salad
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Sheila,
I am wondering the same thing. I have not had a salad in over a year. I have heard on this forum that for lettuce, Romaine is the best. I imagine if you have a problem with foods that are acidic then tomatoes may not be good. I thought I would use raw zucchini instead of cucumbers for a start. I was also wondering if a "chopped salad" or julien may be even easier to digest rather than large pieces.
Do you think you're healed enough to try a salad? That is going to be my goal in about a month, just a small one to give it a try. On Christmas I made a bunch of green veggies and they were cooked al dante for our company, I ate a small amount the first day without any issues, then a little last night. I made sure to chew them really well.
Nancy
I am wondering the same thing. I have not had a salad in over a year. I have heard on this forum that for lettuce, Romaine is the best. I imagine if you have a problem with foods that are acidic then tomatoes may not be good. I thought I would use raw zucchini instead of cucumbers for a start. I was also wondering if a "chopped salad" or julien may be even easier to digest rather than large pieces.
Do you think you're healed enough to try a salad? That is going to be my goal in about a month, just a small one to give it a try. On Christmas I made a bunch of green veggies and they were cooked al dante for our company, I ate a small amount the first day without any issues, then a little last night. I made sure to chew them really well.
Nancy
My husband is from Acapulco, and being a good Mexican chef, he makes a lot of salsa, so from the start I've known that I can eat tomatoes without a problem, as long as they're well-chopped. Tomato sauce, like Prego, is a bit acidy but tolerable to my system as long as I just have a little. Chile peppers are a no-no, so our salsas are mild. Salads have been known to send me directly to the bathroom, but when I'm not flaring, I can tolerate a little iceberg or romaine lettuce, again, well-chopped. Any peels (like unpeeled zucchini) can also be a problem, unless the squash is cooked. Cucumber, peeled, is okay in salad if you don't overdo it. (Just a little gassy.) I'm seven months post-diagnosis, and am still in the process of reintroducing foods to try, when I'm feeling okay and having "normans". Luckily, most Mexican foods, except for flour tortillas (which are Tex-Mex, not authentic Mexican) and cheese, are safe! (That explains why I rarely get sick when I'm in Acapulco!) A soft taco, with rolled corn tortilla and chopped beef or chicken, may be the original American gluten-free food!
So try raw foods, slowly, and stop and wait until you're better to continue experimenting.
Pat C.
"Don't sweat the small stuff.
P.S. (It's all small stuff!)"
"Don't sweat the small stuff.
P.S. (It's all small stuff!)"
salad
thanks for the help, so I guess the consensus is keep away from them, I always ate tomatoes and lettuce before , I also havent touched anything in a year, Nancy it will be a year on Jan 23rd, I remember the day exactly, when i got sick with all of this, so maybe on my anniversary?? I have only started feeling well this last month.
Good riddens 2011!
Good riddens 2011!
- MBombardier
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I do fine with spinach in a smoothie or in a salad. I am careful not to eat more than an ounce or so at a time, though. When I was first diagnosed, fiber used to do horrible things to me. So I am still cautious.
Marliss Bombardier
Dum spiro, spero -- While I breathe, I hope
Psoriasis - the dark ages
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - Dec 2001
Collagenous Colitis - Sept 2010
Granuloma Annulare - June 2011
Dum spiro, spero -- While I breathe, I hope
Psoriasis - the dark ages
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - Dec 2001
Collagenous Colitis - Sept 2010
Granuloma Annulare - June 2011
Hi,
I agree with MZH, that softer butter lettuces have worked better for me. If I want romaine, I don't use the spine of the leaf. Spring mix is still a bit irritating.
I feel I am pretty much in remission at this point, and have been able to return to many of the fruits and vegetables that bothered me last winter and spring.
I agree with MZH, that softer butter lettuces have worked better for me. If I want romaine, I don't use the spine of the leaf. Spring mix is still a bit irritating.
I feel I am pretty much in remission at this point, and have been able to return to many of the fruits and vegetables that bothered me last winter and spring.
Suze
Yes, as Suze pointed out, after we've been in remission for a while, (long enough for significant healing to take place), we can usually reintroduce raw fruits and vegetables back into our diets. It's usually best to start with small quantities, and work up from there. Iceberg lettuce is usually the worst offender, for most of us, so take it easy on that, at least for a while.Sheila wrote:How about thosein remission? do you eat salad now?
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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mzh
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My BMs are mainly Normans but end with some soft, stinky stuff. Today I saw salad remnants in the bowl so even the soft salads are probably not so good for me. It doesn't particularly bother me. (I am on 3 mg of Entocort at the moment.)
Incidentally, I just got the results of fecal tests and everything was - guess what? - normal. Sheesh.
Incidentally, I just got the results of fecal tests and everything was - guess what? - normal. Sheesh.
Also have sleep apnea
Were those test results from Enterolab?Marcia wrote:Incidentally, I just got the results of fecal tests and everything was - guess what? - normal. Sheesh.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
-
mzh
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No. The GI PA said to do these from the hospital lab and then go for the other stuff. She insists I don't need to do the celiac stuff but we know better.tex wrote:Were those test results from Enterolab?Marcia wrote:Incidentally, I just got the results of fecal tests and everything was - guess what? - normal. Sheesh.
Tex
I now need to find out if I need to eat some gluten before I do the Enterolab. I ate a bit of turkey stuffing at Thanksgiving, a couple slices of pizza last May and had a couple of dinner rolls spread out through Fall 2011 so I only ate gluten 4 times this year at very spread out intervals. No problem with that so I don't know what to think. Your thoughts?
Also have sleep apnea
That means that those tests were probably for parasites, and/or possibility bacteria such as C. diff, E. coli, etc.
If it weren't for the Entocort, Enterolab's anti-gliadin antibody test will detect gluten-sensitivity for at least a year after dropping gluten from the diet, but after a while, the reliability becomes unreliable, and whether or not it would reliably detect anti-gliadin antibodies at 2 years, depends on how high your antibody level was before you started the diet, (the level slowly decays). If you've been taking Entocort for the better part of a year or more, though, the budesonide can suppress your immune system, thereby suppressing your antibody production, which can defeat the test. It takes as long as 6 to 8 weeks to get all the Entocort out of your system, after you discontinue it.
There is no such thing as a standard description for a gluten challenge. Some docs think that one slice of bread per day, for a week or two will do the trick, but that certainly won't trigger a positive blood test, and I doubt that it would work for the stool test, either. In order to get reliable results, you would probably have to eat the equivalent of a couple of slices of wheat bread per day, for at least 6 or 8 weeks, and there's a chance that might not work for everyone - everyone is different on how long it takes to cause enough damage to trigger a positive test result.
One possibility is to test for other food-sensitivities. If you have been eating dairy, soy, eggs, etc., and you get a positive result on any of them, the odds are almost 100% that you are also gluten-sensitive. Also, a fecal fat test would tell you if you have any small intestinal damage, which can persist for a year or two after gluten is withdrawn.
So how long have you been avoiding gluten? The Enterolab tests are so sensitive that it's possible that eating gluten as infrequently as you have done, might possibly have maintained your anti-gliadin antibody level at a high enough level that you might still show a positive result on the test.
Rather than to get "sick as a dog", (where did that saying come from, anyway?
), and remain sick for a long time after the challenge, I believe that if I were in your shoes, I would try the test without a challenge, and if I received a negative result, then I would do a proper challenge, and retest. For 99 dollars, the test is a bargain, compared with being sick for at least several months. That's just my opinion, FWIW. 
Tex
If it weren't for the Entocort, Enterolab's anti-gliadin antibody test will detect gluten-sensitivity for at least a year after dropping gluten from the diet, but after a while, the reliability becomes unreliable, and whether or not it would reliably detect anti-gliadin antibodies at 2 years, depends on how high your antibody level was before you started the diet, (the level slowly decays). If you've been taking Entocort for the better part of a year or more, though, the budesonide can suppress your immune system, thereby suppressing your antibody production, which can defeat the test. It takes as long as 6 to 8 weeks to get all the Entocort out of your system, after you discontinue it.
There is no such thing as a standard description for a gluten challenge. Some docs think that one slice of bread per day, for a week or two will do the trick, but that certainly won't trigger a positive blood test, and I doubt that it would work for the stool test, either. In order to get reliable results, you would probably have to eat the equivalent of a couple of slices of wheat bread per day, for at least 6 or 8 weeks, and there's a chance that might not work for everyone - everyone is different on how long it takes to cause enough damage to trigger a positive test result.
One possibility is to test for other food-sensitivities. If you have been eating dairy, soy, eggs, etc., and you get a positive result on any of them, the odds are almost 100% that you are also gluten-sensitive. Also, a fecal fat test would tell you if you have any small intestinal damage, which can persist for a year or two after gluten is withdrawn.
So how long have you been avoiding gluten? The Enterolab tests are so sensitive that it's possible that eating gluten as infrequently as you have done, might possibly have maintained your anti-gliadin antibody level at a high enough level that you might still show a positive result on the test.
Rather than to get "sick as a dog", (where did that saying come from, anyway?
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
-
mzh
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- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:03 pm
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Hi again Tex,
The fecal test included RBC, WBC, ova and parasites, C. Diff., and fecal fat. It looks like I have no small intestine damage since the fecal fat was negative - in that sample anyway. Yay!
I have to wonder if my lovely large external and internal hemorrhoids are irritating some nerves that in turn makes my shortened colon feel like it needs to make me poop earlier than when it's ready to come out, wet and icky. (It starts normal.) I know a full bladder also makes me feel like I have to go but when the bladder is empty, the BM feeling goes right away. (Where else can one talk like this???
)
In Jan 2010 I visited a friend for 10 days who makes bread; she is also sensitive to all sorts of things and her bread didn't bother me. (Store-bought bread bothers her too.)
I've been 100% gluten free since Feb 2010 and didn't try the 4 isolated forays into gluten until May 2011. Oh wait; I just remembered that I had to eat as much gluten as possible in August 2010 two weeks before I had a colonoscopy/endoscopy. At that time I had a biopsy that tested for gluten. I don't remember what the test was called but that was negative. I do know I got very uncomfortable eating all that gluten though. Ugh. Maybe the two weeks of gluten gorging wasn't long enough. The PA said it was. Why do I doubt that?
I have to wonder if it's some ingredient in all the store-bought gluten items I had to eat before the colo/endo that bothered me more than the gluten itself. But how to find out? Make my own gluten bread, I guess, but I sure hate to screw myself up. On the other hand it sure would be nice to have some clean, home-made bread again.
Interestingly, pizza doesn't bother me either, probably because it's made on site with no extra additives in it. I had that only once this year and am glad I did.
Now I think I need to figure out what additives bother me. Thanks for helping me think out loud.
The fecal test included RBC, WBC, ova and parasites, C. Diff., and fecal fat. It looks like I have no small intestine damage since the fecal fat was negative - in that sample anyway. Yay!
I have to wonder if my lovely large external and internal hemorrhoids are irritating some nerves that in turn makes my shortened colon feel like it needs to make me poop earlier than when it's ready to come out, wet and icky. (It starts normal.) I know a full bladder also makes me feel like I have to go but when the bladder is empty, the BM feeling goes right away. (Where else can one talk like this???
In Jan 2010 I visited a friend for 10 days who makes bread; she is also sensitive to all sorts of things and her bread didn't bother me. (Store-bought bread bothers her too.)
I've been 100% gluten free since Feb 2010 and didn't try the 4 isolated forays into gluten until May 2011. Oh wait; I just remembered that I had to eat as much gluten as possible in August 2010 two weeks before I had a colonoscopy/endoscopy. At that time I had a biopsy that tested for gluten. I don't remember what the test was called but that was negative. I do know I got very uncomfortable eating all that gluten though. Ugh. Maybe the two weeks of gluten gorging wasn't long enough. The PA said it was. Why do I doubt that?
I have to wonder if it's some ingredient in all the store-bought gluten items I had to eat before the colo/endo that bothered me more than the gluten itself. But how to find out? Make my own gluten bread, I guess, but I sure hate to screw myself up. On the other hand it sure would be nice to have some clean, home-made bread again.
Interestingly, pizza doesn't bother me either, probably because it's made on site with no extra additives in it. I had that only once this year and am glad I did.
Now I think I need to figure out what additives bother me. Thanks for helping me think out loud.
Also have sleep apnea

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