How do I change my diet?

Katie,

A diet of desserts and sugar is not going to do you any favors in battling pouchitis. Bacterial overgrowth is exacerbated by such a diet as it creates more bad bacteria.

I recommend you look at the thread liz started on low Fodmap diet, here:

http://j-pouch.org/eve/forums/...1071921/m/6467017176

And talk to a registered dietician as well.

Wow I didn't notice how many mistakes there were in my last post. Geesh, sorry!

I'll check this out, thank you!
Katie

Don't worry Katie, nobody is grading you on your grammar. I got the gist of your post, you like sugar! So did I, before I went on the Paleo Diet. My biggest weaknesses were maple syrup (as a friend said I would order pancakes as a side to my maple syrup) and ice cream. However I have discovered some new great foods. You can eat bananas and make a banana bread with almond or sorghum flour on most of these diets. Think banana bread and zucchini bread instead of cakes and cupcakes! If you can bakes cakes, you can bake this:

http://livesimply.me/2013/06/0...-flour-banana-bread/

You might want to try it with sorghum flour instead of almond flour, which is also acceptable and also one third the price of almond flour, which can run $10 or more for a 1 pound bag.

I did make the banana bread with almond flour, but I am going to try the same recipe with sorghum flour next time.

You will not be successful with a diet that makes you feel like all the joy eating has been stolen from you. What I would suggest is to limit sweets to very small portions, and not several times a day, after a few weeks of abstinence. Just like people battling weight issues, you do not want this to be "reward and punishment," but a change you can live with. One thing to keep in mind is that your brain (everyone's brain actually) is wired to crave more and more when you eat sweet, salty, and fatty foods. You will find that the less you eat these things, the less you crave them. But, it will take some time.

Once

I checked the low fodmap foods chart on CC website. It seems like regular white bread, pasta, and rice are ok, right? And maybe it's ok to eat sweets in moderation...I hope?

I also eat yogurt several times a week, I love cheese, love beans but haven't eaten them in a while...I can easily switch to lactose free milk and give up those fruits. I guess it'll be some trial and error.

Katie

fruits are last thing you want to eliminate.. that sugar is good sugar..

refined sugar and starchy carbs would be place to start ..foods that feed bad bacteria to grow..there are many things you can do to satisfy the sugar cravings once you go that route...

low FODMAP is an elimination diet with the goal of trying to figure out the worst triggers. Get the book I referenced in my FODMAP post, it explains everything in vast but understandable detail.

White bread and white pasta is NOT low FODMAP. and also a lot of fruits are ok, but some are extremely high fodmaps - like apples and mangos... feed these bad bacteria. So yes you definitely want to eliminate certain fruits but you can eat others. look at that chart in detail. CC pirated it from the leading FODMAP dieticien in the US.. Patsy Catsos.

Maybe an easy way to start making some changes would be to reduce your current sweets and then when you are ready change your limited sweets to gluten free sweets. Watch out for anything with inulin in it. Seems many gluten free products like cereals, granola bars, etc.. are full of inulin. That is a huge fodmap trigger.

Also you can do gluten free bread - UDI is pretty good if you toast it. And gluten free pasta - I prefer rice pasta to corn pasta. Tindayaka is pretty good. You can even find it at walmart sometimes

Going completely lactose free helped me significantly. Green Valley makes lactose free yogurt and other products like kefir and sour cream. Also plain non-fat lifeway kefir is lactose free. But again... if you are eating normal yogurt you are probably eating standard kinds with tons of sugar. So try plain yogurt and put in your own fruit with low fodmap fruit.

If you can do this I think you will be surprised at your results. Give it a go. The first few weeks are the hardest for sure. good luck

I remember cutting out my daily desserts and sweets when I had gestational diabetes. Once I got through a few days, the sugar cravings did minimize. I think I can do this!
I read on CC only to go gluten free if you have celiac disease. When I tried going gluten free before my surgery (last ditch effort), my body hated it!
Apart from my sweets addiction, I really don't eat that much sugar...I make the yogurt at home, from a scoop of plain Dannon and regular whole milk.
My husband read a paper from Dr. Shen (I think) that said some 50% of pouchers develop pouchitis within the first year...so perhaps I'm jumping the gun. However, I haven't heard anything good happening pouch wise with so much sugar consumption! Definitely need to cut back.
Thanks,
Katie

quote:

I think I can do this!

You definitely can. It's true that the strict gluten free diet is for people with celiac disease, but there is some overlap from what I have seen in analyzing various diets that are being promoted for IBD. The Paleo, SCD, Fodmap, UMass and other diets, while having various differences, do have some common themes. One is to reduce carbs and sugars, and develop an intake of more complex carbs. This involves getting rid of white flour or all purpose flour, and instead using almond or sorghum or coconut flour. You will see those products in the gluten free aisle at your supermarket, but just because they are gluten free does not mean they will not also be promoted on these other diets. There is a lot of overlap.

Because of the Fodmaps, I had to give up apples and mangoes, which I had been eating a lot of. However, I love pineapple, it is low Fodmap, and also has anti-inflammatory properties, it is really sweet, and it is my "go to" fruit! And I have brought bananas out of retirement. Whereas apples were once my go to fruit, now banana is second banana to pineapple! They are back in my diet, and banana bread, prepared with almond or sorghum flour, is now my substitute for cake.

I don't see yogurt approved on the liz-posted low Fodmap diet. Not sure why that is but some commercial yogurts have ridiculous amounts of carbs and sugars. On the other hand you can have Brie and Feta cheeses as well as some others.