Arugula

Seriously.

Why is it that fruits and vegetables are hell bent on trying to kill me??

The ironic part is that I totally LOVE fruits and veggies! By all means, I like meat and carbs, but I have always loved vegetables and fruits.
I used to feel guilty as a kid for stealing extra brussels sprouts because I thought everyone loved them. I loved broccoli even when I was a little kid.
The only thing I haven't always liked is plain lettuce. Not a huge fan of iceberg lettuce or romaine, and I hate kale. With a passion I cannot explain.
But, the inflammation in my intestines have always protested quite loudly after eating most kinds of vegetables. Trust me, I have tried alllllllllll sorts of fresh, frozen, dried, mixed, mushed, steamed, roasted, juiced, veggies and fruits.
Here's the equation: fibre=pain. It doesn't matter what form it's in - obviously some forms are easier than others - they nearly always result in increased pain and extra uncontrollable bathroom breaks. In fact, veggies mixed into juices or smoothies are even worse than raw veggies!

There are many that I can still eat, of course, but the latest to make the 'no' list is arugula.
I am pretty ticked about this!
I love arugula so much I could probably eat it 5 days a week (all day) and still enjoy it after several months! It has a great flavour, great texture, and I would add it to everything!
But it also caused some severe intestinal bleeding. It only lasted for one day (thank goodness), but it happened. So now arugula is something I won't be able to eat very often.

I know - first world problems.

I find it humourous (most days) that people who hate veggies have no issue with them, but someone who LOVES VEGETABLES cannot eat the majority of them.
I am also lucky that I can eat the amount of food that I can now. I try to take stock of everything that I CAN eat compared to the much more compact list back during the first years of the inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis.

I am lucky.
I am lucky.
I am lucky.

(Damnit I like arugula!)

Fun..? Crohn's Activity/Experiment

Anyone with Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease (or any Inflammatory Bowel Disease or disease of the intestines) will have a pretty good idea of how quickly they absorb and pass foods from their system.
For some it seems unnaturally quickly, for others it may be a relatively normal amount of time.

According to research, with results listed by the Mayo Clinic, it takes an average of approximately 8 hours for food to travel through the stomach and small intestine, and then an additional approximately 40 hours to fully travel through the large intestine in healthy persons.

To test this out for yourself, make sure to eat colorless foods for a couple of days prior, and then one day eat some beets. Particularly red beets. (Not golden beets).
Then, when you notice a red discoloration appearing like blood when you go to the washroom, there is your approximate answer.
Now, of course, if you already have an inflammatory bowel disease, it might be difficult to decipher between beets and blood... and if you have allergies or negative effects while eating beets, please do not participate. 

For me, with my large intestine having been removed several years ago, I can automatically remove essentially 40 hours from my digestion time.
Though, when I still HAD my large intestine, because it did not function at all properly, it never (since age 14) took longer than a couple of hours to digest food. There were even instances of digestion taking a mere 10 minutes because of the widespread inflammation.
Anyways - nowadays it appears to take an hour, maybe two, on a good day for food to travel through my system.

The Beet Experiment.

Digestion

You know at Thanksgiving or Christmas when you very literally have to take a nap because your body is working SO EXTRA HARD to digest the meal you just had?

Imagine if your body reacted in that way after every single meal. No, after every single snack. It takes time and energy and forces you to take a nap or, at the very least, lie down. Just lying there... as your body steals all of your energy just to digest food.
Now imagine that digestion being painful on top of it. Feeling every instance of peristalsis, every movement, every tiny piece of food, seed, grain, kernel, as it moves through your system. Agonizing. Slow. But entirely necessary.

That's one reason why physicians and nutritionists usually recommend smaller, more frequent meals for people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. The cramps are still present, but more food = more pain. Smaller bites, smaller amounts of food, help to reduce the time and energy required for digestion.

It still surprises me sometimes how a snack can force me to lie down for hours until it passes through my system - especially if I have unwittingly eaten something I shouldn't have.

Welcome to Crohn's Disease.
Like Thanksgiving every day - without the delicious meal beforehand.

Late Night Dessert

I got preoccupied today and kinda forgot to eat...

By 10pm I had only had Boost.
So I had some chicken with rice, but now I am craving some sort of dessert.
I had some fresh strawberries in the fridge that I wanted to use, so I looked up a quick recipe for strawberry cobbler...
I have never made cobbler before and I took liberties with the measurements (hoping it was similar to apple crisp).
It is currently in the oven and I am SO excited!

The great thing about forgetting to eat is that it means I can sometimes indulge myself a bit.