Low fiber, cooked, lunch

[Guest]

My stomach became angry during most of my first 30 days and I never thought to talk to my doctor. I did speak to her and she does not believe that anything in my diet caused the problem, but made a few orders to stop the problem. One is more Natural Calm, which will be easy enough. The other is a dietary change for a few meals. I need to go low fiber for a few meals and that confuses me. I had a yummy tuna salad planned over spinach and it is not allowed for a bit.

So, I need a back-up. The veggies have to be cooked and on the lower in fiber side. Otherwise, I am pretty good to go and have a fairly well-stocked fridge and cupboard. Beef, chicken, and turkey are common here. I suppose pork is, too. We also have canned tuna, salmon, and sardines.

I have a teeny bit of mint pesto left from a yummy steal this meal earlier in the week and it is looking for a home.

I also have a leftover seafood stew. It has cooked tomato and cauliflower. I wonder if that knocks it out of the running.

Any thoughts?

[Guest]

Dinner is also open for suggestions. Wow, low fiber is definitely not my thing. Hopefully, tomorrow's meal 1 will be the last of it.

[Susan W]

Nico, here is a list I found by googling "low fiber veggies". It's kind of cool because it gives you groups of the highest to lowest by fiber count. One thing...does purreeing (sp?) make the fiber breakdown? So..pureed sweet potatoes, cauli, broccoli, even spinach. Kinda surprised your doc didn't give you a little more info.

http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2008/02/high-fiber-low-fiber-vegetables.html

[Guest]

It was actually a phone call - the second this week, to avoid more drastic interventions. I have been so sick for a few weeks and assumed it was food-related due to the shift to W30 and not having a gallbladder. She does not think it is food -elated, but wants me to cut back on fiber (sometimes I may sound too smart and she knows I already ate a lot of fiber for control of diabetes) for a few meals. Knowing about magnesium also made me sound kinda smart (thanks, guys).

Thank you so much for the link. The smart browsing that I do to (lazily) protect my PC can be limiting. I really appreciate it. Headed to the kitchen parade now.

(Definitely had been wondering about pureed stuff since I have a few packets of baby food.)

[Guest]

^{That link is really interesting I see several "vegetables with seeds" in the 1g category. Some of these were meant to be on my lunch plate, but a list from a GI office listed these as no-go.}

^{Low fiber is bound to be relative, right? I can totally eat lower on the list you sent for a couple of meals.}

[Susan W]

Ooo...I think you may want to follow the GI doc's advice. I just googled and I know zero about that site. You know how Dr. Google can be.

[Moluv]

I eat ground beef and organic canned butternut squash almost every day for breakfast and started doing so after extended constipation early in my w30. I'm gluten intolerant and sensitive to all grains (among other things) and found too much insoluble fiber too irritating. I have improved greatly by following the lower fiber approach as outlined in this article:

http://chriskresser.com/got-digestive-problems-take-it-easy-on-the-veggies

I also eat green beans, carrots, yellow squash and zucchini quite often.

[Guest]

Thanks, Moluv. I was reading some of your posts earlier to try to learn more. I skipped the zucchini and yellow squash earlier for the seed reason. I also saw winter squash on the lists of high fiber foods. I saw pumpkin on the OK list, though. Does canning or pureeing make the difference? I've never seen canned butternut squash - Amarillo must have grown since I was a kid. Hopefully, I only have a couple of meals to go without the fiber or I will lose some ingredients that I had thawed for today's meals.

(I'm going to try to get to the Chris Kresser site tomorrow. The safe browsing I referred to earlier is what had kept me away. I went through the checks that I am supposed to use before going to an unknown site and it looks like I will have to do additional testing. )

[ScoutFinch]

Nico, that link suggests that pureeing or finely chopping high-fiber veggies will help. But cruciferous vegetables are going to be the hardest to digest overall, so cook the heck out of them when you reintroduce. One good way to have those (for me this is about the only way I can tolerate broccoli just at the moment) is make a pureed soup, and have a small bowl as a first course.

[faymao]

My mom used to make "Italian zucchini". You could add sausage to the mix (or any ground meat, and it'd be good). I think I'll make some myself!

* 1 tablespoon healthy cooking fat

* 2 large garlic cloves, minced

* 1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes (Mom would often make it with whole tomatoes)

* 1 pound zucchini, trimmed and sliced thin

* 1/ 2 teaspoon dried basil or 1/4 c. fresh basil (or however much you want, to taste)

* Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

* Fresh-ground black pepper, to taste

Place oil and garlic in medium skillet or small Dutch oven over high heat. When garlic starts to sizzle and turn golden, stir in tomatoes, zucchini, basil, salt and pepper. Cover and steam 8 to 10 minutes until tomato liquid evaporates and zucchini are tender. Serve.

Only about 3 grams of fibre in a quarter of it. Is that low enough?

[faymao]

We can have Natural Calm? Mine has Stevia in it.

[Guest]

Most of us buy the one without flavor. It has no sweetener, although I'll have to check future bottles. The flavor isn't too bad at all and mag citrate is what my doctor prefers anyway. I'll be taking 4 rounded teaspoonfuls a day.

[faymao]

Thanks Nico, good to know!

[Kirsteen]

Hi Faymao, yes Natural Calm is the magnesium that seems to be recomended most on the forum but it has to be the unflavoured one. I can't get it over here so just use magnesium citrate tablets.

[Guest]

Can I just say that I have been hungry and hangry? I think there will be a little more fiber in my diet today. Not sure if no fiber is the cause of the hunger or if I have been doing no fiber wrong, but I have a hunger monster who is alive and well! I hear 1/4 of a sweet potato calling me downstairs.

[Moluv]

Can I just say that I have been hungry and hangry? I think there will be a little more fiber in my diet today. Not sure if no fiber is the cause of the hunger or if I have been doing no fiber wrong, but I have a hunger monster who is alive and

well! I hear 1/4 of a sweet potato calling me downstairs.

Are you supposed to be avoiding ALL fiber or just the higher in insoluble fiber veggies? The soluble fiber veggies (like the starchy roots and squashes) help digestion- it's the insoluble fiber ones that bulk and cause constipation. I am perplexed by this, mainly because what I know about fiber is sounding a lot different than "no fiber" which leaves you protein and fat only (?)

[Guest]

As I couldn't get an appointment for 5 weeks, I was really fortunate to get the personal phone call and we spoke for about 5 minutes. She asked if I still eat a lot of fiber and I told her I probably replaced the high-fiber frankenfood with sweet potato and winter squash. She said to limit fiber (and singled out green leafy things, broccoli, and carrots) to rest my bowel and create a bit of diarrhea. I promised to allow that to occur without stopping it (as I have in the past post-gallbladder). I read about resting bowels and it seems as though the white foods I have not eaten in years are favored and even tougher cuts of meat are not.

Since whole foods don't come with labels, I have been really confused. Thanks for the help and the distinction between soluble and insoluble. I'll read up on those today and start there at lunch.

I sure hope my bowel is rested. We'll give it a few days to work properly and then I'll start thinking about eliminating some foods, if necessary.

I finally get to see someone who practices functional medicine this week. We'll see how that goes.