Another success story with spinach and sunflower seeds!

This bandwagon seems to be growing day by day, so I'd better hop on while it's rolling through!

To be honest I've been eating spinach and crushed sunflower seeds for over a year now with no discernible results (no harm either to be fair).
It's quite apparent that I'm not eating it as frequently as I should be. I've been averaging a mere once a week which seems to be more of a 'maintenance' amount.

I usually have it with fresh salmon as a main vegetable, about a cupful, with a tbsp of butter, sprinkled with tbsp of powdered seed then mixed up. Tastes quite delicious and compliments salmon and boiled spuds to a tee.

If I'm hoping to get the benefits that a lot of you are enjoying, just what amount and frequency (spinach/seeds) should I be looking at to start off with?

For the record I've been using fresh spinach and boiling it down, it's amazing how such a huge amount can shrink to almost nothing! I've bought a couple of cans and a bag of frozen to see if it's any better than fresh.

Just an update. Despite the initial promising looking changes, I've dropped the spinach and sunflower seeds after two bad days where I went to 3-4 BM's a day to 5. Could be a coinky-dink since I am also dropping my oral pred very low. I may try again at some point once I have stabilized with the pred taper.

Mackster said...

Christine1946 said...
Mackster..it isn't just you. I tried everything before my surgery.

Yeah, I know where you're coming from Christine, but I genuinely think that I owe this regime a proper try.

It seems obvious that 'once a week' is simply not enough.

I'm just waiting for someone to give me an idea of what is a recommended amount?

This is a quote from the man himself,
"I don't know how much this translates into fresh spinach because I always ate canned spinach but if I was flaring trying to get out of a flare I would probably eat a can of spinach every other day for a few weeks and 5 or maybe even more handfuls of sunflower seeds a day."

So I would say about a half a can a spinach a day, until you are doing better. Myself I think the spinach is more important than the sunflower seeds. Don't be surprised if your BM's obtain a dark green tint to them after a few days :)

I probably eat around 3/4 a cup or so a day myself I would estimate, but it isn't an exact science anyways. If things improve then I plan on cutting down a little bit.

I am trying to eat some at noon and then at night. I think it is helping but, I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet. At least it seems to help with my Constipation problem I was having.
Don't know about the iron thing, I wouldn't think it is anything to worry about. Myself I need the extra iron.

Anyone have good recipe ideas for eating the spinach?

I tried the one saute in olive oil and garlic, and it isn't too bad that way, but looking for any other ideas.

The longest was 2 months but it usually only takes a couple weeks for me. 

 

yeah, no medications at all.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 8/20/2010 8:04:49 PM (GMT-6)

Dear Cfromutah, I'm taking loads of spinach every day since reading this thread; the consistence of my stool soon improved (I was also under steroids and imuran, but I noticed the difference). Now they are dark and somewhat firm, although very copious.

What worsened was the urgency and also I increased the number of daily bowel movements of 1 or 2 unit (from 5 to 7) since I eat spinachs. I hope this is normal and that this will decrease in the future; the urgency is driving me crazy as I hoped the inflamation was decreasing better before I assumed spinachs (I was under a low fiber diet) and really hope they can help with my journey in look for remission.

The spinach undoubtfully are emptying well my stomach as I feel well after the BM, but I am not sure they are also helping with the inflamation, although I always thought greens are important for our system and cooked spinach fiber seems to be the gentlest in our condition.

I also bought that small sunflower speeds, they have a walnut-like taste, but, also here, I'm not sure the amount of my ulcers is still too much for that. They appear to be nutritious and I know the B5 (panthotenic acid) is good for our adrenals, so I will try to take them some handfuls with the dinner and the spinachs.

I'm also praying God that I will stay like you in months, sir.

Well, it's got to be coincidence, because just hours after eating the spinach this morning my next BM had some form and much less blood. I haven't had a BM since then (about 9 hours ago). Surely spinach can't work that quickly can it?
I had fresh spinach before dinner this evening, and it was much nicer than the canned stuff. For dinner i had steamed carrots, courgettes, swede, squash, followed by chicken.
Hoping for a night without being woken too much by my intestines. We'll see...

Well today has been pretty good for me. Only 2 BMs, and the 2nd was very well formed, and there was no blood in the bowl, although there was some on the tissue.

Bathroomsprinter (great name btw) i also take an aloe product which used to be great but i think i may have developed resistance to it. It is really expensive (even more so as to ship it to UK customs put a large levy on it). I used Digestinol/AloeElite/Aloeluyuh/Gastric Gold and they seemed to have similar level of efficacity

Started up the Popeye diet again after a short break (while I stabilized on my new pred dosage).

So far so good. Less bloody mucous, which is my main symptom right now. Stable at 4 BM's day.

This time I am eating 1 can every second day. I even found a way to make it palatable!!

Magnesium is making news for preventing colon cancer:

http://www.realage.com/tips/eat-this-leafy-green-for-your-colon

If you are not used to eating a lot of green leafy veggies in your diet, starting with large amounts can be hard on your digestive system.