OT--Becoming a vegetarian

Yeah lettuce hurt during a flare for me.

Any fresh fruit? I know some fruits (pineapple, kiwi) are irritating to your mouth. I forgot what's in them that makes them that way...

Ugh, anyways, good luck lol. I need my meat.

Yes. I am a vegetarian. Have been for for over 15 years. I started mainly for the humane reasons. And it's always just felt right. If you put your mind to it, it really is pretty easy. There are GOBS of recipe books out there. And of course the internet is a great resource. ( I love Kraftfoods.com or bettycrocker.com as they have 100's of vegetarian recipes to choose from.) Morningstar brand of soy products are actually really good. The soy burgers and chix patties are very good!!

I am really not a fruit eater. And I could eat vegetables all day. I do eat a lot of soy. And still do eat dairy (cheese, milk) and eggs.

During flares, I do try to avoid the really harsh stuff. But you can still get your veggies and fruits in healthy forms that are not raw. I do a lot of steamed veggies.
Good luck!

My daughter, with UC, was a vegetarian from birth. After doing our research about UC and diet, we've decided to feed our kids meat. They eat anti biotic free meat, are off dairy for the moment, free range eggs, veggies.
I've been vegetarian for over 20 years, I really don't feel it's difficult at all, especially now where everyone has a vegetarian option on the menu. You can eat dairy, all grains, all veggies. What are you allergic to with your OAS? Did they say you were allergic to all fruit? That doesn't sound plausible but I'm obviously not an allergist. Look at the Moosewood cookbooks. Get some Indian cookbooks an work from there.

Things like hummus, bean dips (can you have those?), guacamole are good even on sandwiches. Will you have eggs? Cheese? I'm Indian too, so it was no problem for me to go veggie at the age of 12 (most of my family is not but it didn't matter since there was so much to eat). As for the meat you eat, well, UC is often triggered by antibiotics. If you're eating animals that have been pumped full of antibiotics, it means you're absorbing at least some of that. It's expensive though! We just feed it to our two little ones (my husband and I are veggie) and it costs a fortune. Before I went out on my own, my mom taught me how to make a few things like daal, channas, rajmas, and a few subjis. It's very easy when you understand which spices to use and the order to use them in. The great thing about Indian food is that it is generally quite simple to make (and of course delicious)!

I buy this spinach and Masala chicken dish in the frozen foods section of Whole Foods. I add turmeric powder to it. It is awesome! I usually don't recommend it, because it has a tomato-ish based sauce, and tomatoes are pro-inflammatory.

I'm the same. My diet is low in meat and before I got UC, the only meat I ate was fish. I started eating chicken and turkey after I got anemic. Some vegetarians have a hard time with it though. They think that either you are a meat-eater or a vegetarian. There can be no in-betweens. In fact, they even prefer the meat-eaters to the semi-vegetarians. They hate the word semi-vegetarian. They think the vegetarian word is being misused. So I usually just tell people that I don't eat mammals.

I wouldn't worry about lettuce, it has absolutely no nutritional value anyways...and if you're thinking about becomming a vegetarian then you have to make sure you're eating a variety of foods that all contain nutritional value....it's also not something you can necessarily do overnight (especially with having a bowel disease) it's better if you ween yourself into it, the body is very sensitive to major changes so you don't want to end up getting sick from something like becoming a healthy eater. Do lots of research and follow your gut instincts.

Good luck :)

Hmmm. A vegetarian diet would definitely bother me while flaring though I do eat a lot of veggie foods while not flaring. Beans and lentils are great though in a flare they suck for me because they make me poop sooooooo much. Also, if you want to include eggs, omelettes and quiches are great lunches. Same with eggplant sandwiches (another thing rough on my stomach while flaring sadly). And all sorts of soups, yum. Soups are like my favorite food ever.

notsosicklygirl, have you had Panera's cheese and sundried tomato panini? It is amazing!

I only find restaurant Indian food to be rich, and I'm okay with it if I have it once in a while. My dad's a health freak, so my mom's (Indian) food is pretty healthy! But I really need to learn how to cook...

Thanks for the ideas! I think I'll stick to organic meat every once in a while, and go vegetarian rest of the time.

*For those of you looking for naturopaths, try to see if you can find someone with an MD as well so it'll be covered by your insurance. However, I haven't had luck with a homeopath (for non-UC reasons).

kweeks, our ped GI sucked too. We now have to drive to Toronto, but it's worth it. Glad you have a new one.

I am orginally from T.O and love my GI there. I still see him when I am there, but it wasnt easy not having one here when i was pregnant. I find that my old one just didnt listen to me! he never once sent me for a blood test!!! All throughout my pregnancy when i told him i was bleeding!!! Horrible!!!

I wonder if I can warm people not to go to him or if its against forum rules?

I really think he did more harm to me than good. I could have caught my flare early, i knew i was flaring but he wouldnt believe me. Also I could have had my cscope done by now instead of waiting till May when my new GI has sched. it. phew ok, vent over :)

pokesmom-I find this true when in remission.  While I am in remission I can pretty much eat what I want though I try to limit caffeine and fried foods as they bother my colon anyway.  However, I notice that when in a flare some foods really but an extra strain on my body and make the flare extra uncomfortable.  Most of these foods are either gassy ones or really fibrous ones.