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Spinach and Sunflower Seeds, Part 5

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/5/2009 1:11 PM (GMT 0)
Hi C -
I will reduce my calcium intake and see what happens. Unfortunately I had downed a glass a calcium-fortified OJ before I read your email this morning, but from here on out I'll cut it back. Thanks for your suggestions... I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
Thanks!
Posted 1/6/2009 3:35 PM (GMT 0)

I also cut way back on dairy intake when starting this.  Prior to this I had been eating a bowl of ice cream nearly every night and ceral with milk nearly every morning.  I stopped the ice cream beacuse I wanted to reduce the junky foods from my diet and changed cereal to oatmeal with peanut butter or to pb&j sandwich because I was trying to eat more high mag foods. Like CfromUtah says I think cutting back on the high calcium foods helped. 

I also would suggest for those trying this that you wait until full remission to eliminate your meds or adding back in trigger foods.  I know it can be tempting to do these things when you start to feel better, but I think it can cause regression if you are not fully in remission first.  Once in remission then I think you can add back in trigger foods or reduce or maybe eliminate meds. 

Posted 1/6/2009 6:10 PM (GMT 0)
I was curious about the possibility of eating too much magnesium, so I googled and discovered that people who suffer from hypermagnesemia (too much magnesium in the body) are treated with intravenous calcium to decrease the levels of magnesium.  So just like Cfromutah said, calcium has the reverse effect of what we're trying to accomplish.  And I was making my spinach quesadillas with lots of cheese!  Ergh.  Oh well, at least I know now.  Yesterday and today my lunch was spinach without the cheese, and I can say that I already see a bit of improvement.  Hopefully this will be the ticket for me (and everyone else who's trying it) to get the rest of the way to remission.

Posted 1/9/2009 8:11 PM (GMT 0)
I have increased my uptake of spinach, carrots, nut butters and porridge since reading about this diet as well as following a low sugar, no junk diet and have show improvement in my syptoms. However being a female and breastfeeding, reducing calcium intake worries me. My mother in law was recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis and may need a hip replacement in the near future. Reducing calcium may help the UC but shouldn't females be concerned about getting sufficient calcium?
Posted 1/10/2009 9:00 PM (GMT 0)
Does anyone notice that spinach makes your teeth feel funny? Like your tongue sticks to them? I just started this today, and I bought one of those bags of fresh baby spinach, steamed it, and ate the whole thing. I drank the juice left in the pan to get all the vitamins. There is lots of gurgling going on in my gut! Also, I found the sunflower seed butter (very oily stuff) at Trader Joes. It tastes ok. I ended up mixing a spoon into some plain yogurt with a kick of agave nectar, and it tastes like peanut butter yogurt. Yummmm!
Posted 1/10/2009 9:32 PM (GMT 0)
My gut normally gurgles for an hour or som after eating a can of spinach. I eat the canned.. not best tasting but if it works.... Never noticed the teeth thing. Have noticed m teeth are very sensitive to hot and cold. But someone listed that on here as a possible side effect of my pred.
Posted 1/11/2009 4:23 AM (GMT 0)
DesertDance - I've tried fresh spinach, I've tried cooking fresh spinach, and I've tried using thawed-out frozen spinach; and the frozen stuff (thawed out) is by far the most gentle on the gut. I don't know why, but it seems to create the softest consistency of the three preparations. I eat it with pasta (not whole wheat, just white pasta), olive oil and some diced canned tomatoes, and its very easy on my tummy.
Posted 1/11/2009 4:26 AM (GMT 0)
Cfromutah - Just wanted to let you know that I've been eating my spinach without cheese for the last few days and I would like to say that it has put me in remission. I just need to wait a few more days or even a couple weeks before I can say that definitively, but what you told me has totally helped. Its getting me the rest of the way - I can tell. Thanks AGAIN for everything you're doing here. :-)

Whenever anyone asks why I'm suddenly better, I tell them "I owe this guy in Utah my life." ;-)
Posted 1/11/2009 4:37 AM (GMT 0)
from reading your posts and from talkn to Cfromutah, I quit putting any butter in my spianch to make it tastier. Now it tastes worse... but hopefully it will work better. I agree, for me this has been a life saver. Real test comes when I try to explain it to the doc on tues. LOL
Posted 1/11/2009 5:12 AM (GMT 0)
Your very welcome Kiss! glad to help! Hopefully soon you can say your in complete remission
Posted 1/11/2009 5:53 AM (GMT 0)
unclebubba, I never mentioned butter?
Posted 1/11/2009 6:00 AM (GMT 0)
I am now 99.9% better thanks to the spinach and sunbutter, life is normal again. I have been in a flare since March 07 and all medications had failed. I was searching for a physician so that I could have my colon removed when I came across this site, I am thankful I did. Thanks Cfromutah for sharing this info with everyone.

Posted 1/11/2009 1:36 PM (GMT 0)
yeah but that prety much the only dairy calcium I ate on a daily basis. On pat of butter with my spinach. More I learn though I realize I was getting some calcium on other forms I think from other foods, so I cut out the butter with my spinach. Probably better for my cholesterol anyways.
Posted 1/11/2009 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
Unclebubba - if you want to get off butter, you should replace it with extra virgin olive oil. You may want to add an extra pinch of salt, since you were probably using salted butter before.

You probably already know this, since you said you do most of the cooking in your house... :-)
Posted 1/11/2009 8:42 PM (GMT 0)
Magnesium helps with the absorbtion of calcium and calcium helps to promote a healthy colon not to mention bones.

Smart Balance Light is a great non dairy butter alternative and it has omega 3 and flax oil plus it tastes great and you can cook with it.

Posted 1/11/2009 9:46 PM (GMT 0)
Hej All

This is interesting. I am new to this looong thread. Hoped you wouldn't mind a couple of questions maybe already answered?

1) Do you consider this a cure (!) or a "just" very efficient remission keeper? I mean is it spinach diet for life or?
2) How much do you eat?
3) What is the total diet? Spinach+probiotics (?)+sunbutter or?
4) Not being native English ....What is sunbutter?

Thanks - and CONGRATULATIONS to all you that I has helped !!!
Posted 1/11/2009 10:56 PM (GMT 0)
Once you get in remission you don't have to eat spinach all the time, I haven't ate spinach for three months. I can stay in remission with other High magnesium and high beta carotene foods, carrots,salads, sunflowerseeds, peanuts, peanutbutter etc. But you will have to continuously eat high magnesium and beta carotene foods for life to stay in remission. If I go a couple weeks without eating those foods symptoms start to return. But within only three days of adding them back into my diet symptoms disappear. So for me its a cure but that requires a little effort to make sure I continuously eat the proper foods.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/11/2009 4:06:06 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/11/2009 11:22 PM (GMT 0)
That's great news qsam6! That was one of my hopes that sharing the info on this forum would save some from having to have surgery so I'm glad it helped!

And to all those that have thanked me, your all very welcome!

Posted 1/12/2009 6:11 AM (GMT 0)
Qvist, I would eat one 13.5 ounce can of spinach a day if you can, but if that's too much for you eat atleast a half can a day and I would eat 4 to 7 handfuls of de-shelled sunflower seeds a day. No probiotics or supplements are needed with the diet. Sunbutter is like peanut butter but made with sunflower seeds instead of peanuts. Some people use sunbutter instead of eating the seeds because sunbutter is less irritating on the colon. I hear that 2 to 4 tablespoons a day of sunbutter works if you want to eat that instead of the sunflower seeds. Some people eat the spinach in other forms other than canned spinach such as frozen and fresh cooked spinach and have seen good results but I eat the canned spinach and don't have experience with the other forms. If you have any more questions feel free to ask
Posted 1/12/2009 8:52 PM (GMT 0)

Look at this:

Watch your intake of foods high in oxalic acid. These include almonds, chard, cocoa, rhubarb and spinach. They can cause reduced magnesium absorption.

from http://www.ehow.com/how_3954_absorb-magnesium-supplements.html

Thats interesting.

Posted 1/12/2009 9:06 PM (GMT 0)
if eating foods with oxalic acid reduces magnesium absorption or not you still absorb plenty of magnesium from those foods because I have been experimenting with high magnesium foods  for the last three years and experimented with magnesium supplements before I started with the foods and have learned to be able to tell when I am getting a lot of magnesium in my system. And I can tell you that eating canned spinach and almonds will put a lot of magnesium in your system. Also oxalic acid is more likely to bind with the calcium in the food rather than the magnesium so it will make the calcium less likely to be absorbed than the magnesium.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/12/2009 3:17:18 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/12/2009 10:21 PM (GMT 0)

read this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8926539

Especially at the bottom where it says: The data indicate that oxalic acid remained in spinach after cooking of boil or frizzle was not deleterious to magnesium availability, and that spinach is one of the most promising sources of magnesium.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/12/2009 3:38:24 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/16/2009 11:14 AM (GMT 0)
i had my parents buy me some sunbutter when they were in the US since I can't find it here in the

UK.  Its trader joe's brand.  After eating a few spoonfuls yesterday I have flared again today which may have been the sunbutter or something else.  I noticed it has cane juice in it - maybe thats the problem.  Has anybody else had this problem? 

Posted 1/16/2009 4:16 PM (GMT 0)
Can you find any just plain sunflower seed butter with no sugar? Here in the US they sell that in many health food stores. Also, I have never tried sunflower seed butter or sunbutter. I just eat de-shelled sunflower seeds and they work for me, make sure you chew them up real good if you try going with the seeds. When trying this diet its also a good Idea to research the Internet and find other foods high in magnesium and try adding many of those to your diet as well.
Posted 1/16/2009 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/magnesium-foods.htm

http://www.myfit.ca/foods_highest_magnesium.asp

Post Edited (Qvist) : 1/16/2009 9:22:02 AM (GMT-7)

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