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Sunflower Seeds and Spinach!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 2/24/2009 10:19 AM (GMT 0)
Believe me I don't want to be skeptical as I am on the road to another dose of pred and would do anything to avoid this but are all of you who are eating the spinach, sunflower seeds thing recovering from a flare with the help of prednisolone and either weaning of pred or just stopped? Or have you got in remission just with the use of the diet?

I am interested to find this out before I start what sounds to me like like a horrible diet.  I have begged with my doctor to speak to a nutritionist to find out what foods etc could help me but his response is always its a waste of money and it is not diet related. Yes he agrees that there are foods that could upset you (boy do I know that after a bowl of chilli) and his advice is to stay away from them but as far as fixing UC with diet he dismisses it completely.

I very much agree that if it is helping you then thats excellent and good luck with all that everyone decides to try and thanks for sharing.

Posted 2/24/2009 2:28 PM (GMT 0)

tums - When I started the diet, I was taking medication and had been doing so for several months.  Ever since I was diagnosed with UC (9 months prior to starting the diet), no medication ever worked for me.  Check out my list of "previous treatments" in my signature to see all that I tried.  Within those nine months I spent over $700 on prescription medications (and mine are relatively inexpensive).

After being on the diet for 3 months, I was off all my medication.  I used to think I would be lucky to just be on maintenence meds someday, but even that seemed unlikely; so for me to not be taking any at all is a miracle.

I say this with confidence - do not listen to a doctor who says diet is a waste of time.  Granted, for some people it doesn't help.  But there are many people who have had success with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and now we see that spinach/sunflower (magnesium/beta carotene) can make a huge difference.

I noticed you said it sounds like a horrible diet, but really its quite easy and tasty.  If you like peanut butter, you'll like sunflower seed butter; and there are lots of tasty recipes with spinach that I could give you (you do NOT have to eat it straight from a can - I wouldn't have done it if that were the case).  Plus, once you get yourself stabilized, you don't have to eat this stuff nearly as often as you do in the beginning. 

It really is worth it - I haven't seen a doctor since November, been to the pharmacy since October, or taken any meds since January.  (When I started the diet I was taking 13 pills a day and using rectal meds.)  Oh, and there's that small matter of being able to go outside and not worry about pooping my pants.  Life is good!!

Posted 2/24/2009 3:04 PM (GMT 0)
Kiss520 could you please post some good recipes or give me your email address so i can communicate with you, because my husband who has uc does not like spinach in some of the recipes but i would like hime to feel better so i will try the new recipes you have.
Posted 2/24/2009 3:25 PM (GMT 0)
 I wasn't on any medication when I went into remission from the diet and I haven't been on any medication for the three years that I have been in remission from the diet. I was on colazal for about a year leading up to about a month before I went into remission, but I quit taking it about a month before I went into remission from the diet because I was paying for it out of pocket with no insurance and the colazal just didn't seem to be helping me much, and once I started seeing improvement from the diet I quit taking it.


Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 2/24/2009 6:50:07 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/24/2009 6:50 PM (GMT 0)
Woo hoo first bm today was kinda semi formed it all exploded into undigested spinach when I flushed but it had some substance!!!! That's huge for me!! The 3 more I had were not so there is definate change happening maybe it's healing in sections or something? You guys have similar results?
Posted 2/24/2009 6:59 PM (GMT 0)
Could someone point me to a post that lists the basics for this diet (or just type it for me), please? I've done some searching, but can't find the info that tells how much of each to start out with and such.

Thanks!
Posted 2/24/2009 7:55 PM (GMT 0)

NewUCPat -

Here's one that I ate a lot in the beginning:

Spinach Quesadillas

2 10oz packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry of liquid

1/2 onion, chopped and sauteed in 1 tbsp butter

10oz can cream of celery soup

1 1/2 cup sharp cheese cheese, shredded

1/4 tsp black pepper

flour tortillas - small burrito size

cooking spray

Mix the first five ingredients in a bowl.  Spread about 1/3 cup of the mixture on half of a tortilla.  Fold the tortilla over and place on a griddle that's been generously sprayed with cooking spray.  Cook until the bottom is golden brown and crispy.  Spray the top of the quesadilla with cooking spray, flip it over, and cook the other side until golden brown and crispy.  Remove from griddle, cut in half, and serve immediately.

The spinach mixture last me for 3-4 days (I usually make two quesadillas each day).  Just keep it in a tupperware container in the fridge.

The only problem with this recipe is that is does have a lot of cheese of it, and the calcium in cheese can cancel out the magnesium in the spinach; however, it did get me significantly better.  I would alternate eating the quesadillas with the following soup (which I LOVE):

http://www.smithfield.com/recipes/recipe/susans-caldo-soup

(Just replace the collard greens with spinach.) 

I'll post another recipe soon...

Posted 2/24/2009 11:20 PM (GMT 0)
I would really like to try this diet as well. I was wondering how you much of the spinach and sunflowers to eat each day? Does everyone do the same amount or is there a certain amount you need to consume each day in order for it to work. Also, what about the rest of your diet? Does the other food you eat matter? I would love to start this diet and keep updating verm. I want to know if it works for you.
Posted 2/25/2009 1:16 AM (GMT 0)

for one of those nights that you are butt tired and have a taste for a little asian try this quick recipe i came up with to gobble up that can of spinach in no time. mind you, it's not GOURMET or anything but just something to make it palatable!

1 can spinach

about 2 tsp sesame oil (more or less depending on taste)

sprinkle of sea salt (i get the no-salt added spinach from the get-go)

sprinkling of sesame seeds

sprinkle of garlic powder

nuke in the microwave for a minute-and-a-half.

just wanted to let you all know that i wasn't doing the diet for about a week. my stomach started rumbling a bit and i had some thin poops coming out. ate my can of spinach that night with some sunbutter and the next morning nothing but nice, big, formed poopies! i see this little animation of my colon flexing its muscles like how popeye does in the cartoon after downing the spinach. finishing up my current bottle of colazal (down to 2 caps 3 x day) and my next bottle i will go down to 1 cap x 3 a day. just tapering everything nice and slow.

PS -- for those who don't know i've been on this diet for about 2 and a half months.
Posted 2/25/2009 2:03 PM (GMT 0)
I also goofed on the diet by substituting Nutella for the Sunbutter, and I started having problems. Nutella is a hazelnut spread, and hazelnuts do have lots of magnesium but apparently there is something about sunflower seeds that is better. Just wanted to let you all know in case you got the same idea about substituting...
Posted 2/26/2009 10:56 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for those recipes- they make this diet look much more possible. The Sunbutter is easy to eat, it's the spinach that looks to be a challenge.
Posted 2/26/2009 6:39 PM (GMT 0)
You're very welcome! I'm going to post another spinach one soon... ;-)
Posted 2/27/2009 1:16 AM (GMT 0)
fruitgirl and shmoopy2,
3/4 - 1 1/2  cups of cooked or canned spinach a day.
1/4- 1 cup of sunflower seeds a day, the more the better.
or if your using sunflower seed butter rather than the seeds then 2- 6 tablespoons a day, again the more the better.
Just eat the foods that you normally eat while doing the diet except don't overdo high calcium foods, milk, cheese etc. The magnesium in the spinach and seeds seems to be a big contributor to making the diet work and if you consume excess calcium it will cancel out the good effects of the magnesium. High calcium foods are ok but just don't over do them like eat excess amounts of cheese everyday or drink a half gallon of milk every day. One or occasionally two glasses of milk a day and a little cheese here and there is fine.
Posted 2/27/2009 5:20 PM (GMT 0)

i just wanted to say good luck and stick w/ it to everyone (verminister, etc) that's new to the spinach/sunflower diet.  i've been on it for 3 months now...and am in remission w/ no meds!  i was taking asacol, and started tapering off after about 6 weeks.  actually, since then i don't even eat spinach everyday...just about 3 days straight every 2 weeks or so to maintain.  i still eat sunbutter (yum!!) on a regular basis.  aside from that, i cut down on seeds, nuts, and fiber when i started the diet.  i've always been a healthy eater, so that was an adjustment...but i find it's better to balance the fibrous food/nuts/etc with a low-residue diet (white bread, white rice, etc).  everything in moderation!  :) 

responding to the "horrible diet" post...i have to say that it's been really easy.  i ate a quesadilla every day in the beginning (thanks to kiss520's recipe).  i never ate canned spinach, only frozen.  sometimes, if i'm in a rush, i just put a little butter and salt (or olive oil and parmesan cheese)on plain spinach and microwave it...and it's pretty good.  sunbutter is addictive!  :)  overall, it's been pretty simple...and totally worth it!  being in remission...i haven't felt this good in 3+ years!!

Posted 2/27/2009 7:48 PM (GMT 0)
Had the Western Family canned spinach last night with chicken and mashed potatoes, man I actually loved the canned stuff I find it actually petty tasty! I'm doing pretty good, first bm of day is semi formed. I like the roasted bulk sunflower seeds. Sunbutter is good for morning time.
Posted 3/1/2009 5:40 PM (GMT 0)
Cfromutah,

I appreciate the offer to help me balance out my diet, but I came to the realization that the diet just isn't for me. If I objected to the spinach as i did, it is unrealistic of me to think that I could continue eating it for months until I was feeling better. I realize that you will tell me there are other things to eat high in the nutrients you recommend. The point is that I'm not willing to eat food I find objectionable the rest of my life. Go ahead and shake your head that I can't choke down a bunch of spinach every day for three months in order to feel relief, but it just wasn't working that well for me. Maybe I will one day give it another try, but for now, it isn't for me.
Posted 3/1/2009 7:22 PM (GMT 0)
I was actually going to tell you to eat less spinach because I think there is a time when you can get too much beta carotene and then things start going backwards when you get too much. I have found that I get to a point when I get loaded up with beta carotene after a certain time of eating a lot of spinach(or carrots) I start feeling weird and then need to lay off it a bit, I need to keep it in a certain window where I feel my best. Back off the spinach but continue with the seeds.  Also I think with doing the high magnesium diet for a while that adding a little bit of calcium foods daily helps to balance things out. Not a lot of calcium because too much is bad with the diet but a little daily actually helps things out once mag levels get up a bit in your body.  I have three years of experience experimenting with the diet and can make symptoms come back, and then be symptom free at will just by altering my nutrient level intake so I would say I have it down pretty good of what needs to be done but if the diets not for you then its not for you. It doesn't make much of a difference to me what you do. But I wish you good luck and hope you get well soon.

And one other thing. Now that my levels of the important nutrients are up I only need to eat three baby carrots every two or three days and a couple handfuls of sunflower seeds a day and other miscellaneous nuts here and there to stay in remission. I don't see anything objectionable about having to do that for the rest of my life to be UC symptom free.

NOTE: To everyone starting or on the sunflower seed/spinach diet. Don't let what I said here confuse you. It is important to eat a lot of spinach for the first few months of starting the diet to raise nutrient levels.
But after a few months experiment with reducing spinach intake and see if that works even better for you to keep your intake at moderate levels. Everybody is different so reducing after a while may make you feel better, or you may still be deficient and need to raise levels further if symptoms get worse from the reduction. But there does come a point when you dont need to eat nearly the amount of spinach as you did in the beginning.

 

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 3/1/2009 1:40:11 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 3/1/2009 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
WORD
Posted 3/2/2009 7:45 PM (GMT 0)

It seems that everytime I try this diet again I go more and have mroe blood. It seems to be from both the spinach and seeds. I have read that a few on here have gotten worse before they got better. What where your symptoms that got worse? Logically to me seeing more blood means things are getting worse right? Any ideas just looking for something to ease through this.

Thanks. 

Posted 3/2/2009 7:56 PM (GMT 0)
I got results after 3 days or so I think canned spinach was easier on me than frozen, I wouldn't go with fresh until way later. I think seeds are hard on you if you are bleeding for sure. So like others I am trying sunbutter on toast. That seems less abrasive on colon walls. Then maybe when see results switch back to seeds. I chewed the seeds like cud and they still wouldn't digest properly.
Posted 3/2/2009 8:08 PM (GMT 0)
I started to see results in a couple days also. Also am now to the point where I'm only eatin a can every other day. but still takin a couple hand fulls sun seeds every day. Really noticed full results in about two weeks.
Posted 3/5/2009 8:38 PM (GMT 0)
Luli - I didn't see your most recent post until just now - I'm so glad to hear that my quesadilla recipe helped you get through the first couple months of the diet.  And I'm THRILLED to hear that yet another one of us is in remission.  Congrats to you!!  :-)

Posted 3/11/2009 10:30 PM (GMT 0)
Any updates, verminister?


Back in January, a co worker brought in some sunflower seeds into work and I was munching on them over a week period. I found that my BM's became just like my pre UC days. I have now added fresh spinach to my cesar salad and find that they are continuing to be like they were many, many years ago, wahoo, I love it.

Spring is my normal flare time. It will be a wait and see this spring to see how it goes this year.
Posted 3/12/2009 7:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Guys, I have been pretty much the same for a while here now plateau'd kind of.  I have no blood or mucus/bile anymore whatsoever.  I have been having formed stools 9/10 times for the first BM in the morn before work, also the next 2 will be semi-formed and then explode when I flush.  It has been just over 1 month.  I have had a stressful weekend, job interviews, and my dog of 8 years had to be put down, so that didn't help, but didn't make my symptoms much worse, just noticed a tiny setback.  Totally stress related, not diet.  So the last 2 weeks have pretty much been the same.  I am eating toast in the morning with sunbutter then I have sunbutter sandwiches for work, I haver my can of spinach as a side with dinner.  Then some nights sunflower seeds before bed 2 hours after dinner.  I still have urgency, now thats a catch-22 because my stools are getting more formed and bulked, but same urgency, so I hope this phase got fully goes by quick, it plays with your head.  I used to go like 4 - 6x in the morn before work, and know that I would be empty inside, but now that I am getting better the drive to work and, being there is a bit stressful because I know I am not fully emptied inside, so I need to get my head straight, part of the healing process, I guess for me the urgency will be the last to go. 

For people who don't like the seeds or spinach or find it hard to stomach every day I was mixing the spinach into spaghetti sauce or chili and it made it really delicious, not a lot just a bit to flavor.  Also I was putting nuttella on one side of bread and sunbutter on the other piece of the sandwich and that was YUM.  The nuttela has too much sugar so I am not doing that anymore.  Just waiting for the next phase I will keep you guys posted.

Also I have not been on any meds for YEARS, just suffered through, so that might make a difference as well because most of the people on here are on some type of med when they start this diet.

-VerM

Posted 3/14/2009 12:17 AM (GMT 0)
Some guy my mom knows with UC says he was cured by drinking some tea called Yerbe Mate or something anyone heard of this or know if it works or is safe? Maybe you could drink it with this diet to speed things up LOL
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