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Spinach and Sunflower Seeds, Part 5

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/16/2009 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
Qvist, I like the top link you sent better than the bottom one because the top one goes by weight or cups and the bottom one goes by calories. You may have to eat a whole plate of certain foods to get 200 calories worth. I like to know magnesium content by weight or cups of foods because its easier to judge how much to eat for a certain amount of magnesium.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/16/2009 9:33:47 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/16/2009 4:40 PM (GMT 0)
about once a week I have cornmeal pancakes which are high in magnesium. I also have been eating alot of beets, not sure if they are high or not. I know the greens parts are.
Posted 1/16/2009 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
thats really useful information thanks!
Posted 1/16/2009 4:46 PM (GMT 0)
http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-000120000000000000000-w.html

this site is good to find the magnesium content of foods   and finding the content of other nutrients.

Posted 1/17/2009 2:05 PM (GMT 0)
I have a question about the Spinach and Sunflower Seeds diet. I too find that spinach helps my Colitis. It's an anti-inflammatory food. However, why these two specific foods? Why not the Rice Bran and Seaweed diet? (See http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-000120000000000000000-1w.html for Foods Highest in Magnesium.) Rice and seaweed are also good for Colitis.
Posted 1/17/2009 2:59 PM (GMT 0)
I've been skimming this thread off and on now and find it very interesting. I love spinach, but can't say I've been eating in daily. This made me think of a recipe my mom used to make and I tried it this week and it tasted pretty good to me. Thought some of you might enjoy it.

Amounts do not have to be exact:

- Sautee one chopped yellow onion (not too small) with sliced mushrooms (not sure if mushrooms are bad for you on this diet?) in olive oil (can use a little butter if you prefer). Season to your taste.
- After onions and mushrooms cook, add in a package of drained frozen spinach (or any type of spinach).
- In a separate pan brown and cook ground turkey meat, approx 1 1/2 lbs. (my mom used to use beef). Season.
-Once meat is cooked, pour in five to six beaten eggs. Scrambled eggs with meat until cooked. There should be more meat than eggs.
-Combined the two pans together and mix. Season more if necessary. You can eat it like that or mix in a little parmesean cheese if you prefer.

Anyway, this is nothing fancy, but I made it the other night and it seemed to help settle my stomach. It's fairly healthy too if you use turkey meat, but you definitely need to season and use olive oil since there is little fat in turkey meat. Beef would have a little more fat and flavor probably. It has no grains too if you're trying to avoid those.
Posted 1/17/2009 3:23 PM (GMT 0)
I got pure sunflower butter from http://www.futtersnutbutters.com and their product tasted amazing, and is completely pure. Their shipping was also very fast. Unfortunately, it turns out that sunbutter flares me and is a now a no-go for me. As for spinach, it doesn't do anything for my UC but I tolerate it well so ever since my unsuccessful try at the S&SFS diet, I keep eating plenty of spinach. I use frozen, not canned. I find almost all canned seems to have tons of added salt.
Posted 1/17/2009 7:18 PM (GMT 0)
Because between spinach and sunflower seeds the two of them contain a lot of magnesium and beta carotene. I have found that these two nutrients in food sources are what's needed continuously in my diet to heal my UC symptoms.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/22/2009 6:44:10 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/18/2009 4:42 AM (GMT 0)
has anyone talked to their Dr. about how well this is working for so many people?

Posted 1/18/2009 3:11 PM (GMT 0)

I told my doctor when I first started feeling better.  He didn't laugh or patronize me; he just said that some people are able to find their own methods for natural treatment. 

I was one of the earliest "testers" of this diet, so there weren't as many people reporting positive results.  I only told my doctor that a handful of people were having success with the diet, so maybe that's why he was only minimally interested.  I'd be curious to know how many people there are who are in remission or near it because of the diet...


Posted 1/18/2009 4:47 PM (GMT 0)
told my doctor about this diet... he warned to be careful of takin in to much magnesium because it could possibly make you have D. But when I explained that the mag was coming from spinach and not a supplement he was okay with it. Just didn't want e taking a supplement. As long as it was coming naturally in food he liked the idea. Kind of a little skeptical but basically said if it works it works. He also claimed he was going to check out this site and this thread. Whether he ever has yet or not I don't know....
Posted 1/19/2009 3:18 AM (GMT 0)
kiss -- are you totally off meds now? i'm on my last bottle of colazal. it's the big generic bottle that has like 240 caps in it. i'm not sure if i should start tapering now. i do believe i'm in remission now. 1-2 solid poops a day, no blood, no cramping, no urgency. i really hope this gets a study started so it can help out more people suffering from this disease. all those drug companies won't like it too much though!

Posted 1/19/2009 2:01 PM (GMT 0)
Yep! No more meds. If you've been having a consistently good "bathroom experience," I think you could probably taper. That's just my opinion. Glad to hear your doing so well! :-)
Posted 1/21/2009 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
has anyone else doing this diet been able to successfully get off meds?
Posted 1/21/2009 6:08 PM (GMT 0)
am tepering my pred as we speak, not quite ready to taper off the lialda. But that is my goal.
Posted 1/21/2009 6:26 PM (GMT 0)
I have been completely off meds and all supplements for over 2 and a half years with no problems. This diet worked better for me by far than any med I ever tried.
Posted 1/23/2009 2:09 AM (GMT 0)
I have an update.

So, since 1.11.09 (12days) I have been pretty good about eating roasted and salted seeds and fresh spinach. Roughly 6 to 7 oz of seeds and one or two HUGE handful of fresh spinach leaves. The seeds seem to go right through me but I have seen some bowel improvements, nothing MAJOR yet but they are more formed. I'm determined to take control of this again because (from what I can remember) I consumed about 8oz of seeds a day last summer and it took about 2 weeks and I was forming solid stools, gaining weight and getting color back in my skin! I felt great!! It lasted a month or so because I got screwed up when I drank some water in Israel along with eating a lot of baby carrots as a substitute for the seeds. I'm staying away from carrots, I'm convinced they don't digest well at all and actually made me worse. Then from there I couldn't stomach the sunflower seeds, AT ALL. The thought of them just made me feel sick. I been hanging low for a while but I'm determined to take control of my colitis. I went to a nutritionist and got a lot of supplements to take and tried that for a while with no success. I didn't have much patience either.

Well, when I started my S&SFS diet last week or so I figured I'd finish what supplements I had left and I'm curious if they are hurting or helping? I'll take my chances and stop taking them (since I wasn't on them originally when the diet worked for me last summer) I'm almost two weeks into the diet and I'm determined it will kick in soon! I'm thinking about ordering some sun butter as well cause I'm starting to lose a taste for the seeds. Over and out.

-Gary
Posted 1/23/2009 2:36 AM (GMT 0)
I'm new so I don't know much about this. I've scanned this thread a bit but I was wondering if you are supposed to start at a certain level?
Posted 1/23/2009 2:56 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Gary, You can't substitute the carrots for the seeds because you need both high magnesium and high beta carotene foods. Carrots only contain beta carotene and nearly no magnesium. Carrots and seeds work for me  but not just carrots alone, I get beta carotene from carrots and magnesium from the seeds. Spinach is a better source of beta carotene while your flaring than carrots though because Its easier on the colon, and also spinach contains some magnesium too. Try adding other nuts and seeds or nut and seed butters along with the sunflower seeds so you don't get sick of eating a bunch of sunflower seeds all the time because most nuts and seeds contain a lot of magnesium. Pumpkin seeds are loaded with magnesium and peanuts, almonds and cashews all contain a lot too. Also peanut butter has quite a bit of mag.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 1/22/2009 8:24:30 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/23/2009 3:10 AM (GMT 0)
mythmoon, I would start with one 13.5 ounce can of spinach a day if you can handle that much or one half can a day minimum, or equivalent to these amounts of cooked spinach. And 4 to 7 handfuls or more if you can of sunflower seeds a day or if you want to do sunflower seed butter 2 to 4 tablespoons a day or more if you can. The more the better with the seeds or sunflower seed butter.
Posted 1/23/2009 3:28 AM (GMT 0)
A whole can a day? Does anyone have any recipes lol
Posted 1/23/2009 3:37 AM (GMT 0)
I said a whole can if you can handle it, A whole can is cake for me to eat, I can have it down in about two minutes. Also I think its best to eat the spinach without adding anything to it because I think more of the nutrients are absorbed that way but I think some people have had good results with mixing it with other foods. Just my preference to not add anything to it.

Posted 1/23/2009 3:40 AM (GMT 0)
It's just that I get tired of food easily and spinach is not the best tasting veggie out there. And canned might be kind of slimey...I've always used frozen and added it to stuff. Would spanikopita be a good idea?
Posted 1/23/2009 3:47 AM (GMT 0)
I have found the best way for me to eat canned spinach.... drain the juice... add white vinegar and a little salt and pepper. Yes you get bored with this. but hey I get bored with my meds also. When this starts working, boredom is the last thing on your mind. Spinach is 75 cents a day... how much are your meds? plus... spinach is also fiber. and most of us take some sort of fiber supp...... In the long run its healthier for us. And yes I still think it tastes bad.. but all medicine tastes bad, don;t ya remember that from being a kid?... LOL
Posted 1/23/2009 4:02 AM (GMT 0)

mythmoon said...
It's just that I get tired of food easily and spinach is not the best tasting veggie out there. And canned might be kind of slimey...I've always used frozen and added it to stuff. Would spanikopita be a good idea?

I think Spanakopita is better than no spinach so yes its a good idea but be sure to eat plenty of sunflower seeds or sunflower butter daily too and other high magnesium foods when you can.

 

 

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