Fiber

[BRCoats]

Hey all,

Not sure if I posted this in the right area or not, but here goes.......

I am unable to eat anything with fiber in it. The only veggies i can eat are french style green beans, avocado, and tomato. But only in TINY amounts. If I were to eat a spoonful of beans, I'd be SO sick.

So....I was just wondering if any other celiacs have this problem. I also have gastroparesis, so I'm just trying to figure out what is causing the problem. I've not heard any other celiacs complain of this.....but I'm just making sure.

Thanks for any input.

~Brenda

[GlutenFreeStudent]

  BRCoats said:

Hey all,

Not sure if I posted this in the right area or not, but here goes.......

I am unable to eat anything with fiber in it. The only veggies i can eat are french style green beans, avocado, and tomato. But only in TINY amounts. If I were to eat a spoonful of beans, I'd be SO sick.

So....I was just wondering if any other celiacs have this problem. I also have gastroparesis, so I'm just trying to figure out what is causing the problem. I've not heard any other celiacs complain of this.....but I'm just making sure.

Thanks for any input.

~Brenda

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Brenda, I'm not an expert, but I have a couple ideas that may help. First of all, are you eating dairy? I would recommend going off dairy until your intestines heal. Milk, cheese, etc. can give you allergic reactions to other things, and you will have a harder time digesting things like fiber. The exact same thing happened to me, I could not eat fiber at all! What I did was add fiber gradually. I started with just baby food - veggies w/ no fiber. A month or so later I began to take fresh veggies and puree them into liquid form in the blender. (Doesn't taste good, but it's healthy.) Some time after that I added prunes and figs. Last week I was able to start taking psyllium, which I mix with grapefruit juice. Each month I add something new and I start out with tiny amounts. I still can't have beans, lentils or brown rice, and I do better with the baby corn than whole corn pureed. I have only been gluten free for a few months so I'm sure it takes longer than that to build up your digestive forces. I think you just have to take it slow. Don't give up, just be patient and keep trying new things in small amounts. That's what's working for me.

[BRCoats]

Uhmmm, are you telling me that baby food veggies don't have fiber??? I purposely haven't purchased any, because I didn't figure it was any different than just using a blender! I don't care what it tastes like....if it's good for me, I'll try it. I've got to get some good-for-me food down. I've been gluten-free a little over a year, and still cannot eat veggies. So yeah, if they're really fiber free, then I'll try them. Any suggestions on which brands?? Just Gerber?

Thanks for the response. I'm all excited now....maybe I can have baby food!!! LOL

~Brenda

[BRCoats]

Sorry for the reply to my own post, but I'd really like to know if baby food has fiber in it. So...if anyone has any idea, please reply. I guess I don't understand how they would actually remove the fiber....but then....that's just me.

~Brenda

[lbsteenwyk]

I believe that when the vegetables are pureed, the existing fiber is broken down into smaller fibers and becomes a little easier to digest. Insoluble fiber works by holding fluid; when the fibers are pureed, they can't hold fluid as well.

[BRCoats]

Yeah, I could see how that would be accurate. I emailed Gerber, and they said that they do not remove the fiber from their baby food. So....I probably won't be trying that. Oh well...it was a good try, anyway.

Thanks for the reply.

~Brenda

[debmidge]

Brenda

I found your post interesting...my husband has celiac disease and he too cannot handle fruit/veg fiber. He had misdiagnosed celiac disease for 27 years and was finally diagnosed properly in end of 2003; just started this year eating babyfood banana and prunes in past couple of months and it seems ok.

He cannot eat raw or cooked fruit/vegs (exception of DelMonte canned carrots & italian green beans - but only a small forkful hidden around potatoes or meat).

He also is sensitive to spices like pepper, onion, garlic, etc. and tomato sauce. So his food is pretty plain. His plan is to have citrucel every day to avoid the constipation.

His hopes were that someday he'd be able to have fruit/vegs again and spices, but it doesn't seem likely. So your situation is understandable to us.

Some advice on the babyfood veggies: if you can tolerate it, add salt and butter - it'll make it taste better.

[BRCoats]

debmidge,

I went undiagnosed for about 12 years. Seems like the longer you go being sick, the worse off you are with trying to heal.

I do the EXACT same thing with my green beans. I can only have the french style, and I hide it in tuna and cheese. If I just eat a big helping of green beans, I'm sick. I have no idea why hiding them makes them more tolerable. Weird.

I had planned on buttering, salting, and peppering the baby food veggies. I don't care really what it tastes like....I just want to get something good down me. And I'm so plugged up that I'm ready to explode. And it's been that way for three years. It's really sick. I feel so gross all the time. But I can't get anything past my stomach that will help with that problem. So.....I sit and wait.....hoping for at least one trip a week to the toilet. Sorry...I know that's graphic.

Thanks for the reply. I'm off to try some baby food (yum, yum) as soon as the next pay period comes.

Tell your hubby he's not alone, and I'm sorry he's having a rough time.

~Brenda