Would fresh prunes in a smoothie be helpful for C-IBS?
#20099 - 09/09/03 04:42 PM
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lithelady
Reged: 08/15/03
Posts: 339
Loc: Novato, CA
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I have C-IBS and have been on H's diet for almost 4 weeks. I'm feeling much better in regards to my symptoms of gas, bloating and discomfort decreasing. BUT I'm still moderately distended. Moreso, while my BMs are now soft to even mushy (sorry to be sooooo graphic!  ) I'm still having incomplete evacuations every day, so I always feel "backed up", altho less so than before eating H's way.
I'm up to 2 fibercon tabs 3x/per day, I drink tons of water and fennel tea too all day and I'm gradually building up on eating as much insoluble fiber as I can, but very carefully. I'm especially enjoying eating a fruit and soy milk smoothie every day, after a high soluble fiber lunch.
SO, my question is about some fresh prunes I saw at the store yesterday. I LOVE prunes and used to eat dried ones straight out of the bag for snacks. I finally realized that they weren't being loving to my gut and stopped eating them long ago. Now I'm wondering if it would be helpful to try adding 1-2 fresh prunes to my daily fruit smoothie?
I know H's bk says to avoid prunes, BUT I'm thinking tbat this applies more to D-IBSers than to C and also is more of a concern w/ dried prunes but possibly not fresh? My thinking is that since they're fresh, they can be pureed much more completely in a smoothie. Then if the smoothie is eaten after a high soluble fiber meal, maybe the prunes will resolve my still being constipated and the resulting distention that the C causes???
If just 1-2 pureed fresh prunes in my smoothie are OK, do I need to peel them?? In a recent posting H said that fruit in smoothies doesn't need to be peeled b/c pureeing the skin makes it OK to eat.
I really don't want to mess up my gut b/c I've had to work really hard these past 4 wks to calm it down to where it is now. However, I'm eating very carefully according to H's diet and still having daily incomplete evacuations, so any advice about whether it's OK to try these fresh prunes will be much appreciated! Finally, if it's not OK, what else might help me to have more complete evacuations every day?
Thanks!!!
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Many years of C-IBS and pain too for past 2 years-
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Hi - prunes are really nutritious, but in addition to their insoluble fiber they actually contain some elements that are laxatives. But, if you add just 1-2 of them to a smoothie I think you'll be just fine. 
Also, you may want to try a powdered soluble fiber supplement, as they work better for some folks than the pills. It's easier to get a higher dose with the powders, and you can also mix and match the powders and pills.
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Fantastic news about the prunes!!!  Their skins OK too??? That'd be extra cool! 
I'll give the powders a try too. In the past any psyllium product has given me problems. I know from your bks and this website that many others have this same experience, so I'll try Citracal if Metam causes problems again. I chose the pills b/c at Costco they had a much less expensive storebrand by Kirkland that's exactly the same thing as the name brand Fibercon. The pills were much less than the Citracal and I basically had ruled out Metam b/c of past experience.
However, Costco has a store brand ( Kirkland again) of Metam that's only about 1/3 the price of name brand, so I'll give Metam one last try. If it still causes me problems ( primarily gas and bloating) I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay the steep price for Citra. Do you know if there's a generic, and thus less expensive, version of Citra produced?
Thanks also for the quick reply re:prunes. I truly don't know HOW you have the time to get to it so many of us every day! You're amazing!
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Many years of C-IBS and pain too for past 2 years-
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