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My IBS is severe. I used to be IBS-C and now I'm IBS-D. Despite this I am able to tolerate an assortment of fruit and veggies. Here's how I do it:

1. I limit my fruit intake to breakfast. I spread a pureed, cooked fruit (as if it were jam!) on my morning bagel so that I eat the fruit with a soluble fibre. I buy the pureed fruit at the supermarket in babyfood jars. Heinz if I'm in Canada and Gerber if I'm in the U.S. I always read the ingredients to ensure that the fruit sauce contains just the pure ingredients and no additives other than Asorbic C. (I've tried the organic babyfood fruit sauces, but for some reason they taste awful!) I alternate in putting the following fruit sauces on my bagel: apple, apple/strawberry or pear. (I stay away from the peach sauce because it irritates my IBS.)

2. I limit my veggie intake to dinner only. I boil, bake, steam or microwave any combination of the following veggies: carrots, turnip, beets, broccoli, mushrooms, tomatos, zuchinni, squash and Swiss chard. I cook the veggies well. I eat only organic veggies because there are less irritants in them (no pesticides, fertilizers, preservatives, etc.), because they are not genetically modified (so they won't be crossed with something that I can't tolerate like cabbage!) and because they contain lots of nutrients. Conventional veggies have had most of their nutrients bred out of them because they are grown only to look good and have a long shelf life so they will sell well in the supermarket.

I am very careful with the quantities of each veggie that I eat. With some veggies like carrots, I can tolerate more so I put more in the pot. With others like broccoli, Swiss chard and tomatoe, I can tolerate just a tiny bit (maybe a teaspoonful). I do not usually puree my veggies. However, sometimes I buy a babyfood jar of pureed veggies because I haven't got the time or patience to puree them myself.

I eat the veggies with my dinner, which includes a protein (chicken, turkey or fish) and lots of soluble fibre (white organic Bastamti rice or potatoes).

I, therefore, find the secret to successfully tolerating fruit and veggies is to:

- eat them with lots of a soluble fibre staple (white bread, white rice or potatoes);

- keep consumption of fruit or veggies to once a day -- fruit at one meal and veggies at another;

- know how much you can tolerate of each fruit and veggie;

- cook your fruit and veggies; purchase babyfood pureed fruit and veggies if you haven't got time to make it yourself;

- eat organic produce wherever possible since it will be less likely to irritate your gut and will provide you with much-needed nutrients, which conventional produce does not have. I look at the organic produce issue this way: If you're limited in how much you can eat, make what you can eat count by getting the maximum amount of nutrients possible.

By the way, I can also sometimes tolerate a few slices of (uncooked) watermelon and honeydew melon. I eat these following a meal that contains lots of soluble fibre.

Hope this gives you some ideas for how to incorporate more fruit and veggies into your diet. By the way, if you want to start adding more fruit and veggies, I recommend starting with very tiny (teaspoonful) quantities to see how you fare.

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Belinda, I thought your post was very sensible and wise. I also buy baby food, usually Gerber 1st or 2nd stages type and I also check the ingredients to ensure nothing else but the fruit and asorbic C. I also have bought pureed babyfood veggies, too. I try to make sure to eat my fruit or veggies w/SF, but I don't always. I don't always peel my apples either, but I always peel my potatoes. Odd, I know. I seem to tolerate a lot of different kinds of veggies and I have a hard time not wanting to eat most or all kinds. I love fruits and veggies!

Another great way to incorporate them for a dessert after a safe meal or for breakfast or snack, or lunch with SF is to make smoothies. Two of my dream applicances is to own a juicer and food dehydrator. There's lots of smoothie suggestions floating around on the boards, and they can be made non-dairy with soy ice cream or soy yogurt, or just make a slushy thing with frozen fruit and ice.

Again, Belinda, I think your advice is very sound. Whenever i can afford organic produce, I buy it, but most of the time I cannot afford it, but I agree with what you said about getting all the nutrients possible out of what we can eat.

Take care everyone!

P.S. If my post is screwed up or typo'd to heck and back, I'm sorry, my computer is quite broken (and so am I). I'm practically typing blind - the irony here is that I am legally blind and certain computer technology that reads the computer screen is quite essential, but that technology doesn't work with my computer very well. Hah hah. :'(

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XOXO from lil' ol' me. (IBS-C, mood disorders, etc., etc.)

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Hi Belinda, What do you do for lunch and snacks? Also, I
noticed you didn't have peas on your veggie list. I thought
they are the easiest IF veggie to consume. What I do is very
similar to what you do except that I have some blueberries
in my breakfast oatmeal, and eat the rest of my fruits at
lunch. Thanks for your post, I feel like I'm doing some-
thing right, but I still have yet to stabilize . -Bob

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Hi Bob, don't know if we've met, but nice to meet you and hope you don't mind me replying to your question.

Peas are the easiest veggies, eh? I did not know that!
I really like peas, personally, I just don't have them as often as I'd like.

For snacks, I end up eating Strawberry flavored Fruit Roll-Ups, or cut-up, peeled fresh fruit, or dried fruit. My favorite is Sun-Maid FruitBits (found by the raisins and othe dried fruits) and green or red apples w/ peanut butter or a bit of salt, or celery and peanut butter and raisins... Of course, I try to eat these with SF. I've been trying to experiment with baking (still somewhat of a novice cook) and find that quick breads made with fruit like banana bread are nice to use as an SF snack. Also, incorporation fruit or fruit juices, fruit jellies or fruit ppreserves in my regular dinnertime cooking means I could have some great leftovers for lunch the next day. My dinners always include a protein (like boneless skinless chicken breasts, lean pork chops, or ground turkey. Sometimes when I can afford it, I have fish, too) plus an SF like white rice or potatoes. I can usually eat a variety of veggies but my favorites include sugar snap peas, snow peas, carrots, corn, green beans and beets.

I also like cranberry juice. Sometimes I can tolerate a small glass or orange juice or apple juice.

I really like soy yogurt like Silk Live! Strawberry, Strawberry Banana, Peach, and Blueberry, or Naked Juice brand smoothies (they don't have any dairy in them woohoo!). Both the soy yogurt and the Naked Juice smoothies are expensive so I can't always have them.

Rice cakes, graham crackers, fat-free saltines, dairy-free vanilla wafers, and dairy-free animal crackers (Barnum's brand is dairy-free), quick breads, and white, french or sordough bread or rolls, and bagels are all good to have with my fruit or veggie type snacks.

I recently baked a quick bread called Orange Juice bread, which is very tasty and so far hasn't given me trouble. I found that recipe on recipezaar.com. Here's the direct link. http://www.recipezaar.com/20838.

Well, I really hope you are able to get stable soon and feel better. Take care!

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XOXO from lil' ol' me. (IBS-C, mood disorders, etc., etc.)

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I posted on here about the Jessica Seinfeld book she has out for kids and puree veggies into everything she cooks. No one replied so glad to see this post. My question is I'm IBS-C and I react to broc. and caulflower steamed, even green beans can kill me even though I do the mix of soluable and insoluable fiber Heather talks about, so my long winded question is, are veggies easier on us IBS-C puree'd? Not as gassy and bloating? If so this all sounds so much more promising for me. I have those invisalines in my mouth right now which are invisable braces and I really need softer things to bring with me when I'm out and about. If it's easy on the tummy I'll get a small food processor this weekend. Thanks! I printed out your suggestions and web site.

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Hi, Lainey! I hope you don't mind me answering you. I'm IBS-C also. Very, very rarely I'll get a D attack. But mostly I'm bloating, pain, gas, and well, C of course.

Pureed veggies and fruits have been an irregular part of my diet. I don't always eat them and I don't always eat them with SF. Sometimes I won't eat them if I can't eat them with SF. I find to help with bloating and gas, taking Beano (as directed on the bottle) before eating any types of veggies or other troubling food helps a lot. If I don't get a chance to take the Beano, generic extra-strength Gas-X sometimes works. I will admit, that I'm not always gas-free, even with these things, but if I eat it with or after SF, drink lots of water, and pay attention to the portions I eat, I can avoid gas problems or at least minimalize them greatly.

I love adding applesauce to baked goods, and I'm getting more confident about replacing large amounts of butter or oil with applesauce and having the end result turn out great. I've also heard of incorporating pureed veggies and/or fruits into sauces, baked goods, and meat dishes. I don't see why it can be bad, but everyone has different tolerances.

Maybe try it like once a week? And if you know that brocolli and green beans cause you problems, don't bother to puree them, or you can try to and try a small amount to test how you react.

Anyway, I know it's frustrating when people miss your questions. This is a huge forum, it's easy to overlook stuff sometimes. I never have time to read everything, and haev to pick and choose, and hope I can maybe catch up later.

HTH and take care and good luck!

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XOXO from lil' ol' me. (IBS-C, mood disorders, etc., etc.)

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or do I need to cook them first? I'm vegetably challenged. I never really liked them much before the IBS and now I totaly see them as the enemy.
I did grate a peeled zuchini into my last batch of banana bread. But that's still SFS so how can I get more IF in my diet?

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It's my understanding that you're supposed to cook the veggies until very soft and process them in small batches in either a good blender, or a food processor. Also using a bit of the cooking water to create the desired consistency is probably a good idea, too. Sorry, I'm learning too, I've never pureed my own fruits/veggies other than when I blended smoothies and slushy type drinks. My blender imho is lacking in its ability to smoothly puree anything, and I can't afford a food processor. Anyone ever tried using an immersion blender before? I can't afford that either, but if an immersion blender works to puree a small batch of veggies or fruits, I would buy that first probably. TIA! Take care everyone!

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XOXO from lil' ol' me. (IBS-C, mood disorders, etc., etc.)

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