I saw this thread in the general forum, and there were some nifty suggestions.
but, again, alot of it was more tailored to jpouches (i.e. stuff to thicken or that's fibrous)

ssooooo, i thought maybe we could start a similar thread addressed to more kpouch friendly diets.

what do you eat when you're on the go and need quick, not junkfood, snacks and mini-meals?

i'll start the list with, Hummus and pita chips!
mmmmmm! (and i think i heard somewhere it's chock full of protein. but i dont' know about that)

roasted garlic hummus or roasted red pepper hummus is my fav.

anyone else?

Yes, isn't hummus made from chic peas? And they're fibrous like baked beans and have protein. I do love hummus, maybe I should start eating that again. Does it make the stool thick then?

I practically live on yogurt and cereal. Also, General Mills has these apple crisps things that are just dried apples but they're thin and crispy like potato chips. Really yummy and a good way to get fruit.

I'm loving this post because I really am struggling to introduce new foods as everything I used to eat for j-pouch and worked well with thickening and stuff isn't really helping me now. Every time I get adventurous and eat more veggies I spend 20 mins in the bathroom trying to flush them out my cath And it doesn't matter how tiny they are they bunch up and cause grief.

Bring on the ideas!

--
katie

I like to eat a low residue diet. I stay pretty close to high protein and high fat diet (Athkins Diet ). I also take vitamins. After I got used to it, I don't get as hungry as I used to on a high carbohydrate diet. We don't have colons, so fiber to prevent colon cancer doesn't make much sense. On my diet, I don't have to catheterize nearly as much. I am very active and don't like having to interrupt physical activity to catheterize. I exercise a lot and my blood work is below normal in all the bad things and above normal in all the good ones. The AMA is coming around to the fact that the American diet is way too high in carboydates. It is not the fat in the donut but the sugar and flour.

Some more thoughts about diet. Why do we want thick feces? I want mine thin and low volume. I want it to get through the catheter quick. I hate picking watermelon and tomato peels out of the catheter. Corn, forget it. A big steak or a hunk of haddock won't make enough feces to fill a tea cup. Use the catheter and irrigate after a low residue meal and you are really cleaned out. This type of diet and a little exercise will get you in good shape and keep you that way too. You will need to suppliment with a good multi vitamin. All I use is over the counter multiple vitamin and I only take at most two a day.
tp
tp

This is a great idea for a post! I can't wait to read more about k-pouch diets and quick snacks from you all. When I was at CC my output was too thin and I had renal failure, so the dietician gave me mostly "thickening" ideas, but now I too would prefer ideas that keep things moving along (to save time).

I know I eat too much sugar, but if I cut down I tend to lose weight and I'm at an age when too skinny makes too many wrinkles! everywhere!

For a very quick and portable snack, I often carry what we in the South call "nabs" -- those little packages of six peanut butter- or cheese-filled crackers. Actually the ones I have on the shelf now are called Nekot cookies and are made by Lance. I also love ice cream sodas that I make at home (nobody at restaurants seems to make them as well as I do and I hate the ones at fast food places that are thickened with who knows what).

At night, to maintain my weight, I often have a bowl of cereal, corn flakes or cheerios, with whole milk, sometimes adding a banana. Also a fruit smoothie can be good, if you're willing to clean up the blender! The smoothies are also available in a couple of local walk-in restaurants. I've tried french fries from fast food places, but I have to remember to chew because they're definitely not like mashed potatoes and have clogged my catheter.

Anyway, k-pouchers, send along more ideas!

I love those peanut butter crackers also although I don't keep them in my house.I love chips, chocolates, cakes and other bad foods like popcorn!

A few times a week I will eat a small salad with dinner. I eat cooked veggies every night and sometimes will grab baby carrots or nuts (chewed very well) as a snack. A hint about corn on the cob..if you run a knife down the center of the kernels you will be okay. Once in awhile I will do this.

I eat melons, peaches, pears and stay away from raw apples. We have just been given loads of mangoes (they are falling of the trees down here) and am able to eat the fleshy part that isn't stringy. Sometimes I will mix this into a Greek style yogurt I have found in the market that is loaded with protein. This is a good snack for me before I go to the gym.

When I need a quick snack to last awhile PB & J on low calorie bread works every time!

Good idea for this page.
I have been on many diets and programs but find that if I really wish to be trouble free I stick to the high protien low carb version. I have fruits in the mornings and an occasional peeled and cut up apple around 5 or snack time.
When I really don't want to suffer with too much fiber in my veggies, I blend them!
I make a salad for my husband and then stick half in the blender and eat it like a soup!
A hand held blender is really good because it is fast and easy on the clean up.
Usually when I am miserable and suffering from some sort of probelm, I live on ice cream but suffer the consequences later. I must be healthier than I think because I can't seem to stop gaining weight!
All of the no-no vegetables like squashes and stuff with high, stringy, fibers get pureed and strained. I love them too much to give them up!
While I an here in Canada for the moment, I am enjoying loads of peanut butter ( expensive as gold in Paris!) and eat it on whole grain pita or crackers...yum!
Little chunks of cheese in ziplocks and dried fruits and nuts are my snack of cholice when I am back at work, I just chewwwwwwwww as much as possible. I really can't live without the prune juice though, I hate when it takes more than two minutes to intubate and it scares the **** out of my husband ( no pun intended) when I take too long in public toilets. He is always scared that something happened to me. ( french toilets are notoriously uncomfortable, dirty, small and have limited water supplies rather inconvieniently placed! ) It takes me long enough just to get comphy, if I am too thick it can take me half and hour (usually miss half of the movie by then )
More later
Sharon

good stuff guys.
TP60, i wanted this thread to share actual food choices for quick snacks. what are some of the high protein things you eat as snacks? (i'd LOVE to get more protein)

and skn, offtopic for this thread, but i just have to say...two min. to intubate? really? c'mon now? it takes me 20 minutes. minimum. okay, on occasion (like earlier today) it was like 12. and i mean, i literally keep time (usually b/c i'll have my cellphone on me, and tend to look at it just before starting to put the cath in, and out of habit, pick my phone up again when i'm all done. needless to say, even though i doubt it, i'm jealous of your two minutes. i don't think even when i had a normally working colon i could get in, do my duty, and out in under three min.

oh yes, Cynnycal, 2 minutes, including changing my dressing this morning...not counting the steristrips to close the wound!
The trick is easy, morning routine...prune juice and coffee. Water, other liquids, anything I like in that catagory, until I am running smoothly...it usually means that I intubate, it flows out in ! minute and then I clean off the stoma and up I go. It also means that I have thoroughly cleaned out my pouch once a day.
Again after any loaded carb meal, prune juice and coffee. Last night, steak. Same thing. Once before bed and once in the morning.
Of course I have to do it longer and more often the more carbs I eat and the thicker the "stuff". But, hey, prune juice is my friend!
I am actually trying to convince myself that I like it better than icecream but it just isn't sinking into my addled brain.
Dried apricots do the same thing to me, grape juice is not as effective, takes more and does less but helps anyway. Wine? It used to work like grape juice but now I am allergic to something in it so it isi out!
If you keep it liquid with Prune juice twice a day and a liquifying snack then it shouldn't take you 20 mins each time.
Try and let me know.
(prune juice is sooooo cheap here as opposed to France it is ashame not to use it!)
Sharon

I am not completely sure she was just focusing on the emptying. For me its often the intubating itself that takes more than the two minutes you are talking about. The darn catheter just doesn't like to go in.

When your straight catheter does not go in the first time, use a curved one for the second attempt. This works for me.

curved never worked well for me. i have a bunch of em too, like 9 or so.
i just find em awkward

and skn, well, i kinda gag at prune juice. i guess if i needed to. i could go that route.
but yea, its more the 'going in' of the catheter.

lately i've been having lots of good experiences. it's been aaaaalllll liquid the last like four or five times i've done it (so the last two days basically.
which is wonderful. took me ten minutes total (getting cath in, emptying..ALOT, and cleaning up)
and when the cath is real slow going in, it's not always b/c i'm 'real real full with pressure and gas. sometimes i'm not uncomfortable at all. it just is.



aaaannnywho, back to food! food food food!

Quick snacks. Beef jerky, cheese, hard boiled eggs, porkrinds, cooked sausages. Trouble is finding these in vending machines. Fry up some sausages and put them in a plastic bag and they will keep all day.
tp

becca
chris only takes 2-5 minutes also, never had any trouble getting the tube in except for the valve and dehydration issues which he has resolved.
slips it in, he irrigates a time or 2 and rinses the cath and he's done.
chris had beef jerky last week and i was nervous but it seemed fine.he still has chewing issues, hard to change old habits. he'll get it eventually.
he is drinking grape juice daily again.
he eats some cheese. hates eggs.drinks danactive every day.

hardboiled eggs?! wow.
eggs are far too gassy to me (at least, in my experience with scrambled.)
i wonder, if there's a WAY of cooking or preparing eggs that makes em less gassy?

and. beef jerky...well, i guess if i liked it at all... heheh. but yea, i wouldn't foresee it giving me much of a problem.

you guys...Mango juice. Is it just me or does it have similar affects as grape juice? this is an unofficial study of mine.