Posted 10/1/2008 12:21 PM (GMT 0)
Low Residue Diet!
Some of the foods mentioned above are on this diet (bananas, yogurt, potatoes, etc.). I had rectal cancer in 1999, 90% of my sigmoid removed, 15 inches of my colon removed, my gall bladder taken out at the same time, a temp ostomy also. After it was reversed, I found myself living in the bathroom. On my good days I made it to a chair in my bedroom. I would have 3 bm's during each meal. The minute I began chewing, I had to go. It was just awful.......during this time I was eating a high fiber diet, all whole wheat products (from cereal, to bagels, to english muffins, to bread, the Brownberry type), fresh produce (all berries, fresh pineapple, etc.). I was a MESS!
Then I found a colon cancer board and a member there suggested going on a low residue diet, to relieve D. And constant bm's.
I went on the LRD and within 48 hours of eating foods only on that diet, I was literally a new person. Now I did have many, frequent bm's (I always will, that's a given now, since my sigmoid is just about gone) but at least the stool was formed and easily passed each time. I am still on this diet about 75% of the time, 9 years later. It is quite simply the way I have to eat now. My doctor approves of this diet as well. The alternative would be to eat high fiber and then never interact with the real world again. No thanks.......the foods on it are not so bad but my husband does joke it's my white diet - most are white foods. Oh well......I have a sister-in-law who won't eat any white food (she's trying to lose weight, she's in her mid 50s now....my husband laughed and said, hey that's your diet Mary!)......but again, eating this way for me now has just become a way of life (and also knowing where all the bathrooms are, at the mall, grocery store, library, public buildings, etc. I usually search them out before the need to use one).
Do a google search, you will find many, many links for this diet.
The foods that have helped me the most on it are:
Bananas
Vanilla flavored yogurt (skip the type with fruit on the bottom, I just buy Stonyfield in large tub sizes now)
White rice
Instant mashed potatoes or real ones (but for some odd reason, instant can really soothe my gut)
Applesauce
Club Crackers (with salt, the regular type)
Cottage Cheese
Roast white turkey or chicken
White fish (or salmon, salmon doesn't mess me up)
Bay's plain english muffins (found in the refrigerated section, near cream cheese)
Plain white bread, toasted (local bakery type is the best, but I know the least nutritional for us)
I would also suggest you keep a food journal. Just one page for each day is enough. Write down every single thing you eat and drink for that day. Also record any medications you take. After a while you will see a pattern form.
Avoid chocolate, candy, nuts, any high fiber food right now. Also any fresh berry fruit - run from them! They are very nutritional for the vast majority of us, but filled with seeds, that can aggravate a GI tract.
As always, please check with your doctor to see if this diet is safe for you to follow.
But it did save my life. First my doctor saved my life from cancer, but turned it upside down in the process, almost literally. Thought I'd be confined to a toilet for the rest of my life. In many ways I still am (I have anywhere from 12 to 20 bm's a day but my entire goal has been to keep the stool formed, not D, not messy and easily passed anywhere, in malls, in public, while in people's homes, etc.). This diet and a mild stool softener help me the most.
It is shocking when I tell people how often I go in a day's time. But the stool each bm is very, very small, spaced out over a day, not in one big dump, as it used to be.
I also try not to eat after dinner. Giving my gut a break from solid intake, so it can quiet down. I then resume eating by 7 each morning. So in a sense I eat for 12 hours on (4 to 6 small meals a day), then 12 hours off.
I've been doing this for 9 long years so please feel free to ask any questions you may have.
Mary/marsky