HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

The sunflower seed and spinach thing

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
1 2 34
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 10/4/2008 6:19 PM (GMT -5)
I just googled it, but didn't find anything, so it's a mystery to me. 

Posted 10/4/2008 8:40 PM (GMT -5)
Thanks, Kiss and Cfro. I googled Sunflower butter and came up with a bunch of Web sites where you can buy various brands. It's kind of expensive (especially on some of the sites), so it's best to look around if you want the best deal.
Posted 10/5/2008 10:59 AM (GMT -5)
Hmm, I had spinach for two days in a row earlier this week (Tuesday and Wednesday?) and it caused looser stools, and as of Friday I've also started to bleed again. I guess I can handle spinach every once in a while but just not continuously.
Posted 10/5/2008 11:31 AM (GMT -5)
did you eat canned spinach or fresh spinach? I think canned or cooked spinach is easier on the colon and also in order for it to work you need to eat other high magnesium  foods such as lots of nuts and seeds or nut and seed butters. spinach alone does not contain enough magnesium to work in my opinion, atleast not in the amounts of spinach most people are willing to eat.  

Posted 10/5/2008 11:51 AM (GMT -5)
Pickles come from cucumbers and they are known for producing loose stool even in some with a healthy colon.

Cfromutah said...

I eat the salted roasted sunflower seeds because I think they taste the best. But while flaring I did notice that high salt can greatly aggravate UC symptoms such as a few times when I was flaring I ate a bunch of pickles and it made symptoms way worse, I also experimented with high sodium a few times to confirm this. But I don't think the seeds contain enough salt to make a difference.


Posted 10/5/2008 3:20 PM (GMT -5)
it wasnt the cucumbers because I experimented with this with other very high sodium things and it wasnt just loose stools, it was a big increase in mucus. Ever seen what happens to a garden slug when you dump salt on it? it turns to snot and I bet the colon is the same way. And to be honest I was told by a GI once that the colon reacts much like a slug in that when they get irritated they produce mucus. He never said anything about salt though but I know that when I was flaring it caused symptoms to worsen if injested in very high levels.


Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 10/5/2008 3:08:22 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/5/2008 6:08 PM (GMT -5)

CfromUtah, I liked your description of how you feel when you get low in mag and beta carotene.  I also can now feel it when my body is low.  As you know from my earlier posts I reached remission thanks to you and your posts.  Lately though I have slacked off a bit from the spinach - that was o.k for a awhile.  But then I also went about a week without any sunflower seeds and I started to really feel it.  I started feeling less energetic, slightly depressed, began craving sweets and junky foods again, began getting heart palpitations back again.  Then I also started bleeding again and immediately ate seeds that day.  Also increased spinach again and I am getting back to normal.  The blood disapeared in 1 day.  I continue to be amazed with this.

I would like to mention for those having looser stools with spinach every day, I did too in the beginning when eating it every day.  However I really wanted to try this and wanted to stick it out so I did spinach only every 2 or 3 days, and replaced the in between days with other high mag foods and also lots of carrots for beta carotene.  And ate sunflower seeds or peanuts every day.  It really did work for me.

Posted 10/5/2008 7:15 PM (GMT -5)
Hi sore_guts, I am glad this works for you too and yes once you get it under control and then start to slack on the proper foods and start to flare it is quick and easy to get it back under control but as you know when you have been flaring for a while and first start this diet it can take some time of eating high mag and beta carotene foods to get it under control. When one has these nutrients at proper levels it does have a huge impact on mood and energy levels.


Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 10/5/2008 6:19:20 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/6/2008 7:32 AM (GMT -5)

sore_guts said...

CfromUtah, I liked your description of how you feel when you get low in mag and beta carotene.  I also can now feel it when my body is low.  As you know from my earlier posts I reached remission thanks to you and your posts.  Lately though I have slacked off a bit from the spinach - that was o.k for a awhile.  But then I also went about a week without any sunflower seeds and I started to really feel it.  I started feeling less energetic, slightly depressed, began craving sweets and junky foods again, began getting heart palpitations back again.  Then I also started bleeding again and immediately ate seeds that day.  Also increased spinach again and I am getting back to normal.  The blood disapeared in 1 day.  I continue to be amazed with this.

I would like to mention for those having looser stools with spinach every day, I did too in the beginning when eating it every day.  However I really wanted to try this and wanted to stick it out so I did spinach only every 2 or 3 days, and replaced the in between days with other high mag foods and also lots of carrots for beta carotene.  And ate sunflower seeds or peanuts every day.  It really did work for me.

sore_guts - Thanks for addressing the increased D.  That's very reassuring for me, and I plan to stick to this regardless of the increase.  Just a couple other questions - what other foods are high in beta carotene aside from carrots (and the beets mentioned earlier)?  Also, now that you're in remission, do you plan to taper off all your meds?   That's really why I'm doing this - I hate all the meds and I feel like their causing unwanted side effects. 
Posted 10/6/2008 9:24 AM (GMT -5)
Anyone know if this is UC specific or if it has helped people with crohns too? I am interested that you got heart palps from low mag. I had heart palps two years ago, wore a holter, etc. and they couldn't find the cause. I switched birth controls which helped but I wonder if I had/have low mag. Is that regularly tested for? I am losing a lot of hair and have had a ton of blood work. I am wondering if that would be included regularly?
Posted 10/6/2008 9:30 AM (GMT -5)
So, did any of you see an increase in blood after starting this? B/c I started bleeding again after eating cooked spinach for a couple days as well as having loose stools.

Posted 10/6/2008 3:25 PM (GMT -5)
I couldn't handle the spinach so I stuck to seeds and within 2 weeks I felt great!!!  I had an appetite, I was gaining weight, I felt like a completely new person! 

No joke, just sunflower seeds and I felt so much better, I could eat and drink just about anything as long as I kept eating seeds!  Stick with it yall, it worked for me and I would recommend it to anyone!

 

Post Edited (dudewhrsmybike) : 10/6/2008 2:32:06 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/6/2008 5:22 PM (GMT -5)

Kiss520 - some other foods high in beta carotene are sweet potatos, squash, kale.  I would reduce the amount of spinach(but not eliminate) if its causing D or loose stools, but add other high mag foods like - halibut, black beans, navy beans, salmon.  And definetly add pumpkin or sunflower seeds or the butter if your afraid of seeds. 

I havent decided yet if I will go off my meds - right now I only take lialda.  I am really struggling with should I stay on it or go off.  I am really tempted to try to go off it. I think I will first reduce it down to 2/day then 1/day and see what happens.

Fitzyk23 - I've had heart palpitations for years, even before UC and doctors never knew why.  But they have subsided since doing this diet - as long as I keep with it.  I dont think the mag test is done as part of regular blood work.  Or even if there is such a thing.  But I definetly believe now that I was low.

ComedyDork - I did not get an increase in blood when starting this.  I was bleeding pretty heavily before starting so I dont think I would have noticed more.  But I did eventually notice an improvement in symptoms.  It started to improve about in about a week and I think I felt like I was in remission after about 4 weeks.

Posted 10/6/2008 6:17 PM (GMT -5)
sore_guts - Thanks for the food suggestions. I switched from fresh spinach to frozen, so hopefully that will help with the D. Aside from the spinach and sunflower butter, everything else in my diet is low-residue for now. Hopefully my colon will accept that.

If you go do off your meds, good luck with it and let us know what happens. I hope you're able to go med-free like Cfromutah.
Posted 10/7/2008 9:46 AM (GMT -5)
Ugh, I had spinach again last night and this morning has been horrible (urgency and a lot of loose stool). Maybe I'll just start and stick w/ the sunflower butter.
Posted 10/7/2008 8:45 PM (GMT -5)
ComedyDork, I think a big key in making this work is to raise your magnesium levels by continuously eating foods high in magnesium. I recommend that you do get sunflower butter and eat it often and also peanut butter and if you can I would eat pumpkin seeds (or pumpkin seeds butter if you can find it) because pumpkin seeds contain more magnesium than just about any food. Also do research on the Internet to find other foods that are high in magnesium and eat them as often as possible. unless your eating a big can of spinach a day then spinach just does not contain enough magnesium to do the trick on its own. Its important to eat other high mag foods often. But I would eat the spinach when you can also because I think beta carotene holds part of the key too.
Posted 10/7/2008 8:48 PM (GMT -5)
If you eat fish, halibut has more magnesium in it than spinach. Black beans also have about the same as spinach, if you can handle them.
Posted 10/7/2008 9:12 PM (GMT -5)
well not really the black beans because I just looked up the magnesium content of those foods and 1 cup of canned spinach contains 163 milligrams of mag and 1 cup of black beans contains 84 milligrams but it did say that 1/2 fillet (7 ounces) of pacific or atlantic halibut contains 169mg of magnesium. 84 milligrams for the black beans is a fair amount though and are worth eating for the mag content.

It also said that the same amount(7 ounces) of alaskan native halibut only contained 60 milligrams of mag so I guess it matters what kind you get.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 10/7/2008 10:29:14 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/10/2008 8:53 PM (GMT -5)
I believe it's the vitamin K in spinach, kale etc that is helping some here as vitamin K is a natural anti inflammatory.
Posted 10/10/2008 11:11 PM (GMT -5)

I don't think its the vitamin K because just sunflower seeds helped dudewhrsmybike and also I can recognize just by the way I feel when I get low in beta carotene and I can tell by the way I feel when I get low in magnesium. And I need both to stay in remission and I need both to feel normal physically and mentally so I know my body is not regulating these two nutrients properly. Also I can stay in remission without eating spinach as long as I eat high magnesium foods every day or two and eat foods with beta carotene in it (such as carrots) every few days. But if following my current regimen and I did slip into a flare again the first things I would start consuming in high quantities is canned spinach, sunflower seeds and peanuts because I know there is definitely something in these three foods that puts me in remission and it is possible that there is something else other than mag or beta carotene (such as vitamin k etc) in these foods that helps. But in my opinion and my experience from experimenting with foods high in beta and mag they are the nutrients that's helping me. Another thing I want to add is when I get low in magnesium my muscles get cramped and weak and fatigue easy so if any one who is reading this muscles get cramped your probably low on magnesium and I recommend you eat foods high in magnesium to quickly remedy this.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 10/11/2008 4:51:35 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/11/2008 8:38 AM (GMT -5)
Funny you should mention muscle cramps. Before I started the spinach/sunflower thing, I was getting cramps in my calves in the morning. Then one day I squatted down to get my son, and I tore my calf muscle. I can tell you that I was definitely not eating foods high in magnesium at that time. I've been on the diet for about two weeks now, and I don't have cramping.
Posted 10/11/2008 12:13 PM (GMT -5)
I can understand the magnesium helping with muscle cramps etc but magnesium helps with constipation not D.

Cfromutah said...

I don't think its the vitamin K because just sunflower seeds helped dudewhrsmybike and also I can recognize just by the way I feel when I get low in beta carotene and I can tell by the way I feel when I get low in magnesium. And I need both to stay in remission and I need both to feel normal physical and mentally so I know my body is not regulating these two nutrients properly. Also I can stay in remission without eating spinach as long as I eat high magnesium foods every day or two and eat foods with beta carotene in it (such as carrots) every few days. But if following my current regimen and I did slip into a flare again the first things I would start consuming in high quantities is canned spinach, sunflower seeds and peanuts because I know there is definitely something in these three foods that puts me in remission and it is possible that there is something else other than mag or beta carotene (such as vitamin k etc) in these foods that helps. But in my opinion and my experience from experimenting with foods high in beta and mag they are the nutrients that's helping me. Another thing I want to add is when I get low in magnesium my muscles get cramped and weak and fatigue easy so if any one who is reading this muscles get cramped your probably low on magnesium and I recommend you eat foods high in magnesium to quickly remedy this.

Posted 10/11/2008 12:39 PM (GMT -5)
Magnesium taken alone in very high doses is a laxative but most foods do not contain enough magnesium to have a laxative effect. And the magnesium we get from food is one of the most important minerals in the body and is involved in hundreds of functions in the body. Also beta carotene is proven to increase cell to cell communication so that's maybe why it helps. The cells maybe aren't communicating well and are confused from lack of beta carotene and mistaking the colon for something foreign and attacking it. And magnesium also helps to balance things in the body so that cells function properly.

Post Edited (Cfromutah) : 10/11/2008 1:00:43 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/13/2008 4:32 PM (GMT -5)
Okay so I gave the spinach a try for about 10 days, and my BM's seemed to get slightly worse, more frequent, and more urgent. I was also eating the sunflower seeds, but soon got out of the habit of eating them. I want to give this another go, and was wondering if soybeans would be a good substitute for sunflower seeds. I cannot seem to find the sunflower butter, but have found soybean butter.

Just wondering not trying to complicate things.

Thanks.
Posted 10/13/2008 7:11 PM (GMT -5)
Spinach is not for me. I eat cooked spinach once in a while and have loose stools the next day. My husband, who has IBS, has diarrhea after eating spinach.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
1234