What do I do For fruits and veggies? I eat them, of course! I always have, since about a week post op. As you say, no matter what I eat there is a certain frequency. So, I eat for health and include a large variety of fruits and vegetables. I chew well and try to include protien and some carb with each meal.

Jan

I eat lots of veggies, and fruits, and chew hell out of them.  My staple veggies are peas, carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and baby arugula.  My staple salad starters are shredded brussel sprouts and baby arugula, and I top them with sliced almonds or pecans, edamame, and goat cheese.  I got away from romaine and iceberg lettuces because they have no taste, whereas brussel sprouts and baby arugula have a nice, distinctive flavor.

For fruits my #1 fruit is pineapple, followed by bananas, berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries), and apples, although apples quite frankly are frowned upon by most Paleolites. But I nevertheless find that they take peanut butter better than any other fruit and I can't have my peanut butter on bread, so apple is the better substitute (dangerous reasoning I know, but sometimes you have to be able to find logical reasons to eat things).

I ate EVERYTHING without issue for years. 

I'm a bit more careful of late, due to some issues with narrowing at the outlet, but as of the last procedure et al, things are pretty good, and my dilator passes just fine.  I even started adding back "well chewed" nuts in small amounts. I only go 4-6x a day, no matter what I eat. When thick, I've even hit 3x, but I prefer a looser stool. 

Listing what I avoid is easier... Raw apples don't do me well anymore, nor do peaches. I have to eat no more than about 1/2 cup of pineapple (kinda fibrous).  Same with watermelon these days. Bananas make things too slow/too thick. 

Same with Brussels Sprouts and spaghetti squash and raw carrots:  Can eat them, just not MASSIVE amounts. 

My best veggie list:  salads (all kinds of greens, spinach is great), cucumbers, avocados, cooked broccoli and cauliflower, onions, zucchini and other squash, cooked pepper in moderation (red and yellow better than green), a few beets, tomatoes cooked into stuff (I only avoid raw b/c I hate raw tomatoes), cooked carrot and celery.  But even things not listed, often in small amounts are ok if balanced out in a meal. 

My best fruits: ANY berry especially strawberries.  Grapes and lopes/melons in moderation. Canned peaches in small amounts. Cooked fruits are usually ok (like a small piece of apple pie would be ok).  Anything juiced or smoothied is mostly ok, too. 

I eat all fruits and veggies. Unless they don't agree with you, there's no reason not to eat them. Try a little of your favorites at a time and see how it goes. 

I've got a k pouch so my exit (through a 32 catheter with 3 flute holes) limits what I take in because it has to make it out through that.

I use 3 tricks. 

First I steam tons of stuff in a pressure cooker. Most cookable veggies save more nutrients when steamed rather than boiled. 

I do asperagus, artichokes, leeks and just about anything green. (Peas & beans are my enemy).

Anything that I cannot chew enough to make digestible for me I blend with an immersion blender (just shove it into the pot or bowl and whizz!).

If you find that a lot of veggies bug you then you may wish to mix them with a potato. 

The starch thickens things up and prevents irritation.

For raw veggies I find that certain types of lettuce work better than others. 

Romain is very tough. Its fiber (unless you only eat the hearts or babys) can cause irritation or clogs so I use more tender types with smaller viens.

Chewing is your friend and obligation. The more its chewed the easier it is to go through. 

When suffering bowel irritation I blend my salads. Then I drink them like gaspacho (Spanish cold veggie soups). Add olive oil and spices and slurp.

It will all come out faster than with a coloned person. You no longer have one so the route is shorter. But...you can learn to manage that. Just do not deprive yourself of the good stuff.

Blend your fruits into smoothies until you have a handle on it...add bananas as a natural thickener and enjoy.

Sharon

I only eat veggies that are cooked very well. I never eat carrots and celery. If I fix my own salad, I put a few pieces of lettuce in and put things like cheese, croutons, egg, I can eat a small amount of tomato, olives, and a few other things. I'm more about the other stuff than the lettuce anyway.  And I do chew the lettuce really well. Fruits are a different story. I can only eat a few pieces of fruit at a time. I would love to be able to eat a fresh apple or orange. I do miss fruit.

Hi,

I am post one week with j-pouch. i have been going #2 about 12 times a day. when will it start to slow down, and is this a normal recovery?

Yes, normal. At least I'm sure I did at least 12 BM per day at that time. It is very gradual. You measure progress in weeks, not days. Keep your diet simple right now and more small meals per day vs. 3 meals a day. I'm sure they gave you a list of foods; dos and do nots. Try some of the thickening foods, i.e. rice, bananas. I would even do those in small portions for now. Everyone is different. It took me a long time to get down to the average 5-7 BMs per day. But some people are much better in 3-4 weeks. I think age plays some part in that. I was 48. I was still having improvements 5 years out. That doesn't mean it took me 5 years to reach my new normal. Just means I continued to see small positive changes. I'm eleven years out now. Except for pouchitis which is under control, I have had zero issues with my pouch. Good luck to you.

Wow, I had no idea that J vouchers could eat cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower. Do people find those vegetables impact them more than carrots, squash,avocado etc...?

Most people with J Pouches can eat anything so long as they chew the food well.  There are individual variances as there are with the coloned population at large. Any generalizations about what can or cannot be eaten are speculative unless and until tested by the individual.

I'll echo what CT wrote. A J-pouch doesn't rule out any foods, and intolerances or sensitivities will generally be individual. Beyond that, there are certainly classes of foods that tend to be thickening, thinning, or gas-producing, but J-pouchers don't uniformly need the same things in these areas.

Thanks for all the replies. I am 12 days post j-pouch and doing much better. Had my follow-up with the Dr. and wound looks good. I was told to take Gass-X for the cramping and gas; this has worked good for me. Bm's are down to about 10 and controllable now.

Going to sleep now seems to be the issue with getting up several times before i can fall asleep.

Just stick with the soft mushy stuff, they're gentler on your system than leafy vegetables or hard skinned fruit such as apples, pears, grapes, etc.