Do you overlook eating vegetables?

I do not eat well. I eat cookies and milk for comfort (emotional comfort and physical comfort). They set so well with my pouch that when I get hungry it's becoming my food of choice.

What happened to the vegetables for just a snack? Well:
They take cooking preparation, or if I eat them raw, I have to chew forever.
They taste only so so.
I think they increase my output.
I personally don't get as much energy and satisfaction from them.

Do YOU take the effort to make healthy changes or have you gotten into a milk and cookie rut (or something like it) too?

If you are eating healthy and feel it's worth it even with the increase in output or other stuff (Do we all have this same effect?)
Do you have suggestions?

Do you really get all five fruits/vegetables in daily?

Do you overlook eating VEGETABLES? Or do you make the effort to incorportate them?...How do you do it?

I'm not good with veggies... I try to eat corn, green beans, peas, and raw sugar snap peas (for a snack) with dinner of chicken, burgers, things like that. I'm better with fruit, but not a lot.

I still eat ice cream. The strangest thing is that chips and salsa seem to firm me up really well, but that's not healthy.

Also I tolerate pizza well. I don't like cheese, so I have mine with pizza sauce, sausage and green pepper. I don't incorporate all the servings recommended in a day of fruits and veggies. I get the most veggies when I make fajitas, which isn't often!

My pouch diet consists of primarily fresh fruits and vegetables. I find fruits give me bulk. My frequency is higher because of my diet but I don't mind as this is my preferred diet and has been since long before my jpouch surgery. I would guess I get in the range of 6 or more servings of fruit and vegetables every day and over 30 grams of fiber. I eat very little protein but do get a healthy (or unhealthy) amount of cheese in my diet. My cholesterol and triglycerides are low due to my eating selections, I believe. I do get energy from these foods; I work out aerobically 6 days per week. I enjoy chocolate but in limited quantities and only on weekends because I am trying to keep my weight down.

We are all affected differently by foods and although less frequency would be great for me, I am unwilling to make the diet changes.

Sue

I made a token effort with the V8 stuff that tastes like fruit but has veggies in it.
I can only eat such small amounts at a time, and I never actually feel hungry (gastricparesis, yeah, and if I took my med it would help but the side effects lack) So I'm not too motivated to peel potatoes or anything...
LoriP

Although I am a carnivore, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables. This morning my breakfast was fresh blueberries from Michigan (the smaller tart ones - love em that way!), a banana and two cereal bars. I love fresh fruit! I also eat fresh papayas and mangos. For veggies, I eat a few salads a week, and I grow tomatoes in my herb garden. Because my deck gets a lot of sun, my garden is the envy of my family and friends and I have 3 plants that have been feeding everyone. Tonight, I am going to cut up some of those tomatoes from my garden, as well as some scallions and make a fresh taboule salad with bulgur wheat. Very healthy! I will have the taboule with leftovers of some broiled chicken I made last night.

Something else I like is sundried tomatoes. I sometimes will make a fresh tortellini salad throwing in sundried tomatoes, olives, scallions and mushrooms.

I can digest all this stuff except corn, mushrooms and spinach I have to chew really well. Overall though I would say I eat more fresh fruit than I do fresh vegetables, even though I try to eat a lot of both.

I do like ice cream as well. Whenever I buy a Ben and Jerry's pint I usually eat the whole thing. It's a sickness so I try not to buy it. Eating a large quantity of ice cream gives me gas but it is tolerable, non painful gas.

I also try to eat a lot of hummus and baba ghanoush and sometimes I will eat a vegetarian meal where that will be my protein source and I will have vegetables with it.

Love fruit and veggies, but honestly am too lazy to fix the veggies. I grab a bagel, crackers, dry cereal, what ever is easy to put my hands in/on. This is crazy, before my surgeries....I was a healthy eater, trained with weights 4/5 times a week, and did 5 miles a day on the treadmill. Since my surgery, I have done nothing, eat junk...and really don't feel too bad about it. Oh yeah, I do get pangs of guilt occasionally, but not often or bad enough to do anything about it!

Before my first surgery, I ate very healthy. Lots of veggies and fruit and lean meats and dairy. I ate annoyingly healthy.
But since the surgery, I have been anything but healthy. I find veggies and any thing other than refined grains give me very bad gas pains. I eat the complete opposite as I did before, to the point my family became concerned about my weight loss. Cookies and soy milk (no longer can really to dairy either) have become my staple.
I am hoping after my takedown I can start adding healthier choices back into my diet. But time will tell. I guess at times it is better to eat cookies than nothing at all.

I eat them all, fruits, vegetables (raw and cooked), cookies, milk, you name it. Yes, fruits and vegetables increase my output. I just don't worry about it. Weight loss certainly is not a problem for me, so I am not going to worry about some diarrhea. If I could shed 70 pounds I'd be very happy.

Jan

No, I don't overlook eating vegetables. They are now the foundation of my diet.

I used to not eat a lot of vegetables for reasons mentioned such as the inconvenience of preparation, but I never avoided them if they were available as part of a meal. However, my former diet, consisting largely of wheat based products (pasta, cereals, bread) and quick fixes such as lunchmeat sandwiches or PB&Js was proving ruinous to my health.

Tired of feeling like utter garbage, I started making fresh juices (carrots and apples) twice a day after a friend of the family purchased a juicer for me as a gift. It was tough going at first. I'd get up an extra half hour (prep, process, consumption, cleanup) early to make fresh juice in the morning and would do the same straight away after nine to ten hours at work sans commute. I did that regimen for about 60 days. Thereafter, I'd juice at least a couple of times a week. This became the catalyst to help me turn my diet around. I started incorporating more fresh vegetables and fruit, mainly focusing on vegetables, into my diet. I also spent much free time learning about how I could use foods to my body's advantage to try and sustain my health if not improve it.

It is my opinion that poor dietary habits will catch up with you. It might take 5 years, or it might take 50 years. A few lucky individuals might make it through a whole lifetime unscathed. I've also adopted the "eat for your body, not for your mouth" approach.

In addition to a juicer, a food processor comes in handy for those who want to make the effort to prepare certain vegetable dishes. Two things that I make with the fresh tomatoes from my garden are salsa and gazpacho. The recipes and ingredients are somewhat similar. In both cases you are blending tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and other fresh vegetables into a puree or, in the case of gazpacho, a thick soup. These are suitable dishes for people who otherwise don't want to have to chew a million times. But effort is required, as LuckyOne noted, with prep, process and then cleaning up. What I do is I will make a massive batch of salsa, eat some and then freeze the rest in zip lock bags for use in the winter. Salsa can be used not only with chips, but also as a sauce for meats, poultry and fish and as a condiment for tacos and burritos and other dishes. It's a very versatile food.

As life is uncertain, it is always a good idea to start with the milk and cookies.

As far as fruits go, I can do ok on most, I think. Apples and pears are fine.

Veggies are best if steamed. I have gone to a soup and salad restaurant, just having the salad, and had two bms before I left. Even wokked veggies, as in stir-fry, gives me increased bms. But I love that restaurant and stir-fry; I just have to mentally be aware of the impending price.

That said, no, I probably do not get enough fruits and veggies.

Ice cream-can never stop. Haagen Daz and Ben and Jerry's both make a 4 ounce container that helps those like me who do not know when to stop with a larger container.

My Takedown has only been 9 months so Maybe I am still adapting to the pouch but I can eat very few things that don't send me to butt burn city. Bananas and avocados are the only fruits I can handle and mashed potatoes are my
vegetable. I haven't had a french fry in 6 months . Lettuce still cuts my bottom up like glass.
Most of the time my daytime diet is peanut butter sandwiches(Has to be JIF creamy), bananas and vanilla ensure drinks.
For dinner I have the usual bland stuff - rice,pasta,chicken,tortilla based dinners with no fruits or vegetables. I used to be a salad lover but no more...
David

quote:

I have gone to a soup and salad restaurant, just having the salad, and had two bms before I left.

Jeff, I used to have this happen to me in the distant past/early days of my J Pouch and my GI specialist and my surgeon both told me it was due to having a spasmodic pouch. I was prescribed bella donna phenobarbitol a/k/a Donnatal with directions to take one tablet a half hour or 45 minutes before mealtime. I did it and it worked. As time went on I found that I needed it less and less and now I only take it at bedtime, unless I am in New York City and planning on doing a lot of walking around in which case I take 1 donnatal half an hour to 45 minutes before the meal and 1 imodium at the start of the meal. For me at least, donnatal coupled with 1 imodium tablet completely defeated the "I just ate a salad and already had two BMs before I left the restaurant" phenomenon which I also had.

I am not sure what about the food makes the pouch spasmodic or if it is simply the action of eating that kind of food or a certain type of food that perhaps leads your GI tract to produce something which triggers the spasmodic pouch. Whatever the case, the donnatal worked for me. Lomotil and levsin are similar drugs used to combat the same issues. However I found that both lomotil and levsin had more side effects than the donnatal, in particular they made me feel lightheaded, and a little loopy. I experience much less of that with the donnatal.

By the ways, regarding ice cream, I am exactly the same as you, once I start eating it I cannot stop and if I buy the 4 ounce B&J I finish it, am not sated and feel compelled to run back out to the store and buy more. Ice cream, for me, is more addictive than any food or substance I have ever consumed. I experimented with drugs and alcohol in college and the truth is I don't like or do drugs, I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke and I don't gamble. None of the usual addictions. The only severe addiction I have is ice cream. If you are a guest at my home and bring a gallon of ice cream with you, all I can say is "DANGER, DANGER" like the robot on "Lost In Space", lol. I have eaten a whole gallon in one sitting, many times.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DJBHusky,

I don't think the food makes the pouch spasmodic - I think it's just how different foods travel through our systems. Some have faster transit times and salad is one of the quickies.

kathy

I can identify with IndyDave - my diet looks like his - do eat meat OK and tuna but lots of crackers, peanut butter and rice cakes. I have had so few days without BB that I fear adding anything into the mix. I envy those who eat such a variety. I fear the consequences of trying any fresh fruits other than bananas and avocados. Not sure how to get past the fear or just wait it out a few more months - my TD was Nov 7, 2008. It's the gas and rumbling that causes me problems also - an trying Maalox anti-gas - it used to really help when I had UC.