk from Soy thinking it would be fine for me. I never thought that this might be causing me problems. I will have to check it out! sigh! I really like the almond milk and do consume a fair bit each day!
Linda

[MulkeyJ]

I give up. I was down to rice, chicken, and chicken broth. I was still taking four to five Immodium a day and feeling absolutely lousy from the Immodium. I've lost 16 pounds in three weeks. I'm exhausted. If I'm going to have the big D, at least I'm going to try to get some nutrients down.

I'm glad this has worked for all of you, but quite frankly, it has only made my D worse and worse and worse, to the point that I'm ready to quit life completely . I can't live like this. I can't find anything I can eat. I am in pain, I am sick to my stomach, I am exhausted.

I can't do this.