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Sunflower Seeds and Spinach, Part 2

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Posted 4/26/2009 11:41 PM (GMT 0)
Shadam posted:

I tried this diet about 2 months ago but wasn't sticking to it religously, I was eating the seeds but was only eating about 1 bock of frozen spinach a week.

I started tonight with eating 1/2 a can of spinach mixed with white rice and ate some vegtable chicken noodle soup.

So I know this might not entertain anyone but I wanted to post my success (or failure - hopefully not) over time. If anyone notices anything that I'm not doing right, please let me know as time goes on...I'm really hoping that this diet helps with my urgency and formation of stools.

Thank you all!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Age: 25 / Male / Florida
Diagnosed: 11/08 / Pancolitis
Asacol - 2 x 3 day (waiting for results)
Prednisone / ended 1/09 (started at 30mgs and tapered down)
Mens Multi Vitamin - 1 a day
Calcium & Vitamin D3 - 1200mc of Calcium and 800iu of Vitamin D3
Metamucil Wafers - Once a day
Jaro - Dophilus Probiotic (3.4 Billion) - 1 a day
Diagnosed with PSC: 3/9 --now taking Urso


Post moved to this thread by moderator.
Posted 4/27/2009 3:10 AM (GMT 0)
What kind of sunflower seeds do we need....can we just eat the kernel......is salted ok...any help is appreciatied.

Posted 4/27/2009 4:59 AM (GMT 0)
just eat the kernels and salted and roasted is fine. or you can eat sunflower seed butter.


Posted 4/27/2009 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
thank you
Posted 4/27/2009 2:47 PM (GMT 0)
When I ate roasted/salted sunflower seeds, I washed the salt off them before eating as the excessive amount of salt seemed to aggravate things slightly. Now I have sunbutter instead.
Posted 4/27/2009 11:39 PM (GMT 0)
THose of you who eat the sunflower seed butter, how much do you eat a day?

Is it ok to just eat 2 peices of toast a day with the butter spread on?

Posted 4/28/2009 11:13 PM (GMT 0)
Today is the 3rd day of trying this diet and to be honest with you today was the first time I've felt this bad.  I had about 8 bm's which is up from the 2-3 avg that I normally have. 

Has this happened to anyone while trying this diet during the first week?  I've been eating about a half a block of spinach mixed with rice along with some chicken.

Thanks!

Posted 4/29/2009 3:32 AM (GMT 0)
Dude maybe switch to canned. Its less fiberous I think. I started with frozen blocks too, but that didn't work as well as canned, and maybe sunflower butter instead of seeds. It took me like a week to see some changes, but a good 3 weeks to see really good changes.. keep the rest of your food low residue too I think, maybe cut out eggs and red meat at the start too.

-V
Posted 4/29/2009 10:39 PM (GMT 0)
Yea, I think I'll stick with the fozen blocks for now but boil the spinach instead of microwaving it because the microwave kills nutrients.  Also, I'm going to the store to get some sunflower butter as we speak.  Does anyone recommend a certain brand or are they all the same?

One side note, today I had a few BM's moslty in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.  Im starting to see a lot less mucous and actually my afternoon 1 was formed but had A LOT of blood...kinda scarey becuase I havent had blood in a while. 

Posted 4/30/2009 4:25 AM (GMT 0)
I saw results almost immediately, it has taken me about 5 months to get my diet just right. During this time I kept referring back to this forum for advice, altering my diet accordingly. Giving up every thing that I enjoyed eating and drinking was the hardest part of this diet, but it has been well worth it. I am now able to eat things that I haven't been able to eat for a long time. If I had eaten a steak several months ago it would have felt like jagged glass ripping through my gut followed by blood and mucus, now I can have one without any problems. When I first started this diet the executives at the Popeyes spinach company were probably impressed with the skyrocketing sales of their spinach at the grocery store near my house. I would stand over the sink scarfing it down as if I were a Zombie with an unquenchable thirst for spinach!

Posted 4/30/2009 6:22 AM (GMT 0)
So wait, half the people on here tell me diet has nothing to do with UC and the other half say it does... I'm lost as ever but I'll always be on this side lol go spinach - popeye the sailor man WOOT WOOT
Posted 5/2/2009 7:06 PM (GMT 0)
I'm a week in to this diet and I dont know if I see any results yet.  I did switch from the seeds to the sunflower butter which is very good by the way. 

Hopefully another week of this will do some justice because spinach and rice every night for dinner is getting realy boring!!

Posted 5/2/2009 9:30 PM (GMT 0)
I am very curious to read on this spinach and sunflower diet.
where can i read about it and the theory behind it.
i am currently following the Specific Carbohydrate diet plus taking meds including 6MP, prednisone tapering (on 30mg this week), asacol...plus supplements.
thank you
peace. health.
Ghena
Posted 5/3/2009 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
Ghena,

There's no specific scientific 'theory' as the diet has been created with some trial and error by another user on the forum, and many of us are just adjusting it slightly to suit our own needs/tastes.

Cfromutah came up with it from his own experience, so you could look up his posts on the forum to read up on his rationale behind it.
Posted 5/29/2009 11:09 AM (GMT 0)
I am new to this site and have had my second flare up in Feb after 8 mos. remission. I am starting the spinach & sunflower seed diet. about how long should I expect to wait until I see an improvement? And is canned spinach really better than fresh spinach? Lastly, can the salt in sunflower seeds aggravate you more? I would really appreciate any responses!! Thanks!!!
Posted 5/29/2009 12:28 PM (GMT 0)
Canned spinach or cooked spinach is more condensed than fresh spinach because it shrinks a lot after heating so its easier to eat more spinach if its canned or cooked as opposed to fresh. Also spinach contains oxalic acid which some researchers say can cause kidney stones but others say a high oxalic acid diet can reduce kidney stones so who knows. After spinach is heated in the canning process or cooking it releases some of the oxalic acid. Nevertheless some have reported good results with fresh spinach.
From what I have seen most people see good results in a month or sometimes even after a week so it varies a lot.
I try to get brands of seeds that don't have a ton of salt because  high sodium in the diet can aggravate symptoms. Even though the sodium content on the package is about the same on many brands they vary a lot so you just have to taste them and see. Also many people eat sunflower seed butter instead of seeds because its less roughage on the colon so you may want to try it if the seeds bother you.

 

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 5/29/2009 7:33:29 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 5/29/2009 12:56 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much. Also, I have proctitis, not colititis.  Will this all still work the same???
Posted 5/29/2009 1:34 PM (GMT 0)
I would think so but I'm not sure. If you try it and it helps please let us know.
Posted 5/29/2009 2:39 PM (GMT 0)
I also read that we shouldn't eat gluten...does this mean no white rice or pasta?  That's what I thought but then I saw other people posted that they were eating spinach with the rice, etc.  Either way, what else can one eat on a spinach and sunflower seed diet besides these two?  To me it seems that there is not much left.  Thanks so much !!!!!
Posted 5/29/2009 3:42 PM (GMT 0)
You should really only eliminate gluten if you have been tested...
Posted 5/29/2009 6:21 PM (GMT 0)
I have been in remission for years from a high magnesium high beta carotene diet, Spinach/sunflower seeds type of foods diet and I eat anything I want without any problems if I keep these foods in my diet. Except if I continuously eat lots of high calcium foods day after day. I eat cheese most days and milk daily but If I was to eat lots of cheese like pizza or nachos or cheese enchaladas for example daily it would start to cause problems. And if I eat lots of eggs it will start to cause problems. The reason being is eggs contain very high amounts of choline, which in high amounts can upset the magnesium and beta carotene balance in your body, and also ingesting large amounts of calcium can upset your magnesium balance. But other than those things I really eat whatever I want with no problems. But when I was flaring that was a different story because lots of foods would cause problems just because my colon was inflamed and sensitive to things so that's probably an individual thing that people need to figure out what bothers them while flaring. Even while flaring when I went in to remission from this diet I was switching back and fourth from eating cream of wheat
and oatmeal in the mornings but the week I went into remission I was eating cream of
wheat so gluten obviously wasn't a problem for me at all.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 5/29/2009 12:28:34 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/17/2009 1:21 PM (GMT 0)

I'm really given hope from reading about this diet and started yesterday. I thought I would spend a fortune on sunbutter and couldn't find any in my local healthfood shop so decided to make my own - It tastes great! I even bought a blender for it!

This is the recipe of what I did....

Sunflower seeds, Flaxseed oil, Manuka Honey, Sea salt are what you need

First roast the SS by putting them in a frying pan with no oil or anything on a high heating and moving them around until they are brown. - MIND THEY ARE HOT!

Then measure a couple of handfuls or enough to 1/2 or 3/4 fill a jar for you to store it in - don't make too much I hear it goes off.

Then blend them so they are a powder and then slowly add the oil, salt & honey till it is a paste.

I used a pinch of salt, 1 large tablespoon of honey and I guess about 50ml of oil.

It was still warm when I jar'd it and was absolutely delicious, I really like spinach too so this diet is going to be a joy! I bought some almonds and pumpkin seeds too and think I will experiment with adding those to it in future.

Today I went to the hospital and the nurse said alot of magnesium is lost with loose BM and was also interested in finding out how I get on.

I wish you all success in getting to the bottom (excuse the pun) of this manifestation as I prefer to call it.

turn
Posted 7/17/2009 1:57 PM (GMT 0)

kc1005 said...
I also read that we shouldn't eat gluten...does this mean no white rice or pasta? That's what I thought but then I saw other people posted that they were eating spinach with the rice, etc. Either way, what else can one eat on a spinach and sunflower seed diet besides these two? To me it seems that there is not much left. Thanks so much !!!!!

Rice doesn't have gluten, some grains are lower in it such as Spelt. Wheat is the main one for gluten.
Posted 8/4/2013 9:53 AM (GMT 0)
Dear members, I hope you are all doing well and in remission with the Spinach and Sunflower seeds diet. I know this thread is old, but I would like to know and have an idea what triggered you to start trying spinach and sunflower seeds?
It might be a trial and error but why spinach and sunflower seeds? Is there something special in them?
And is it the combination of both giving you success?
Has anyone just tried Spinach to see the result? or just the sunflower seeds?

I'm thinking to start with the Spinach(fresh). But I have a weak digestive system, I remember I tried fresh cooked spinach one day, it didn't get digested. I saw them coming out as a whole in the stools.

So I'm going to blend it to watery paste and cook it. I have problems with digesting nuts as well due to the digestive system being weak. I remember after having some handful of peanuts, the next day I started having the problem of bad smelling gas and then subsequently flared cry
I will hold on for sometime before I try the sunflower seeds.

I will see how I'm doing with the spinach, but if someone could advice me on the questions I asked that will be great. blush
Posted 8/4/2013 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
sarav84,

I tried the diet about 6 months ago and had great results. It did clear up the Blood and mucus for a couple of months. It is still helpful but does not keep me in remission. I tried the diet because so many on this board were having great results and it is healthy.

If fresh spinach goes right through you, try frozen or canned. Also, try sunbutter (sunflower butter) instead of sunflower seeds. If you really want to give this diet a honest try, you have to have sunflower seeds in some form AND Spinach. Why does this diet work? Many believe it is the Magnesium among other things, that really help UC/UP. You would think you could just take magnesium supplements to get the same results but you won't. Please keep in mind, you do NOT have to eat this stuff at the same time.

Best...
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