Spinach and sunflower seed to the rescue :-)

My symptoms headed in a very bad direction the last 2 months, so much so that I called my GI to get an Rx for the triple antibiotic treatment. My diet hadn't changed (diet mod. is what gave me remission) but even after stopping green tea and a small amount of banana things were still getting worse day by day.

Then I remembered spinach and sunflower seeds. Even though I eat fresh green veggies every day, snow peas, green beans plus carrots (all cooked) no spinach was eaten for a good while.

For almost a month I've been keeping track of my BM's/other symptoms on an Excel spreadsheet (that's how worried I was) and within 3 days of eating spinach everything turned around to positive. Truly amazing and nothing, absolutely nothing else was changed. Now I've got antibiotic pills I don't want to take but since they didn't cost much no problem.

So I guess spinach is going to be part of my daily food intake until the cows come home. Sunflower seeds will be too but I've always eaten them because I make a grain-free granola bar with sunflower seeds, walnuts and almond flour that is a major snack source for me. So good my DH loves them too.

It's amazing that something so simple can do so much. It may not work for everyone but please give it a try, can't hurt and could help a lot. I also take a teaspoon of olive oil twice daily.

Thanks Babe for your comment.

I want to add something-if someone is in a MAJOR flare then spinach and sunflower seeds would be like a water pistol on a house fire. It took major diet modification to get my flare into remission, not an overnight success by any means. And my colon is still teaching me even after almost 2 years of improvement.

Meds just never did anything to help and I've tried many of the alternate treatments talked about here. Supplements? My colon hates just about every supplement people say works for them. Diet modification doesn't work for everyone (hey it didn't work for me the first time with SCD and I tried other diet mods. in the past too and failed).

The thing is I used to eat spinach every day. Why did I quit? Maybe because I didn't know it was important and it is so hard to pinpoint exactly which foods are doing good things or bad things.

Now I know for sure (like Martha Stewart would say) Spinach is a good thing.

fyi, i was reading in "good housekeeping" the top foods that are contaminated with various illnesses and #2 was leafy greens! i didn't know it was that big of a problem. i eat at least lb of greens a day and not always organic either.

bananagirl,

Thanks for the info.

One more thing to add to the "police" list, haha.

so I ate spinach in a salad about 3 times a week in its raw form for the past few months. However two nights ago my wife sauted some with garlic and Olive oil. The following day particularly the afternoon I noticed how quiet my tummy was. Last night I did the same thing and today it has been even better. When cfromutah started posting about the spinach and sunflower seeds I tried to eat the canned spinach but couldn't stand it. Then tried juicing, no dice. I guess I just need to lightly cook it. Also this time I am taking some better supplements and I am gluten free. Going to eat it every night now!

www.livestrong.com/article/497467-nutritional-value-of-fresh-vs-cooked-spinach/

Post Edited (DanthaMan) : 8/9/2012 1:49:25 PM (GMT-6)

Hey all I posted about this before. The canned spinach is the best for me for some reason. I read about this somewhere too. I don't know why but it works better on the colon then the fresh. I think if you add some fresh at different times it would be ok.


When I started the spinach sunflower diet I was in rough shape 10 - 20 bm a day. I started with a half can a day then up to a can a
Day. I noticed that the bm were turning yellowish and then went browner. It was gradually healing for a month or so. There was still some urgency I think because the rectum area takes te longest to lose the inflammation. That spinach is the only thing that worked for me.

Thanks for sharing. I eat spinach probably 2-3 times a week. I might try upping that. I love spinach, one of my favourite veggies. Much better than brocelli, yuck.

I have acquired the taste for spinach since I've seen many threads on how good it is.   I have to say I buy the fresh (bagged) stuff, and chop it small and boil it down.  Makes a nice accompaniment to salmon or most dishes, in my case it's always with salmon.   I generally add a pat of butter, salt and pepper and it's quite yummy. I read dantheman sautees it in olive oil and garlic, am definitely gonna try that!

It's the sunflower seed that leaves me puzzled, I buy the roasted unsalted ones and crush them up in one of those little coffee grinder, and sprinkle a tbsp on my cereal.  I just don't fancy them any other way, and I've tried the 'sun-butter' which is too much like peanut butter and tends to stick to my palate (and just about everything else!)

As it's always linked with spinach, is it supposed to mixed and eaten at the same time?     What about adding it when sauteeing the spinach with the oil and garlic, would that work?  

 

Dr Belz said that the proteins in green leafy (cruciferous) vegetables are known to interact with a cell surface receptor that switches on T-bet

Unfortunately everyone is different. I can handle spinach but any kind of cruciferous vegetable from broccoli to water cress will immediately send me to flarestown.

It wasn't always that way. I grew up in a dirt poor Italian family that ate pasta and macaroni every day. So when I was able to break out after college to start my career and become financially independent, my highest priority was to eat healthy. I became a health and vitamin freak and that included eating some cruciferous almost every day.

It wasn't until relatively recently that my IBD symptoms came out of nowhere. After thriving on cruciferous vegetables for decades all of a sudden I cannot tolerate them anymore.

I've seen a few posts about spinach and sunflower seeds. How much do you have to eat? I have to admit I am a bit scared to try sunflower seeds since nuts and seeds tend to aggravate my symptoms. Is there a way to prepare them to make them more digestible?

Thank you for this...i'm very new and very confused with the food.  I'm JUST starting to calm a little from a flare (6 weeks of 10-12 bloody D a day, pain, etc.  My Dr. says (for now, until my colon calms - then he wants to send me to a nutritionist) - no veggies, fruit, seeds, nuts...and while I know everyone is different, i am able to tolerate toast, chicken breasts, pastina (baby pasta), applesause, graham crackers, cream of wheat - (tried oatmeal, that killed me).  I'm on Pred (40 mg) now, colon is much calmer.

wow an old post.

Update on my spinach/sunflower seed intake: I rarely eat sunflower seeds now but eat sauteed (wilted) Publix organic fresh spinach at least 2X week (not daily). Spinach is still my "go to" (plus chicken broth) when things go downhill. I also make veggie juice that is 80% collard greens and the rest is carrot and a little red grape for sweetness. I don't take vitamins so this is my extra health boost.

Why collard greens instead of spinach? Because I grow them and have a LOT available in the winter, for some reason spinach won't grow for me :-(

I also make collard greens "soup", cook the collards with a little bacon for flavor and drink the liquid. My 90-something uncle always said it was the secret to his health, he called it pot liquor (he was from West Virginia).

Vegetables are really my guts best friend.
I've been cutting back on nuts and seeds in general as I've been able to eat more different foods so don't have to rely on nuts and seeds so much for variety in my diet.

As a girl who is known for hating veggies, how do I eat spinach? Can't stand the smell of it cooking and the texture looks like slime. I might could eat it raw...does that produce the same effect as if I ate it cooked?

My family jokes that the only green I eat is green M&Ms!