My food diary

but honestly, your diet looks pretty good to me. I'm impressed that you get so many veggies in everyday. the only foods that stand out to me are the meatloaf and chicken dinners (I'd pay for that for days) and prunes, raisins or any dried fruits make my gut extremely unhappy. but maybe that's just me, I don't know.
oh, and I've been limiting the bananas, which is hard as I love bananas, but too many and I feel 'heavy'.
I think every person has their own list of 'good' foods and 'troublesome' foods. It took me a long time to figure out some of mine (still mad about the bananas!). Personally, I do very well with lots of citrus and apples, but too much wheat (even whole wheat) or nuts and I don't feel as good.

I'm very interested to read everyone else's responses

Hello,

It looks like you eat well. I also would have a hard time cutting out all meat. I remember you saying that you were pretty regular, but still have pressure and, like me, the Kegels make it worse. I usually also have no problems going, just always with the pressure. (I have also worn my V2 just to feel more "up"!) I can't imagine not eating meat would really make a big difference for me, but I haven't tried it. I'll be interested in what feedback you get as I may be applying it in my own situation. Have you found the acidophilus helpful at all? I do not like yogurt, so I have considered adding one to my diet.
Best Wishes,

BMomma

…AH-HA Mommynow! The smoking gun…

What stands out for me are the fairly high levels of refined carbohydrates in your diet – this would certainly be enough to make my gut lax and irritable, and also my blood sugar levels crash and burn. Let’s look at Day 1.

The bran cereal is a processed foodstuff and even if it doesn’t contain sugar and other additives, probably resembles little of the grain that grows from the ground. “Bran” has been heavily marketed to us as necessary and beneficial when in fact the insoluble, jagged fibers of wheat bran can be very hard on the human digestive tract.

Wheat in general can be problematic for humans and probably should be limited to one serving a day for most of us. On this day you had five servings. Rice milk is a refined carb and OJ a concentrated fruit sugar.

I would suggest substituting hot oats, which are a soluble fiber, with banana, ground flax (grind fresh – the oils are extremely fragile), and a spoonful of honey, dates or raisins. I’d skip the rice milk and have a whole orange instead of juice.

For mid-morning snack you can go to the trouble of grinding dates, figs, dried apple, almonds, sesame, walnuts, and sunflower seeds for the yummiest and best granola bars possible, or just throw together a “gorilla bowl” of fruit and nuts. Try to stay away from grains here.

At lunchtime, instead of a sandwich, how about folding the tuna into a steaming bowl of brown rice and adding ground sesame, green onions, a dash of sea salt and squeeze of lemon. Your diet seems a bit short on vitamin C, which increases our capacity to absorb iron.

Enjoy the chocolate cookies – better if you could find some made without wheat.

For afternoon snack, try replacing the melon with a munchie plate of carrots, celery and turnips to go with the V-8. This is the sort of fiber you need.

Dinner looks good, but by adding the juice of a whole lime to your water you may be able to discontinue the iron supplement (which causes constipation in many) by the time of your next Dr. visit.

For evening snack, enjoy your whole-grain toast. You may want to try substituting raw tahini, which is ground sesame butter, for PB sometimes. It’s loaded with magnesium – a mineral depleted from much of our food supply these days and zinc, necessary for proper functioning of our immune system.

Bon’ apetite!

Christine

Hi Bigmomma

I'd like to chime in that I find probiotics very useful, especially after antibiotics or when I am getting constipated. I find that my bowels are a lot more regular and the stool softer, so less chance of straining on the toilet.

I figure that with a larger range of bugs in the gut, and in better balance with each other they do a more efficient job at digesting food, so you end up with better quality poo!!

I haven't done a double blind trial on it, but I feel that tiredness, constipation, poor digestion, poor fluid balance, lack of good bugs, too many bad bugs and stress are all connected in some way. It is probably a bit like the chicken and the egg. You never know which is cause and which is effect. Adding some good bugs every day for a month or so definitely helps my system.

Cheers

Louise

I agree, but the source is so vitally important. There’s just no substitute for whole foods – REALLY whole foods – ones that have never seen an assembly line. A little goat dairy, run by women! –started supplying our food co-op last year with the most delightful yoghurt you can imagine. They do have to pasteurize the milk, which they do to the very minimum allowed by law (I think it should be AGAINST the law to pasteurize milk! But do understand the problems with mass population and disease) and then each batch is processed by hand, using four different high-grade cultures. We may have to look harder and travel further for our food these days, but high quality resources are out there for most of us.

Hello Louise,

Thanks for your reply, I really love the idea of good cultures and know that they have great health benefits, but as hard as I have tried I cannot stand the taste of yogurt:( I think that suppliments may be a good way to get some in my diet. I love frozen yogurt, but have read that most of the bugs die during freezing. Does anyone have info about that?

Best Wishes
Bmomma

Hi Bigmomma

I enjoy yoghurt when I enjoy it (usually homemade, not the sweet commercial variety), but use a capsule form of probiotic which has to be kept refrigerated, and which I buy from a pharmacy, a month's course. Yes, it does cost a few dollars, but it is only once a year or so that I do it, and it repays me by making my digestive system work smoother, and so preventing further prolapse development. Everything has its costs. Now I am no longer using asthma medication the money I save goes into more beneficial things, like occasional probiotics!

Cheers

Louise

Your health food store should carry "rice bread". Perhaps in the freezer section. I like to toast mine "well done" and put coconut oil and almond butter on it, replacing wheat bread which leaves me feeling bloated and very tired. A definite "knock out" food. Vitamin cottage carries gluten free cookies, at least here in the Springs they do. It may just be a local item as they are home made.

You can make your own hummus, I think I mentioned the recipe here a year or so ago but that recipe used tahini and it is great for dipping fresh veggies (peppers, celery, cucumbers....). It is a meal by itself.

Cooked foods are hard on your body and are often overeaten when presented at a meal. While you can still benefit from cooked, it helps to add fresh foods whenever possible at the same meal. Ultimate health is hard to attain w/o constantly working to improve one's diet.

Magnesium is often found to be lacking in our Western diet and this mineral alone accounts for much in the way of health. Without it, your calcium is not absorbed and osteoporosis descends upon your bones. Constipation also occurs, a curse for all of us suffering from prolapse. Just taking this mineral at night helps the body to sleep soundly. And I have recently discovered that if you are a "tooth grinder or clencher" at night, taking a B supplement before bedtime helps your jaw to relax thereby easing this condition.

One learns a lot as one ages. :)

mare

I have been really trying to keep an eye on what foods may be problematic for me. I wanted to ask Christine, why peeled Granny Smith's and not whole for constipation? I eat Granny Smiths all the time but never peel them. Also, how about pasta, regular "white" or whole wheat or otherwise. I love pasta and would like to know if there is any one kind that is better. I would assume that the whole wheat is better, but like all store bought foods, you never know. I make my own 100% whole wheat bread at home and have never considered wheat a bad thing, but I wonder if I may be getting too much....I also love rice (brown) any thoughts on that? I do plenty of fruits and veggies and seeds and nuts and am trying to incorportate more beans and lentils. Anyone have a good bean recipe?

Thanks!
Bmomma

Unfortunately, our foods are not what they used to be 100 years ago. The land they are grown on suffers and is no longer able to produce a food that is totally nourishing. therefore, we must supplement. If you use food yeast (sprinkle it on your food) your iron level would increase. However, food yeast is high in phosphorus so you would need to increase your calcium/ magnesium to keep these minerals in balance. Quite often additional B vitamins will up your iron levels. If you are a tea drinker (not herbal teas), your iron levels will be low.
As for magnesium, I use Ionic-Fizz by Pure Essence labs, as magnesium is hard to absorb. If you are taking a 500 mg tablet you will be lucky to absorb half of that amount.

I also have a mouth guard and for the first time in 13 years, #19 (a molar) no longer aches in the morning as I have been taking a B supplement at night.

mare

Here is a quick recipe using black beans: warm up a can of black beans, dump into a bowl, add cut up tomatoes, red onion, cilantro and a little olive oil, vinegar or salad dressing and there is supper. :)

mare

first is bean burgers (I got it from the NYTimes food section)

1 can black beans
1 onion
1 egg
1/2 c rolled oats
salt, pepper, chili pepper to taste

put it in the blender
shape into burgers, grill on cast iron skillet.

we eat it with tomatoes and lettuce and call it dinner

recipe number two:

sautee 1 onion
add 1 can black eyed peas
add some crushed tomatoes
salt and cayenne pepper

cook a bit
we serve over brown rice

Thanks for the recipies ladies! I may give one a try this week. My son "hates" beans, but if they were mashed up he would probably never know;) How are you doing with your pregnancy granolamom?

my diet these days is AWFUL
I can't stomach anything healthful. whole grains, beans, veggies, all come right up.
I'm eating, believe it or not, white bread, bagels, butter and cheese with an occasional steak. I NEVER eat this way. at least I am craving grapefruit, oranges and granny smith apples so I am not getting constipated.
hopefully soon the nausea will end and I can get back to a 'normal' diet.
aside from that, I'm doing really well. 'celes not bothering me at all. just kinda worried in the back of my mind how things will be after, but I know you guys will help me get back into shape.

thanks for asking

Oh Granolamom…I’ll never forget having to pull over to the side of the road and open the car door to barf. With both my pregnancies I was sick every minute of every day for the 1st three months. After that it was like a light switch had been flipped and I was never nauseated again. I hope you feel better soon!

Bigmomma…the grains issue is complex for sure and something individuals have a wide distribution of tolerance to. Grains are literally for the birds, as those animals have a specialized organ, a “crop” to store and sprout seeds before digesting them. The seedcoat of grains contains a variety of enzyme inhibitors to prevent them from sprouting in less than optimum conditions. These are tough on our digestive system – particularly such substances as phytates, which bind with essential minerals and carry them out of the body.

I remember reading about a remote culture in the Middle East where there was an epidemic of men who were sexually underdeveloped – twenty-five year-old men who looked like young boys. Their arrested development was traced to a steady diet of unleavened whole wheat bread, the phytates in which had removed zinc – an element required for normal male sexual development – from their digestive tract. Phytates generally break down during the process of yeast baking, so it’s not a huge issue.

For comfort food you can’t beat a steaming bowl of pasta and veggies. I prefer ww, but my husband loves all the traditional Italian varieties. I say use your own good instincts to get a sense of how your body does with these foods. I always try to accompany cooked food with raw to add back precious enzymes cooking has destroyed. I love brown and wild rice and usually fold in ground sesame and seaweed for added minerals. More enzyme inhibitors and such from the sesame seeds, but it’s all about balance.

Good question regarding the apples, especially since much of the pectin (a soluble fiber) exists in the skin. Two peeled GS apples just seem to act like a bolus of pure energy for the gut – pretty scientific, I know. :-)

Mommynow…first of all yes, I would invest in a little electric grinder – Krups makes a good one. I can understand how you might find tahini a bit strong – but just ground sesame has a very mild flavor and can be folded into so many dishes. In Japanese cooking they grind sesame with salt, but I love it ground with DULSE – a very yummy sea vegetable (containing iodine and other essential microminerals.)

Beans and greens are going to be your best bet for a calcium boost. Here are just a few ideas:

• Black beans cooked with bay leaf and garlic; tossed with sea salt and olive oil; and topped with green onions, lots of chopped parsley, chopped tomatoes & lemon juice.

• Navy beans baked in a bean pot with garlic, molasses, dry mustard and sea salt. Serve with an easy, colorful, mineral-rich salad – grated carrot, grated beet, grated apple, chopped greens and balsamic vinegar.

• Lentils cooked with garlic, onion, thyme, carrots and dried red pepper. Serve on bed of brown/wild rice with lightly steamed kale and lemon juice.

I think you are going to have to experiment with limiting the wheat and rice milk, Wheat can cause bloating for many of us and for those with true gluten (the protein in wheat) allergy it can cause extreme bowel symptoms. However, even people who can’t eat grains at all can often tolerate wild rice – which is actually a grass.

It seems to me the most important issue for you is limiting sugar/wheat/refined carbs in favor of whole foods. I think pasta, potatoes, and rice are fine as long as they’re whole and served with foods that help slow their entrance into the bloodstream such as good fats and soluble fiber (veges.) High quality dairy and eggs are fine, but should be limited as well since they are loaded with protein and fat.

I think rice milk was one of those good ideas on paper, but is really way too refined/concentrated and hard on both our digestive and endocrine systems.

:-) Christine

I'm kinda boring. I like lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, and some sea salt on my salads. oooh and fresh basil or parsley if you happen to have some.

I was in a French restaurant in Durango last year and the only salad dressing they had included vinegar which I can't have. I noticed they had put a couple of slices of an orange on the side, so, for lack of a dressing, I just squeezed the juice over my salad and included the pieces of orange in it. All of my family will now use a few pieces of an orange for dressing. It really is good.

I've tried strawberries and kiwi in my salads - works well, also.

Happy fresh eating!
Grandma Joy

Hello Christine,

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my food questions! I am working on a new "strategy" now and everyone's input has been very helpful and encouraging. Thanks again for giving us such a great place to get together:)