What’s your favourite food? Imagine you are eating it right now, imagine the smell, the texture and the taste as you are savouring every little bite! mmmmm! nice init?….now imagine you become unwell and are one day told you have to avoid eating it, for many people with IBD this is exactly what happens, we’re either told to avoid certain things or that we have to adapt them. When I first got my diagnosis of Crohns I was told that I would have to avoid Nuts, Seeds, raw veg, broccoli and cauliflower, the skin on fruit..yep I’m sure they were expecting me to peel grapes LOL so yea basically most things I enjoy eating and that’s not to mention all the things I learnt didn’t agree with my stomach once I had my stoma!
To be honest I was pretty good at sticking to my recommended diet despite the fact that over the previous years my diet had been reduced to noodles and water as I eliminated everything that made me ill unbeknown to me eventually everything would become difficult to eat due to the narrowing of my intestines an eating would no longer be a joy but more of a task!
Over the years I have learnt what foods I can eat with no consequence and I’ve also learnt how far I can push my luck when it comes to eating the stuff I probably shouldn’t eat but just can’t resist for example honey roasted cashews…..one is never going to be enough maybe one handful….or two but two might be pushing it and I’ll be up most of the night attending to Gladys not the best when you have work in the morning.
No doubt there are still things I have to learn with food as I am sure there are lots of dishes I am yet to try that Gladys might decide to kick up a fuss about, I once had a Chinese with all the veg ad didn’t think there would be any issues as Id had Chinese veg before but boy was I wrong!!! I ended up with a partial blockage and had to take a couple days off work in agony and scared to eat anything else (fun times)
Intestinal blockages can be really dangerous and can some times require surgery they can also be potentially life threatening so it is important to stick to your diet as much as possible, we’re all human though and sometimes you just can’t resist the sweet flavours of that forbidden fruit!
There are some things I can eat that are actually helpful when I’m having issues with water output things such as Bananas or Jelly babies as they help to thicken up the output.
I’ve never been a fussy eater (I’m still not) but I know that some people can’t stand fussy eaters (I wouldn’t say I love them either to be honest) but if you know someone has health concerns be a bit considerate because you wouldn’t want someone to end up in hospital because you didn’t want to accept that they can’t eat certain things.
If you know someone who has Crohns or an Illeostomy bare in mind that they might not be able to eat some of these things for various reasons here are a few things I can think of off the top of my head:
- Nuts and Seeds because they can be hard to digest and can potentially cause a blockage
- Skin on fruit and veg, again because of the risk of blockages
- Raw veg….I give you one guess why
- Broccoli and Cauliflower I believe that to be for the same reason
- Onions because (for me they cause Gas) and if you have an stoma you may not want to deal with the fragrances afterwards!
- Beans because they cause gas
- Sweetcorn (something I still push my luck with) difficult to digest
I’m sure there are a lot more to add to the list that other people may struggle with but these are what I can think of off the top of my head, of course not everyone will have the same experiences with food but at least you have something to go by and if you want to know more about what your friend may struggle with….ASK THEM! sometimes its nice for people to show an interest in our struggles and show that they are at least trying to understand so don’t be scared go a head and ask.
If you want advise or support as a fellow Ostomist send me a message here or on Instagram don’t worry about asking silly questions, nobody asks more silly questions than me trust me lol
Much Love
Gladys & I xXx