Diverticulitis Support Group
Diverticulitis is a common disease of the bowel, in particular the large intestine. Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of pouches on the outside of the colon. Diverticulitis results if one of these diverticula becomes inflamed. Diverticulitis most often affects middle-aged and elderly persons, though it can strike younger patients as...
I was diagnosed with Divertic 4 years ago. Doc at that time told me to avoid seeds and nuts. Have had minor spiradic flare ups since then, but nothing too bad.
Flash forward to present.
Been having lower abdomin discomfort consistantly for a few months. Went to my first GI doc, who ordered a colonoscopy.
Doc said colon was fine and that divertic, though present, was small and not causing my problem.
Told him I had been religously adhering to not eating seeds and nuts.
He said that avoiding those foods was "outdated thinking" and that I could, in fact, eat these with no problems.
Now, this statement was part of a larger subject, and I didn't follow up on what he said, though it is on my list at my next meeting with this doctor in a week.
Have you folks heard anything like this regarding seeds and nuts? Can we eat them?
Thanks :)
Flash forward to present.
Been having lower abdomin discomfort consistantly for a few months. Went to my first GI doc, who ordered a colonoscopy.
Doc said colon was fine and that divertic, though present, was small and not causing my problem.
Told him I had been religously adhering to not eating seeds and nuts.
He said that avoiding those foods was "outdated thinking" and that I could, in fact, eat these with no problems.
Now, this statement was part of a larger subject, and I didn't follow up on what he said, though it is on my list at my next meeting with this doctor in a week.
Have you folks heard anything like this regarding seeds and nuts? Can we eat them?
Thanks :)
My First attack I had eaten Nuts and Corn a few days Prior, I was Also Heavily Emotionally Stressed..
For 6 months I ate NO Nuts, Corn, Seeds..Meditated alot..did Ok.
My Doc told me that since I eat very little meat I Needed to eat Nuts to get my Protein levels up, that the fact that Some people believed that Nuts brought on attacks was Ridiculous..soooo...I started Eating them, 4 ounces a Day..BAM...Attack happened.
My 3rd attack I ate NO CORN, NO Nuts, but Hubby had bought some water melon..YUMM..had a few small slices every night for a few nights..BAM..ATTACK..Why ?? I thought there were No Seeds in what I was eating..but there were..the Small white Immature seeds.
Soo..I Can Live without Seeds, Nuts, Corn..I Personally could Give a Crap what Dr.s say, as they were never Very Helpful. Informative anyway..I ask the People that have Suffered this Disease..and the Overwhelming thing I have heard ? NO NUTS, NO Seeds, NO Corn, Restrict Dairy & Red Meats..Keep Stress at its Lowest Point Possible.
And THATS what I am Gonna Do. We all do what works for us..if Nuts, Corn, Seeds don't bother you..then feel free !!
After that attack I quit eating all meats except fish. I can get my corn in corn-meal bread or in corn flakes and I don't miss nuts at all except pistachios which are safe because they digest easily and they didn't bother me in the least. If you want peanuts or almonds, try peanut butter or almond butter. There are ways to get your nuts and grains without risk. Avoid sesame seeded and poppy seeded foods and tomatos and peppers which are not cleaned of seeds.
One thing about eating meats I think is important to bear in mind. They don't digest like other foods and it takes them a long time to travel completely through the GI Tract. The time between my last attack when I stopped eating meats until my surgery was 14 months. That is the longest I had ever gone without an attack since I was diagnosed 13 years earlier. I typically had 2 to 3 attacks each year during those 13 years. I attribute this to leaving all meat out of my diet. Another thing to consider along with seeds, nuts and meats is cheese. Cheese ferments as it travels through the GI and if a glob gets trapped in a tic and ferments there a while, doesn't it make sense that it might invite infection?
Much of what we can eat depends on our individual GI Tract's ability to digest and metabolize. When we are weakened from infections our immunity to bacteria and viruses is compromised. If in that compromised state I would be very careful about what I eat until I know my strength has been recovered. But the long and the short of it all is this: We are all different and no one patient can have all the answers for all other patients. My diet was trial and error for thirteen years. Regardless my diet, however, I still suffered attacks 2 to 3 times a year. So my advice to anyone with this disease is to make a judgment about your quality of life. If you keep have recurring attacks and are on antibiotics fairly frequently, you might consider asking your Dr to recommend a good surgeon that only works with lower GI cases and make an appointment with that surgeon as soon as possible to ask the all important question: "How long can I live like this?". In my experience, if you are one of those patients having recurring episodes of diverticulitis, you won't live as long as you might think.
I wont touch popcorn at all in future & I loved it.
I also are some small packs of mixed nuts & sultanas & at the start was ok then the thrid pack (over a week) & back to bad abdo pain & constipation then opposite with lot of pain.
For me I wont be eating them either or only a very small amount occasionaly & not within a few days of each other.
As for red meat & dairy, it doesnt seem to be an issue for me which is good. I am not 100% but am at a comfortable way & have a lot of other health issues so have to do a balance act with food etc.
drink lots of water, juice
use benefiber and eat lots of fruits and veggies
The last time I had popcorn I wanted to die.
I couldn't live without meat -- I'd never be able to get enough protein.
With the additional complication of a corn allergy, there are a lot of foods off-limits for me already.
"There are recent studies showing that eating seeds and nuts made no difference. HOWEVER, in my own practice, that's not what I've seen. I have lots of diverticulitis patients, and many have their attacks brought on by eating things with nuts or hard seeds."
More or less. He was skeptical of the study, as his forty years of seeing patients with this disease contradicted it.
J.
bad for me tums