Diet with financial issues

Hi Cassidy. Do stick around. I know that not only can really good quality food be expensive but also paying for the fuel to cook with is not always easy (and, if you are anything like me, food goes through better cooked than raw!). I don't know where you live or what shopping is like where you are. I am in the UK so things are a bit different here.

Try not to worry too much about your diet, if we worry too much about what we are eating while we eat, it can cause indigestion in itself, which makes life with UC harder.

meanwhile, here are a few things I follow:

What to avoid:
- try to not eat too many packaged foods that contain additives such as emulsifiers, maltodextrin, carageenan, watch out for cheap chocolate that uses an emulsifier called polysorbate, latest research seems to suggest that these may be bad for the mucous layer of our intestines that we need to keep intact

- wary of foods that bill themselves as healthy because they contain sunflower oil, sunflower oil is not our friend, a longitudinal study showed more incidence of IBD in people with a diet high in sunflower oil, probably due to its Omega6 content. Indeed fried food may be bad not so much due to the frying but due to the high amount of Omega6 in the oil

mostly, it's trial and error seeing if anything obviously upsets your digestion

Some ways to get nutritious food in
- bone broth is a great base for soups. Near me there is a farmer's market once a week and the sellers will often bring bones very cheaply or for free for me. If there is such a market accessible to you it is worth having a chat to sellers to see if they might do a deal for you. It can be embarrassing to ask but I find they are just happy that someone is taking an interest in their product. They also have cheaper cuts of meat that they might not display but will bring on order. Once you have your soup base you can bulk it up with some basic vegetables or make rice soup

- If you can tolerate beans and pulses soaking them yourself for 48 hours makes them much more digestible, they are cheap to buy raw, just a few mashed up can give you some good protein and resistant starch

- as Deltaforce said, ethnic stores can be great, also for things like turmeric and ginger that are probably good for us, anti-inflammatory and give some good taste to plain food like soups. Where I am, they are half the price in the local Indian store compared to a large supermarket.

- I would agree on the sauerkraut too, really worth making it yourself, one good quality cabbage goes a long, long way when shredded. Pickles in general if you can learn to make them are full of good bacteria and you can get the vegetables when in season so cheaper.

- the smaller you chop food up, the quicker it is to cook so less fuel costs.

- look around for blogs on the net from people cooking on a budget, there's lots of youtube vids too. There's a well known one in the UK called agirlcalledjack but don't know if she would use ingredients not available to you.

Good luck - it can really be fun and satisfying to discover cheap and healthy recipes. I'm always happy when I give less money to the food companies that try and fill us full of rubbish

Very pleased with ks1905, I feel you've understood my situation the most. I really shouldn't go into detail about our financial situation, but we barely afford the food we do have, the little amount. We have to be more concerned with heat, rent, water, electric, than the food, especially the type of food. We eat what we can, when we can. It is easy for a working person to say, oh this isn't expensive its only a couple dollars, but sometimes the money just isn't there. I find it unsettling how some of you, think you know my situation more than I do. Sorry for getting so defensive, this is just a delicate and personal matter.

Thank you so much. This helps a lot! I've heard diet is a major help, and also that it does nothing for UC. I guess we will see what happens in my case. & personal thanks to bananagirl, hope all is well now, I totally relate.. Maybe I will be able to make some cheap changes in my diet. Appreciate all the responses. :)

Aah I wish I could help, but I also live in the UK, so have no idea of what foods are available/cheap where you live.

I do have some ideas though. First of all, I know some people's UC is not affected by diet, but mine definitely is. I can't tolerate high fibre foods, even when I am in remission. I also find very rich foods, such as a roast dinner, can be a problem. I also second the person above who said that you should try cutting out dairy, as they said that you have had problems with dairy in the past.

In the UK, doctors do recognise the effects of diet on UC. The most common recommendation is to find out what you can and cannot tolerate personally. You know your body better than anyone else.

Do you have supermarket own brands in America? If so, buying the cheapest version of the same product can really add up. Also your mum could have a look at the reduced section. Sometimes the food is reduced because it has a short date, but that food could be tonight's meal. Sometimes if you are lucky, it is reduced because the packaging is ripped or damaged, but the food inside is perfectly fine.

Are there any big chain supermarkets near you? Small, local shops tend to be more expensive, and also only stock well known brands. You could look into having food delivered, some supermarkets round here are so keen for people to use their delivery service, that the delivery charge itself is either free, or very cheap. This also makes budgeting easier, because you can see the total cost, and take things off, without the awkwardness of getting to the till in a shop, and asking the assistant to take things back.

Loyalty card schemes can also save you money, especially if they send you money-off coupons, or coupons for money off if you spend over a certain amount, or are partnered with other services that you use anyway. For example, you might top up the car, and earn points towards your next money-off coupon.

I personally find frozen and tinned vegetables to be more economical. Mostly because fresh veg goes off very quickly, in our household any fresh veg will have gone mouldy before getting eaten. I grew up in a very poor household too, and we always tried not to throw food away. Especially if you are very ill, as you are, and might not be able to eat large meals, or might be introducing vegetables slowly.

I have to say aswell, a lot of people have mentioned spending time and effort cooking foods from scratch. This is not always possible when you are very ill and have little energy. It can also be very difficult to ask someone else to do this for you because you are ill. I find chunky vegetable soups (canned) can be a way around this. They are usually cheap, cook quickly, and have everything you could want from a main meal. Or you could try eating cold cooked chicken instead of cooking it yourself, if you can get it cheaply. When I am in remission, and can eat, I often cook frozen veg on the hob, and chuck some cheap pasta in. Then when it is ready I add some cold chicken and maybe make gravy out of granules to go on top.

Here's an idea for the future: When you are in remission, and old enough (16 over here) you could consider maybe getting a weekend job in a supermarket? One of my friends works at a supermarket, and on top of staff discount, they get the first choice of the reduced foods, she often manages to get a bargain.

Sorry if you can't get these things in America, or you have already tried some of them. I wouldn't want to upset you, just thought maybe one of those ideas might be useful.

You are very lucky to have this forum and the people here are your friends and very concerned for you. As a UK gran am very touched by your predicament. I was 18 when I had colitis (diagnosed as piles by my GP and treated so, I nearly died). A few vegetables cooked to make a soup, in particular chicken soup, might not cost too much is a good standby, anything on toast, beans, egg, cheese. Potatoes can be boiled in their skin on top of the stove, then crispened up for a little while in the oven or grill. Eggs - scrambled, poached, fried, omelette. Milk - as a hot milky drink, smoothie, made in to a sauce (bit of flour and butter cooked til thickened) poured over fish. You tube as suggested might have some demos. Wishing you well, kids over here generally cant cook but maybe you could get some ideas like you tube about how to cook. Thoughs are with you

Cassidy, mention several things that your family usually buys and i'll try to think some very easy Polish recipes which u can easily do yourself. Let's take potatoes, for example. Take, let's say, 8 potatoes. Peel them and cut into slices. Put them into a pot, add 3 tablespoons of oil (you can also add some garlic if you tolerate it) and fry or stew them (on a low fire and stirring all the time) for 5 minutes. After 5 min, add 2 cups of water and one teaspoon of turmeric which is very good for uc. Cook the potatoes for 25 min. (this is in fact Indian recipe). I've once written here a recipe for the Polish Silesian dumplings which are also good for uc. To prepare them you need cooked potatoes, eggs and potato starch: http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/polishnoodlesanddumpling/r/silesian.htm