Warning: Explicit salad comment
#272053 - 07/01/06 07:27 PM
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Wind
Reged: 04/02/05
Posts: 3178
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I am frustrated--I have been for years about consuming salads.
I don't know if I should just "accept" it as normal for one with IBS-D and continue trying over & over & over again. It would seem futile, however salads taste delicious.
I consume my SF first, lately some sort of "starchy" food and often SF veggies. I save a small salad for "dessert." It is topped with fat free salad dressing, either storebought or homemade. Within half an hour of consuming this salad I see it exits my body rather explicitly, virtually unchanged (okay, sorry if it is TMI, basically the chewed up version of what was in the bowl).
Does this ever change for anyone with IBS-D? Is this my fate forever? (I'm seeing my G.I. in July to wine/complain, etc. and update) I don't get gassy with salad--it's not inside of me long enough to give me gas. Is it a waste of time and energy to even bother having a salad course?
My menus are jokes--hardly "real" food.
Sorry, I'm just frustrated.
Kate, IBS-D.
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Kate it's been a year for me and I still don't do salads well. I'm D also and yep, pretty fast exit for some raw veggies. I make myself stick to cooked veggies. Sometimes I do just crave a salad and eat it just to get it out of my system (pun intended). That is not a fun way to eat for me so I don't do it very often, can't think of when I ate one last. But heck, some days I can't remember breakfast this late in the day! 
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Franny
IBS/D
Celiac
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if it's fat-free, there's bound to be something in it that makes it fat-free. it's probably a preservative or additive that is a major trigger and making you have bad D attacks. check for sorbitol, mannitol, aspartame, HFCS.... any of those will send you straight for the bathroom! BEWARE
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VEGAN ASHLEY~IBS/C
www.myspace.com/dutchflowers
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I too have the salad frustration. I am IBS-A but I used to eat salads all the time. On an empty stomach and my meal was the salad. I tried to have one a couple of weeks ago and it did not go well. Just as you describe it did not send me into attack mode but it didn't stay in my body at all. I wonder if I have made my body intolerant to things I used to eat by eliminating them for awhile. It is like my body doesn't know what to do with it anymore and rejects it 
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Microscopic Colitis, IBS-A, GERD, Hiatal Hernia
Bethany, Ontario, Canada
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I swing to the c mode but am in love with them as well. But I get the bloat!
I have other things I miss like you do salads--NUTS! But, accept the things you can not change--FOR TODAY! You never know about the future.
Removing the mental anguish of what if is a peaceful thing.
Hang in there babe!
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IBS-C with major bloat!
Gluten Free Vegan
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I don't think it's the dressing--I usually make my own or leave the salad naked (i.e. undressed and eat the lettuce plain as one might eat carrots or celery or cucumber). My own dressings are generally vinegar-based (plain rice vinegar, balsalmic, champagne, sherry, etc.) & sometimes incorporate dijon mustard or herbs or lemons/limes, but not always.
I think it's like a mini-montezuma effect, I guess. It's mostly disappointing because salads are my favourite food of all and somehow they make the other foods "taste" better probably because of the contrasts in textures and flavours, etc. I limit the lettuces to less than 2 cups and still experience the little marathon to the bathroom. (Even my relatives & friends do, which is embarrassing)
I've had this "effect" for at least ten years, now to varying degrees. I keep stupidly hoping it will change, but it doesn't.
Small amounts of cooked leafy greens don't do this to me when I eat them with a sound SF source and in stable mode.
It just really sucks, especially in the summer, when all you really want is a salad for its cooling effect.
Kate, IBS-D.
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It's creepy, it's it? It's like our bodies just reject it and literally "spit" it out. Oh well. It's the bum-rap. Every once in awhile I try a tiny salad with that same effect.
It's nice, though, to know that I'm not alone in this.
Kate, IBS-D.
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I've given up on salads as well, even though I love them too. Basically I can't eat ANY veggies or fruit (maybe green beans on a good day with SF of course). I also love cucumbers and cantaloupe but I get sharp, stabbing pains behind my belly button, bloating, and gas. I know I need veggies and fruit, so I'm trying to follow the advice of others here and eat them the safe way. BTW, I too have seen what I just ate come back out. I've been told there is no way for the food to pass through that fast, but I have seen it with my own eyes (unfortunately)
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"There are two means of refuge from the misery of life - music and cats."
Albert Schweitzer
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Great pun, franny.
Yes, that's exactly it--I have one just "to get it out of my system."
Most of my family/friends just don't understand that I do not process lettuce/raw vegetables.
Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone.
Kate, IBS-D.
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you are definitely not alone on this one. You and I also share a love for cooked and chilled baby carrots don't we? I love them but cannot have them raw without pain. Sooo this is my new way of getting my veggies, cooking them, putting them in the fridge to get cold and then eat away. It also makes them sweeter so I don't mind. I have resorted to fruit source bars, or fruit to go bars for my fruit source, raw fruit is not my friend either!
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Microscopic Colitis, IBS-A, GERD, Hiatal Hernia
Bethany, Ontario, Canada
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Wind, I am taking Levsin before anything I eat, and while I can eat salad now, it still comes out undigested. I think it is just a fact that while we d-er's may love salad our bodies don't. I still eat it, so it is really up to the question- is it worth the pain, or nastiness.... I say yes to my beloved salad!!!!
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Marci.
For everything there is a season...
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I can eat salads. It took me about 6 months of strict EFI-ness to get to that point, but here I am. I only eat them with the last meal of the day and even then only after I've consumed at least half of the rest of that meal. This means the salad is falling into a nicely cushioned digestive system. It probably also helps that I consume a *lot* of food over the course of the day - terrible for my weight, but it does provide a soft landing for crisp greens.
Have you tried a salad without the lettuce and with, perhaps, a mix of cooked cold veggies and just a couple of raw ones snuck in? That might fool your system into accepting them all rather than hurling them with great force out of you.
HTH. Good luck.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Actually, I've been doing this!  So far, without a problem, I've hidden a few assorted raw things: seeded/peeled english cucumber (sushi with cucumber doesn't bother me a bit, ditto for pickles!), tomatoes, mushrooms, less than a 1/2 cup of baby spinach (doesn't seem to bother me--other lettuce does, however), olives and herbs. Any other suggestions? I love tossing in leftover potatoes in veggie salads or making bread salads with toasted pita.
Lettuce lined/based salads just do not work, but salads of predominantly chilled cooked vegetables do as long as I accompany with SF--I can even get away with some notoriously gassy ones without a hassle.
Maybe you are right & I need a good 6 months of the EFI diet under my belt before I try a dish of lettuce with supper again. Nevertheless, it is not the end of the world, just disappointing & frustrating. Sticking to the EFI diet is challenging for me, however I have been doing it and experiencing only positive changes/effects.
Kate, IBS-D.
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Marci, I might ask my G.I. about Levsin when I see him in two weeks.
I love salad, but it just seems like a horrible waste to eat it. I hate pretending to be a "normal" about it with my friends/family, too. They don't understand that my body just literally spits it out so unchanged so quickly. And the heat doesn't make the craving go away.
Anyways, I'll just have to be more creative. I'll continue with Sand's idea/concept of cooked salads as they are most agreeable. (Although there is something brain-soothing about leafy ones!)
Thanks,
Kate, IBS-D.
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What about lovely pasta salads with veggies (cooked)? Very summery.
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Same problem with me. I LOVE LVOE my salads, but they don't love me. Same thing happens when I eat salads about the "other end". Sometimes I can get away with them no problem and sometimes not.
You can obviously try and chew it up more finely, but that's about all you can do. Sometimes, I just have to give into the craving no matter the results.  
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Formerly HanSolo. IBS, OCD, Bipolar, PTSD times 3.
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Joe is the salad chef around here and his standard salad contains: red leaf lettuce; peeled cucumber (deseeded for me); mushrooms; cauliflower (yes, I can eat it raw!); radishes, green onions (aka, scallions, spring onions); and cherry or grape tomatoes. Sometimes he adds carrots and/or celery. The only thing he eats that I can't handle is bell peppers. Maybe someday.
As for less standard possibilities:
I encountered jicama on a salad bar a few months ago. It was cut like matchstick potatoes, but I imagine you could chop it finer. It has a nice flavor and is very refreshing and crunchy. Since it's crisp, rather than fibrous, perhaps your tummy would accept it.
Along the same lines, my former mother-in-law used to serve peeled, sliced, raw turnip instead of crackers to use with dips. (This was 30 years ago during one of the endless iterations of the low-carb craze.) This was surprisingly good - very crisp, very crunchy, with just a hint of bite.
I wonder, also, how raw zucchini would be in a salad, peeled and possibly de-seeded.
Last, but not least, I have never tried it, but there is such a thing as pickled squash, both yellow (summer) and zucchini. If you can tolerate pickles and tolerate squash, perhaps this would be an option - if you can find it. Or make it, I suppose.
I'm glad your devotion to the EFI Diet is producing positive results. Good luck with expanding your salad horizons. As Mr. March tells us in Little Women, "salad was one of the favorite dishes of the ancients" and who are we to question their wisdom?
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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I was at the mall, this morning and bought a bottle of water from a place that sells salads. I started to laugh when the lady asked me if I wanted a salad (sorry, I look like a girl that eat salads if that makes any sense). In general, I've decided that those "leaves of grass" aren't worth the effort.
(I seem to have the same problem with celery, too, incidentally) Ironically, I have tried "salad smoothies"--quite frankly that doesn't make a wit of difference. My body still spits it out unchanged and really quickly. If anything, liquifying the lettuces just accelerates the downloading process. I think I'll just accept it and let the rabbits eat salad. Oh, one more thing, it doesn't matter if the salad greens are organic or not--same splatter. Honestly, in following the EFI diet, I am getting accustomed to less of that spatter and most of the time convince myself that's it's not worth it.
Lately, I've been grilling veggies and they more or less digest just fine and they're more interesting (or so I try and convince myself). I guess I get my flavour fix. I think that's one of the purposes that salads serve--the flavour fix. It's kind of like potato chips or ice cream--it mostly serves a flavour fix. I love middle eastern food (there's a great Egyptian restaurant with a huge vegetarian menu that I've sampled) that is kind of inspiring me at the moment. I notice that most middle Eastern food is well-cooked!
Maybe some of us are just intolerant to the raw kind of fiber? I feel kind of lost without my traditional salad course & grocery bills are so much reduced. Heck, my fridge seems strange without all the salad, which I only buy if I have a guest.
Thanks, Alicia.
Kate, IBS-D.
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Sand, I think I'm going to follow your example of putting a good six months of EFI eating under my belt and stick to the cooked salads at the moment. Thanks for the suggestions, though. I currently grill alot of assorted veggies. I must keep my eyes open for jicama (I think I ate it in Mexico).
I'll keep my eyes open for interesting pickled veggies.
Like you, bell peppers do not work.
I just have really sensitive guts. C'est la vie.
Kate, IBS-D.
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