Discussion Board

its probably IBS. i tried to start a journal but was told it wasnt appropriate for an anorexic to do so as it may confuse others and to go somewhere else. i'm depressed about this but used to this now. anorexia is like having leprosy. i'm always told to go elsewhere. i cant afford "elsewhere" or considered too sick or its too far or theres something wrong with me that i cant get support or help.

CBS, you are not alone!

yes please keep posting here, although I can't relate I can support your recovery

Yes, please, keep posting here.

It's probably not cancer. The doctor probably just wants to take a look to see what exactly you are dealing with. Otherwise, it's all guessing. There is a Canadian website www.badgut.org that may be helpful. The GI I saw pointed me there, and I have found some useful information.

Be kind to yourself. and breath.

RRC

Well then the gluten free section is perfect for you posting about your issues.

i personally believe that at least some of the eating disorders are tied to gluten intollerance. Because of how a body reacts to the gluten, I think it sets things in motion and once your body and mind latches on to those behaviors even when you remove the gluten it is difficult to get back on a healthy eating track.

Of course I have no research to back me up just personal observations of people I have met who are either bulimic or anorexic

I think the same thing KA.

I also find gluten quite addicting, I will go off it for a while, then start having it again, and then my joints start acting up so I try to cut down again, LOL.

I believe most people are intolerant to it, in one way or another. I never knew I was until I got it out of my diet for 3 months, I had no grain at all. I didn't deliberately get off grains specifically, I just went on a raw food trial for my cholesterol. So I just stopped eating all cooked foods including grains.

Then when I had some I felt very strong symptoms. So I didn't even know I couldn't tolerate it, until I had gotten it out of my diet for so long and reintroduced it.

That is a really interesting idea, kittyadventures. Maybe they should do some research on that.

thanks for the support!

i talked to my brother. my mom was artificially inseminated so our fathers should be clean of diseases and nothing on my moms side. she just had a colonoscopy. i'm the only "vegan." sorry i have to put it in quotes because of the ensure. anyway so i dont think its possible that i could have colon cancer, maybe IBD or IBS or maybe its inflammed from the oats or maybe my colon is weak from the anorexia. so i dont think there is a whole lot she can do except maybe a medication temporarily. ive been having severe anxiety over this! i have PTSD too and the thought of something invasive is terrifying me. so i wont even ask my mom about help for the colonoscopy. i'll do the sigmoidoscopy but i dont want to do that either really but i know my dr. is trying to help me.

i agree on the gluten issue. i think many people are affected by it! it was really hard for me to give up bread but the pains got too much. now i dont crave or think about it really unless i smell it fresh baked. it still smells really good to me. sometimes i eat corn thins with nut butter on it if i get memories of a pb&j and want one. that does it for me. i just really miss the steel cut oats.

one of my best friends thinks becoming vegan caused a lot of her problems and she has deficiencies but i think its the wheat and pasta she is eating thats doing her joints in and causing problems. thats why i am NOT for some of these ED treatment programs that believe i must eat meat, milk and wheat for recovery, not to mention junk/processed foods as staples. um, and then i feel like i'm dying and having the runs all day and more depressed and after so long, meat is a dead animal and animals are my friends. i just cant.....it really turns my stomach. i just dont understand this mind set though.

so far potatoes feel the best in my stomach. they are very soothing somehow. i'm having major stress over not eating even a part of one raw apple. thats my favorite food! if i could eat just one small item it would be an apple. i need to find an apple addicts anonymous meeting. its making me sad. i cooked one and its not the same. but its helping the gas problem a lot by eliminating them. i'm a weirdo, everyone else wants chocolate and i want apples lol.

i'm going to try to go to bed early, just a hard day. thanks for the support!

How about applesauce? Can you blend it or process it, or make it into a smoothie or something?

I'm so sorry for your struggles and know it must be very discouraging to have all the setbacks that you have. Hopefully one day you will overcome the problems and heal. Good luck to you and so happy that you are on this board with a lot of good people who care about you.

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CBS... you are not walking permanently away from raw apples... think of it as a few weeks of allowing your tummy to heal.

and can you eat sweet potatoes.. I know they are a bit more expensive but they are tummy soothing. and would help you to gradually up your fiber.

also for grains... have you tried buckwheat... for me it does not produce gas.. it does not have the harsh roughage of the brown rice. and for some weird reason it is very soothing to my tummy,, even when I am inflamed.

It is something to think about when your tummy is feeling lots better.

Don't add it in yet. wait till your tummy is feeling lots better.

quinoa is another one of those high fiber yet very gentle on your tummy grains.

Also to start with when you are adding the brown rice into your diet only after your tummy is no longer inflamed

Instead of going straight to brown rice maybe go half and half white rice and brown rice and gradually switch to fully brown rice,

Once your tummy muscles start to process more and more bulk foods I suspect you will feel so much better.

i'm going to check out that badgut website tonight.

i really dont like blended/cooked apples for some reason, i like the crunch. it wont be forever. today i made some banana ice cream and that helped.

this morning i wasnt in pain at all, until i ate some fibrous foods so its the bulk/fiber thats causing pain.

i dont like the taste of buckwheat and i prefer potatoes over quinoa. but i love all colored potatoes and yams. ive been making sure i get more variety and that helps. not as much for sweet potatoes as they are softer but the yams at the asian market might actually be a type of sweet potato from what i've read so who knows lol.

Loveskale, i have not had bread in years but the smell still makes my mouth water. so does the smell of coffee! lol! i think my biggest addictions for food are chemicals like coffee and diet soda then real food. those were harder for me to stop eating. i also have a strong desire for hot liquids. i couldnt take this when i went all raw. the smell of spices used to drive me nuts when i was trying to be fruitarian. i still crave spices a lot and not sure why but read anorexics tend to use lots of spices and maybe its from not enough zinc. and i crave salt like crazy if i try to eliminate it but then my blood tests showed i was severely hyponatremic, my sodium levels were dangerously low. so i dont try to restrict that anymore as my dr said point blank, do i want to live? i'm confused over sodium but my adrenals seem not to be producing the hormones needed to eat a ultra low sodium diet. so for now i just let that go.

i'm a little confused what to do and i know this doesnt apply to others and maybe there isnt really an answer to this. but i think i'm craving fat. i have no science to prove this but it seems when your weight gets very low that maybe there is a need for more fats. i know babies need more but their nervous system is growing. maybe the craving is just my bodies way to try to survive with little volume? it does seem to help with my hunger which shouldnt be true but is for me. but thats one of the reason i drink ensure, its very fatty/creamy, and doesnt cause pain and i stop thinking about food. my dr. also wanted me to have 700 cal a day in fats/protein rich foods and now its 500 with the 2 ensures. she said i need more fats too since i'm not producing the hormones so yeah, i just get confused.

so i was thinking the fats in the ensure really arent even the decent oils, it has calcium caseinate and whey protein which arent vegan and i read that dairy can cause intestinal bleeding too. then its sugar and synthetic vit/minerals. it works because it gives the macroneutrients i guess and just enough (chemical) nutrients but maybe if i used oils which were ANTI inflammatory as i think nuts/seeds could be causing digestive problems, that would be better, might even helpful and still easily digested? i read this (half way down) on oils and maybe one of them might be ok until i can handle the fiber more? http://www.pcrm.org/resources/education ... tion8.html

i could use the vega for the protein and maybe now it might be ok and banana and strained nut milk. once i can tolerate legumes, i can stop the added protein but i know my dr. is very concerned over this that i need more protein now. i least it would be real food? i could take out one ensure and then the other later? i'm not sure what oil would taste good though. i'm not sure if i'm craving fat really as i'm desiring the ensure and ice cream which is fat/sugar. my dr also made it clear to me i dont need to worry about my cholesterol so i could even put coconut in it if i wanted. she would be happy if i gained weight. i disappointed her this week and i feel bad. i just know it seems the bulk/fiber needs to be limited for now and somehow the ensure is satisfying my hunger and maybe its because i do need more fat now? i dont know. it would be the same amount of fat but i think i would feel better if somehow i were totally vegan again and eating foods that are a little healthier and not made in a laboratory. its very hard to eat right when my bowel is in such pain. i had banana ice cream today but it wasnt quite right and i think its because of the lack of fat. i really dont like the feel of oils in food so this is odd. sorry if i'm not making sense as i'm not sure whats in those that i'm really desiring and needing.

also maybe its ok to add some spices just not peppers? that would add more excitement to my food. i just dont like to cook much. i dont have much of a desire still. i'm just wanting creamy and dont think it would be smart to eat much in the form of nuts/seeds right now. since i cant have the apples now i'm looking for something else besides potatoes. the vegetables in bulk are causing me pain but the ensure and potatoes arent and i'm liking those. i just want to move on from the ensure. its very hot here and the cold foods are good right now.

if anyone has any input, please go ahead. again i know this is against mcdougall but i am not sure what is healthy for me right now. my dr. doesnt think ensure is a great idea but is for it right now for me but i just want to go one step up?

ill go to the organic market and look at the other starches and pick something else out tues. i just need some easily digested proteins/fats for now. i guess i'll get the tofu salad but since i dont know the calories/fat in it it stresses me out. i'm actually feeling more hungry now and want foods that cut this off without pain (too much bulk) and without too much stress (mentally).

ok, i'm weird, just want raw apples, potatoes, steal cut oats and ice cream, nothing else lol. so i guess you can see why i hold no judgement on anyone else with eating who is trying as i understand how difficult and complicated something so simple can be lol.

How about avocados and olives?

Or potato salad? Made with a vegan dressing of course.

Right now a big green salad with lots of veggies, avocados and Greek or Spanish olives sound really good to me. With some hummus on top. Yum. It's so hot here I'm not in the mood for any hot or cooked food!

Do you like olives? That would certainly take care of your salt intake.

About the ensure alternative. Can you go to fitday or another nutritional database and punch in 2 bananas, 1 cup non-dairy milk and a serving of your vega powder and compare it to what's in a serving of ensure? Print it out and bring it to the doc and see what she says.

i actually dont like olives. i go in/out of the avocados. right now i'm not desiring avocados, just creamy fats.

she is ok with my vegan protein shakes. its not as much protein or calories but maybe a tsp of a healthier oil might make it taste better and bring it closer? i just dont like my vegan protein shakes as much and then i skip them so trying to figure out how to make them more palatable. once i can deal with the lentils and peas i'm sure the protein will work out fine. i do like veganaise lol and got some fat free nayonaise. i should make the tofu salad myself i know but the blocks of raw tofu turn my stomach. i just cant afford to throw away food if i cant do it. sorry, i'm impossible, i know! so sorry. i just dont know anything about the oils. the only oils i ever used was spray oil for the oven or sesame oil in small amounts. i would add cashews or hempseeds in it or something like that but i think right now that might cause pain. i have some lowfat dried coconut? that pulverizes. i dont understand the inflammation thing and if something like that could help. i'm not sure why i just want ice cream right now. they have vegan ice cream but besides being too pricey it would really upset me to eat it.