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giving up coffee (caffeine)

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Posted 5/13/2010 5:31 PM (GMT 0)
I have forgotten what it is like to feel well.

I read this forum and research what helps flareups on the internet.

There are a million different opinions, recomendations, etc. Dont eat this, Dont eat that, etc etc.

I want to do things for my health in addition to just taking medicine. 

If I called my GI, I know she will just want to do another course of Prednisone. 

A week ago I started keeping a food diary and a symptom diary, which has been the most helpful thing I have done besides taking my meds.

I was eating yogurt and drinking coffee in the morning.  Almost eveyday, about 10 or 11 I would start with urgency and bloody d.  Since I was having it a bit more throughout the day I never really conected it to the yogurt or coffee.  It even would happen if I had tea.  I had an "aha" moment when reviewing my food diary and realized that while in a flare i can not deal with any dairy or caffiene.  It has been 3 days without caffiene and dairy and I am noticing a difference.  I am lactose intolerant and I thought I could handle yogurt, I guess I can not!

A few questions:

1. If I am not in a flare, do you think i can tolerate coffee?

2. I would like to add a probiotic but money is tight.  Is this worth it, and what do you rec?

3. I would also like to add omegas/fish oil , any recs?

4.  I need healthy breakfast ideas, ones that are filling and have protein, but no dairy.

Thanks everybody!!!

 

Posted 5/13/2010 5:36 PM (GMT 0)
I have oatmeal with soy milk, soft fruit and some grapenuts mixed together for breakfast. very filling unless I'm on prednisone (I get hungry two hours later)
Posted 5/13/2010 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
When I cut coffee and dairy out of my morning routine I felt so much better. Now I have green tea instead, with maybe a bagel or english muffin... I do not think the caffeine is the culprit, maybe something else in the coffee, at least for me it would seem as such. Dairy later in the day doesn't seem to bother me, just in the morning. Also, when I added VSL#3 probiotic (pill form, 5 pills every day), this was very helpful as I take it first thing when I wakeup as well on an empty stomach. Hope you feel better soon.
Posted 5/13/2010 7:27 PM (GMT 0)

i_love_coffee said...

A few questions:

1. If I am not in a flare, do you think i can tolerate coffee?

2. I would like to add a probiotic but money is tight. Is this worth it, and what do you rec?

3. I would also like to add omegas/fish oil , any recs?

4. I need healthy breakfast ideas, ones that are filling and have protein, but no dairy.

Thanks everybody!!!

1. This is my issue too. I really love decaf coffee. Unfortunately, it makes my poo less well-formed even when I'm not flaring. I've stopped drinking it. cry I also love Chai, but it doesn't taste as good without the sugar and cream. cry Now I just drink water and herbal teas (without added sugar and cream). The upside is that I found out that drinking beverages with sugar gives me horrible sugar cravings throughout the day. I no longer get such all-consuming sugar cravings. I still get them, but not so bad.

2. Buy the probiotic. I also have money issues; so I buy inexpensive ones at the drug store.

3. I just buy regular omega 3/fish oil supplements from the drug store. I buy ones on sale.

4. A banana with sunflower seed nut butter.

For me, it was at first very difficult to figure out my trigger foods. This was when I was in Taiwan and had this horrible skin inflammation and had to take antibiotics every day for it. I had that inflammation for about five years. It finally went away after I eliminated breads and cheeses from my diet. It took me that long to figure out that breads and cheeses were feeding the inflammation, because I loved my breads and cheeses. After some 10 years, I was able to eat them again.
Posted 5/13/2010 7:53 PM (GMT 0)

Subdued said...
The upside is that I found out that drinking beverages with sugar gives me horrible sugar cravings throughout the day. I no longer get such all-consuming sugar cravings.

Glutamine supposedly has a reputation for quieting down and controlling sugar cravings. (At least according to diet guru Robert Atkins). But that is not why I take it. It is an amino acid and if you take it with a meal your body will use it to help build muscle. But if you take it on an empty stomach, glutamine is one of the building blocks of the cells in the digestive system some believe that it can help repair damage from IBD.

http://www.vitaminevi.com/Concern/Ulcerative_Colitis-F.htm
Posted 5/13/2010 8:59 PM (GMT 0)
I cannot have dairy or wheat so breakfast used to be a challenge. Here are a few breakfasts that I enjoy:
1 piece spelt toast with 1 TB low fat no sugar added peanut butter and a 1/2 c of fresh fruit;
1 piece spelt toast with lox, capers and lemon (sometimes a little cream cheese);
spelt cinnamon french toast with 1/2 banana;
2 wheat-free potato pancakes with 1/2 c applesauce and 2 veggie sausage patties;
1/2 c wheat-free muesli with 1/2 c vanilla Silk soy milk;
wheat-free pancakes with 2 veggie sausage links

The chocolate Silk Soy milk is so good that it is the only chocolate milk my children will drink. I eat the veggie sausage links and patties because the real meat ones can cause problems for me. I am lucky that I never had to stop drinking coffee. That would be very hard in a house full of Austrians.

I hope you feel well soon.

Cynthia
Posted 5/13/2010 10:03 PM (GMT 0)
1. You can drink coffee again once in remission.
2.
3. I tried fish oil and it didn't do anything for me
4. Eggs
Posted 5/14/2010 1:49 AM (GMT 0)

BabeintheWoods said...

Subdued said...
The upside is that I found out that drinking beverages with sugar gives me horrible sugar cravings throughout the day. I no longer get such all-consuming sugar cravings.

Glutamine supposedly has a reputation for quieting down and controlling sugar cravings. (At least according to diet guru Robert Atkins). But that is not why I take it. It is an amino acid and if you take it with a meal your body will use it to help build muscle. But if you take it on an empty stomach, glutamine is one of the building blocks of the cells in the digestive system some believe that it can help repair damage from IBD.

http://www.vitaminevi.com/Concern/Ulcerative_Colitis-F.htm

Yes. I take glutamine supplements. I don't know whether or not they help repair damage from IBD, but I don't have any scar tissue from my previous flares.

Thanks for the link. It's very informative.
Posted 5/14/2010 3:12 AM (GMT 0)
I have problems with coffee too. Even black tea can be too much for me, if I'm not feeling well. Tannins can cause problems, so it might be that more than (or in addition to) the caffeine.

For breakfast, I find cereal with rice milk and hemp hearts (for protein) is quick and nutritious.
Posted 5/14/2010 4:55 PM (GMT 0)
The good news for my UC is that as I have gotten better I am able to drink green tea, small amount of coffee and small amount of chocolate with no ill effects. Earlier in the year any of these would have caused multiple BM's and continuing D.
When in a flare I have to be very rigid with diet, no caffeine.
Now I am trying to get balance back from C which before getting UC I tended towards.
In the good old days I wouldn't even be concerned about C but UC has made me hyper-aware of exactly what is going on colon-wise.

1. Yes but only based on MY colon not yours. :-)
2. Yes. It's worth the money to try. I've tried 2 and feel VSL#3 was more effective. Yes expensive.
3. I use a liquid (not pill) refrigerated fish oil by nutraceutical.com called PFO. Not fishy at all. I did not like the pills at all.
4. 2 Egg, spinach and swiss cheese omelet, plus a slice of bacon. (I am dairy intolerant but a slice of swiss is OK for me)
Posted 5/14/2010 5:15 PM (GMT 0)
1. Yes, you probably will be okay once you are not flaring
2. The good ones are expensive but can be worth it for some people
3. Fish oil can be helpful for some but for others it can cause diarrhea so be careful, it can cause this even for those without any GI issues. I tried it and got so so so SICK
4. Oatmeal is filling and so good for you - not sure about the protein though...
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