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Posted 1/5/2009 3:40 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Cfromutah,

I have reading the threads about Spinach and Sun flower seeds diet.
I want to start doing this diet.
Please let me know how i need to start, i mean how much quantity of Spinach i have to take/ day
and How much quantity of seeds i have to take?
Spinach i can find anywhere..
Where can i find Sun flower seeds ..what form i need to buy (roased or raw)?
Can i eat them directly?
Regarding spinach, Can i cook the spinach with oil and eat it?

Please respond.........
Your advises are appreciated............

Thanq
Posted 1/5/2009 4:20 AM (GMT 0)

If you do a search for the spinach and sunflower seed diet on this site, you'll find five posts (labeled Part 1 through Part 5) that are quite lengthy and discuss all the details of the diet.  They also have recommendations for food brands, recipes, where to find products, etc. 

Poor Cfromutah has had to explain this numerous times, so I thought I'd try to save him some work.  ;-)  By reading those posts, you'll also get a feel for how others have responded to this diet.  Good luck!

Posted 1/5/2009 4:37 AM (GMT 0)

I would start with one 13.5 ounce can of canned spinach a day. Other people have had some success with eating less than that but I would eat a can a day for a while till you see good results and then try decreasing it to a can every two or three days. I eat it straight from the can. Some people have had good results with mixing canned or frozen spinach in with things like quesadillas and omelets and eating it that way but I think your body will absorb more of the nutrients if you don't mix the spinach with any other foods so I would just eat straight spinach if you can. I eat the roasted and salted sunflower seeds, you can find those at any grocery store like Walmart, target etc. When flaring I ate about 5 to 7 handfuls of seeds a day. Some people say the seeds irritate them while flaring and eat 2 to 4 tablespoons of sunbutter(same as peanut butter but made with sunflower seeds) a day instead of the seeds and have seen good results. I personally haven't tried sunbutter. I think the magnesium in these foods plays a big part in making this diet work. When trying to increase magnesium its good to not over do high calcium foods, milk, cheese etc. You can have some foods with calcium but don't overdo it because too much calcium will keep magnesium from doing its job.


Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/4/2009 10:12:47 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/5/2009 5:59 AM (GMT 0)
Hello, does anyone know how to successfully locate the previous spinach posts using the search feature?  I run the search and it only retrieves 8 records going back to 12/31/08 when I search with "spinach" in the search box and select "match any words."  I have many times tried to use the search feature but always seem to get a weak subset of hits. Does the search feature work or am I missing something?  I would love to read more about the whole spinach-sunflower treatment.  Thanks!

Posted 1/5/2009 6:19 AM (GMT 0)
you can go to the search and put posted by and put in Cfromutah and put 200 results and all posted within the last year and that will bring up a lot of info. or the google search just above the regular search works a little but still not that great


Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/4/2009 11:37:09 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/6/2009 8:51 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Cfromutah!! That worked for this case, but it's still frustrating that I can't get a decent set of results when searching for a given topic.
Posted 1/6/2009 11:46 PM (GMT 0)
ever run into anyone with an allergy to spinach? Not sayin I have one. Just curious. Last few days I have had a bad redness about the face, neck and shoulders. breathing has been different. Not bad or throat restricintg... but different. Hope this isn;t the case cuz this diet seems to be workin well. I have faitfully ate my can of spinach for 15 days and symptoms are almost non existent. not quite.. but gettin there. Now this. I thought about blood pressure, but I am on medicine for that... and I had it checked and it was EXCELLENT. best I ever had on this diet. It seems to help that also. Just the redness and heat.... not sure... could easlity be somthine else? maybe I'm coming down with a cold? Really don't want to quit this diet, cause its showed such good results. Any suggestions?
Posted 1/7/2009 1:18 AM (GMT 0)
Hi unclebubba, I get that red faced heat feeling too when my magnesium levels start to get high. You can probably reduce your spinach intake a little now if you wanted to till you don't have so much of that heat feeling. I know its the magnesium (with me it is anyway when I get that feeling) because I used to experiment with magnesium supplements and I got the same red face and heat feeling with those as well as when I ate a lot of high magnesium foods.
I don't have any change in breathing though when it happens and I never knew of anybody allergic to spinach but I'm sure there are some

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/6/2009 6:30:09 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/7/2009 1:45 AM (GMT 0)
Why does the actual spinach work better than a magnesium supplement, do we know? An the seeds are usually a no no for a bleeding UC patient. I bought the butter, but wondered how all of those fragile colons tolerate the seeds. I'll check prior posts as well, I know you guys are way ahead of me on this one.
Posted 1/7/2009 1:58 AM (GMT 0)
I think magnesium is a big contributor to making the diet work but not the only thing. I think beta carotene plays a big roll too. And probably many other nutrients in spinach, sunflower seeds etc. that are helpful.
Posted 1/7/2009 2:01 AM (GMT 0)
I personally always used to take sunflower seeds to reduce inflamation of gout. I just made sense when I read it on here. I make SURE i chew the seeds thourghly though. But I know for a fact the seeds cured gout which is another inflamation disease. that and cherry juice. I haven't tried cherry juice for this disease yet. Prob should. any thought on cherry juice, Cfromutah?
how much should I cut back on the spinach? go back to a half a can a day? will that make my stools not be loose?
Posted 1/7/2009 2:21 AM (GMT 0)
I would try a full can every other day to start but experiment and see what works best for you. If you have problems (loose stools etc) with that then try a half can every day but if you still have problems then keep eating a full can every day and try reducing again later once you get closer to remission. Your stools may even firm up from reducing it if your nutrient levels are getting to where they need to be. Just experiment and see what works best.
Posted 1/7/2009 8:02 PM (GMT 0)
any thoughts on the cherry juice for its anti-inflamitory properties?
Posted 1/7/2009 10:53 PM (GMT 0)
It would seem cherries or cherry juice would be a good addition.  Here's an article from my new favorite website

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=163#answer

Posted 1/8/2009 2:48 AM (GMT 0)
i can attest that cherry juice and sunflower seeds work for the gout. Been using that method for years. just not sure what the juice would do to UC or the mag count that Cfromutah has been keepin track of.
Posted 1/8/2009 3:03 AM (GMT 0)
I don't know of any bad interactions between mag and cherry juice or any other kind of fruits or fruit juices. And I don't know much about the anti inflammatory properties of juices. I do know that when most people eat too many cherries it causes D and is considered by many to be a natural laxative.
Posted 1/8/2009 3:06 AM (GMT 0)
After reading about this diet so much on here, I decided to start eating spinach and sunflower seeds. I love the seeds but could never eat spinach out of a can. I started eating a big salad for lunch every day that was 3/4 baby spinach and 1/4 romaine lettuce. After I went through kidney stone issues in Oct. The doctor said no spinach and no seeds. I didn't say I had just started this diet but I was pretty discouraged. I had not been eating the salads and seeds very long so I don't in any way think they caused the kidney stone but I cannot participate in the diet. Should I try supplements? I am in remission now so should I just do nothing or try supplements of magnesium and beta carotene supplements to help stay in remission?
Posted 1/8/2009 3:50 AM (GMT 0)

I don't understand why your doctor said not to eat seeds? Kidney stones are a sign that you are low in magnesium and nuts and seeds or nut and seed butters are very high in magnesium and would help someone with kidney stones. I wouldn't take supplements to get magnesium, I think its better to get it from food sources. Can you eat nut butters? I would eat sunflower seed butter or sunbutter daily if you can and I would also research the web and find other foods high in magnesium and eat the ones you can often.  I think it is mostly the beta carotene and magnesium in spinach that helps. I can stay in remission by eating carrots and a couple romaine salads a week for beta carotene and sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, peanut butter etc. for magnesium and no spinach. So if you can eat carrots and other foods high in beta carotene often and high magnesium foods often I think it will help you. Be sure to put sunflower seed butter (and/or sunflower seeds if your doc changes his/her mind) at the top of your high magnesium food list though and eat it daily if you can because sunflower seeds contain very high amounts(more than most all foods on earth) of vitamin B-5 and it is possible B-5 holds part of the key, other nuts and seeds don't contain much of this vitamin.

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