My Reservations About The Diet (please comment!)
#162629 - 03/21/05 09:38 AM
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I am posting this in the hopes that you all will have answers to some of the questions this diet raises for me. I'm about to raise several issues here and perhaps they'd be better as separate threads, but...
I have severe (on disability, sleep a few hours a night b/c of pain, etc.) IBS-C, with intense pain and cramping and ridiculous amounts of gas/bloating. This all started after a severe episode of amoebic dysentary and parasites while I was living in Asia six years ago. Also now dealing with CFIDS and FMS.
1. Processed foods: everything I know about nutrition (which is a fair amount) tells me that the more processed a food is, the more unhealthy it is. Several of the foods (including "staples" like bread, crackers, etc.) are highly processed (and could make my CFIDS and FMS much worse). Sugar is beyond debate in terms of its health destroying properties. How do you all reconcile this?
2. Protein: my doc wants me on 80+ grams of protein/day to increase energy (I'm male, active, 170 lbs.) I'm allergic (ELISA test) to soy and egg whites, and can't tolerate beans/legumes at all. Too much fish/chicken triggers me. I'd like to do protein shakes but wonder what options I have that have no whey or soy.
3. Constipation vs. pain/spasm/gas: eating a lot of bread, rice and SF foods reduces pain/spasms/gas but makes me MORE constipated. Eating cooked veggies, oils, etc. improves BMs but triggers pain/spasms/gas. Has anyone else had the same experience? What have you done about it?
4. Vitamins/minerals/nutrition: My gut is so sensitive right now that I can't tolerate any fruits and vegetables except sweet potatoes, bananas, papayas. I'm concerned I'm not getting the health benefits of eating fruits and veggies. What about "green foods" powders/supplements? Any other solutions?
Thanks for your help. I really want my life back.
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I'll comment the best I can, but I don't know what CFIDS and FMS are, so forgive me if I give any advice that's out of line.
1. I don't have a good answer for this one. Personally, I don't reconcile anything - I eat what makes my gut feel good, and I really don't give a flying fig about what experts, etc say is "good nutrition". Then again, I don't eat nothing but white-flour products, and I don't have an overly sugary diet. I do choose white rice over brown, because I prefer the taste of it. But I do try to incorporate some more "whole" grains where I can, which is what I suggest if you have issues with the "processed" stuff. Once you start adding insolubles back into your diet, you can try whole wheat bread again - some people here can eat it just fine. Oatmeal, barley, and quinoa are all solubles, and are less processed than white flour. As for sugar, you can avoid that too - there are many people on here who don't consume sugar. (But I'll take issue with sugar's "health-destroying properties", as I've watched my great-grandparents live into their late 90's eating plenty of the stuff.)
2. I've seen rice protein powders in the health food store. I'm not sure how they compare in grams per serving, but that would certainly be an option.
3. I haven't had that experience, so I'll skip this one.
4. I'd say give the supplements a try. If you can tolerate them, keep using them! Many of us do supplement our diets with vitamins or vitamin-containing foods like Luna bars and SpiruTein shakes (both of which do have soy, so they wouldn't be an option for you, but that's just an example). And hang in there... as your gut settles down, you'll be able to digest more and more foods again, and as long as you eat them safely (with plenty of soluble fiber), you'll enjoy a wide range of vegetables again.
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Quote:
I am posting this in the hopes that you all will have answers to some of the questions this diet raises for me. I'm about to raise several issues here and perhaps they'd be better as separate threads, but...
I have severe (on disability, sleep a few hours a night b/c of pain, etc.) IBS-C, with intense pain and cramping and ridiculous amounts of gas/bloating. This all started after a severe episode of amoebic dysentary and parasites while I was living in Asia six years ago. Also now dealing with CFIDS and FMS.
1. Processed foods: everything I know about nutrition (which is a fair amount) tells me that the more processed a food is, the more unhealthy it is. Several of the foods (including "staples" like bread, crackers, etc.) are highly processed (and could make my CFIDS and FMS much worse). Sugar is beyond debate in terms of its health destroying properties. How do you all reconcile this?
Heather recommends breads to be as unprocessed as possible, if you can get bread at a bakery made with good natural flour. I eat a lot of french style bakery bread. A person can always bake and cook their own food, even pasta. Sugar, I don't think sugar destroys your health at all- teeth maybe. Try natural honey etc. No one says you have to eat sugar. In fact several people here do not for other health reasons.
2. Protein: my doc wants me on 80+ grams of protein/day to increase energy (I'm male, active, 170 lbs.) I'm allergic (ELISA test) to soy and egg whites, and can't tolerate beans/legumes at all. Too much fish/chicken triggers me. I'd like to do protein shakes but wonder what options I have that have no whey or soy. I don't know any specifically, I hope someone does. Otehrwise search around. Try to get stable and add back in proteins like chicken/fish as much as possible. Things you can't handle now might be fine later. Research what other foods have protein that you might not be thinking about.
3. Constipation vs. pain/spasm/gas: eating a lot of bread, rice and SF foods reduces pain/spasms/gas but makes me MORE constipated. Eating cooked veggies, oils, etc. improves BMs but triggers pain/spasms/gas. Has anyone else had the same experience? What have you done about it?
I think everyone has this to some extent. There is a balance needed because insolubles and other things are harder to digest and cause cramping (and that is why Heather's diet works) and solubles that are starchy sometimes cause C so you have to find the balance with throwing in good insolubles. Also a SFS is essential!
4. Vitamins/minerals/nutrition: My gut is so sensitive right now that I can't tolerate any fruits and vegetables except sweet potatoes, bananas, papayas. I'm concerned I'm not getting the health benefits of eating fruits and veggies. What about "green foods" powders/supplements? Any other solutions?
I don't know anything about health supplements. You would have to search and find dairy free and natural supplements. Try eating baby food fruits and veggies since they are so digestable. Lots of people find that it takes weeks of bland diet to get on track and that isn't ideal in any way. But take heart, I know someone who lives on bananas and potatoes and says that is all he needs and in Papillion that guy lived on coconuts all those years. 
Thanks for your help. I really want my life back.
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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First, I'm sorry you're having such a terrible time. IBS is enough to deal with by itself - I can imagine how frustrating it must be trying to address three chronic illnesses at once.
I think the other people who have posted have pretty well addressed your specific concerns. What I would add is that you may have to take things one step at a time. In order to get your gut settled, for example, you may not be able to eat all the protein your doctor wants you to just yet. As one of the other posters said, once your gut settles down a little, you should be able to tolerate more chicken, so you can up your protein at that point. In order to get your gut to settle down, you may have to eat more simple carbs than you'd like - rice, bakery white breads, pretzels. Again, once your gut settles down, you can try adding in some whole grain choices.
I know there are other people on the Board who have fibromyalgia (which I assume is what FMS is), so it is possible to find a way of eating that helps both IBS and FMS. I don't know if there's anyone on the Board who also has chronic fatigue, but there are a number of people who eat gluten free, so if wheat is an issue, there are ways around that. As for vitamins and minerals while you're subsisting - temporarily - on rice, sweet potatoes, bananas, and papayas, I take a One-A-Day vitamin and tolerate it well. Again, it's not a perfect solution, but it could get you through this rough patch while you're stabilizing.
PS - Your comment about being allergic to egg whites made me go looking for what my vegan friends use as an egg white substitute and I found this, which you might find interesting, especially the quote from Sharon Tyler Herbst at the very end:
http://www.ochef.com/687.htm
You can check the Recipe Index for recipes you feel you can eat - I know there are at least a couple of gluten free bread recipes out there.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Hi,
I can only offer suggestions for questions 1 and 4.
1. I have a bread maker, and it's awsome. The "quick" recipes only take an hour, and I feel so much better about knowing exactly what I'm eating in my bread.
4. Luna bars usually don't bother us IBS-ers. They have quite a few vitamins in there, and I know some people here use them as their daily vitamin.
Also, I think the idea is you have to eat a little "unhealthy" (ie, less veggies) until your body is stable enough to eat things with more protein and vitamins.
Hope this helps,
Myra
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IBS-D
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Processed food and sugar sure do cause problems for FMS (that's fibro btw everyone!  )...I'm trying to cut out sugar atm cos the sugar highs/lows mess with my Fibro so much. I eat very little processed food...lots of fresh fish, veggies and rice/pasta/bread (made at home with no sugar/dairy). Ruchie also has FMS and eats a very naturopathic diet.
BUT...big but...IBS and FMS are so interlinked that getting the IBS under control is a big issue with getting the FMS under control. My IBS is stable now and to do that I ate the foods that made my gut happy...if that included sugary oods then what the heck. I'm only NOW trying to adapt my diet for FMS as the IBS is under control!
And btw, sugar isn't health destroying...too much can be bad for you and it's certainly addictive but it doesn't destroy your health on it's own...unless you allow it to!
Eat protein with SF and you'll tolerate it better. Rice protein shakes are out there, so I'd try one.
And the others have answered on the SF/IF balance and IBS-C issue...re-read the diet guidelines!
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Sincere thanks to everyone who replied. Sounds like it might be necessary for me to eat a very simple diet for a while to stabilize my gut, and only then concern myself with making it more friendly to the other conditions I struggle with. I am aware of the diet guidelines that permit insoluble fiber in small amounts with/after a primarily SF meal, but I'm finding right now that almost any amount of insoluble fiber triggers me. Again, I guess I've just got to accept that for the time being and do whatever I can to stop the spasms/pain/gas/bloating... all of which make my general health much, much worse.
I'll keep you posted and thanks again for your help. It really makes a huge difference.
Chris
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I personally feel regularity is most important. I feel that bloating/pain can only be under control when the gut is moving along as it should. So I would focus on staying somewhat regular and although pain is no walk in the park, it is more persistant and won't go away without colon stabilization. I would eat what foods are needed for regularity and drink a lot of peppermint/fennel tea and wait it out. 
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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I agree, and to some extent this has been my experience. However, waiting it out doesn't seem a viable option as I've been doing that for the past six years. I'm not even totally sure IBS is the root of the problems I'm having, though my bowel is most definitely "irritable" - but I'm willing to try this diet and just about anything else that can possibly give me relief.
The pain and spasms are so severe they've prevented me from functioning the past year. I need to find some way to stabilize, fast.
Chris
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What I mean by waiting it out is giving the diet a chance to work. I know you had said you get C from the stuff that makes you less crampy and so it was sort of a damned if you do...kind of scenario. I think you are more damned staying away from insolubles (only safe ones of course) than the other way around. I hope this makes sense.
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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