Every wondered why some people can eat nuts and others cannot??

Well, it is quite odd that some say you CANNOT EVER EAT NUTS, but a lot of people have no issues with them.

So what is the easiest way to find this out? with a food diary.

This is one of the things we found out from the End Diverticulitis Survey. Different people have different problem foods.

For example.

I get gas when I eat chocolate, the not nice stinky gas (sorry about that).
A mate of mine gets gas when he eats lettuce (burps).

But I have no problems with lettuce and he has no problems with chocolate. We are quite different in which foods cause us issues.

I can however eat chocolate ice cream, chocolate milk, and a lot of other chocolate products. Just not Chocolate itself. Although MM's are no major problems for me (go figure).

In the survey we did for the End Diverticulitis Kit we found that people tended to disagree a lot on the foods that were OK to eat and the ones that were not OK. There were some stand out favorites that people agreed upon as bad or good. But a lot of foods fell into the middle ground. Where 50% said they caused problems and 50% said they did not cause problems.

Confused?
Well, lets have an example.
Fred, he can eat nuts and tomatoes no problems, but has trouble with lettuce.
Where as
Jack, he has trouble with tomatoes, not sure on nuts, and has no trouble with lettuce.

So what do these guys do in order to make sure they do not cause a flare up with their Diverticulitis. The last thing you need to do is to cause an inflammation in YOUR Diverticulitis because someone else said these foods were OK to eat. They might be OK for them, but not for you.

The best way to combat this is to keep a food diary. I know this sounds like a big hassle, and it can be annoying. However after a month or so you will have a good picture of what is OK and what is not OK, for you, specifically. Then you might decide to just leave the diary, or just fill it in when you try something different.

We have a sample diary plan here that you can download.
Download the Food Diary in PDF.
Download the Food Diary in .DOC (Windows Word Document Format)
Download example filled out diary

Keep this somewhere handy, in the kitchen, stick it to the fridge. And just fill out the meals you have and the foods you eat, listing any reaction you have. This will help you narrow down pretty quickly what foods really cause you problems (if any).

For example , our friends above might do some testing. Lets assume they know nothing about what causes them trouble for now. If they were both eating the same foods, here's what the food diary would look like.

Example Meal 1. simple salad, includes tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, chicken, wall nuts, boiled egg.

Both Fred and Jack would have problems after this salad. Jack with the tomatoes and a question on the wall nuts. And Fred with the lettuce.

Next Meal Example 2. sandwich, tomato, cheese, ham.

Now Fred would have no problems here. but Jack would have an issue, the tomatoes. So Jack would know that something in the salad and the sandwich caused problem. The common link Tomatoes. Jack now knows to leave tomatoes out of his diet.

Next Meal, Example 3. salad, includes tomatoes, baby spinach, boiled potatoes, bacon.

Fred would have no trouble with this. And Jack would know that he will have to leave out the tomatoes.

Next Meal, Example 4 salad sandwich, lettuce, tomato, chicken, egg

From previous experience Fred will now know that he must avoid lettuce. As everything else in the sandwich he has had prior without any problems. the Tomatoes, Egg, (he could question the bacon and the chicken) but you get the idea.

The idea of a food diary is to keep an accurate record of what you eat, to begin with the more accurate the better. But as you progress you will know where the problems occur,and you will have a much better grasp of when you are likely to have an issue that might cause your Diverticulitis to cause a flare up.

The food diary is down loadable here. Please feel free to download it and use it.
Download the Food Diary in PDF.
Download the Food Diary in .DOC (Windows Word Document Format)
Download example filled out diary

Here is a quick example of the food diary filled out.

IMPORTANT!!!.
Never alter your eating habits when using the diary (except to eliminate the reactive foods). You will not get a clear picture of what is causing you problems. eg if you are using the diary, and have a dough nut with a cup of coffee, continue to do so and write it down. Don't make special consideration just because you are taking a diary. It happens a lot people feel guilty about a certain food and just avoid it when using the diary. This will not give a clear picture of your NORMAL eating habits.

Don't be afraid of writing it down, this is for YOU, for YOUR reference, not for anyone else.

If you feel some discomfort it may not be from the meal you just had, it might be from a previous meal.

As you can see the diary has a time, date and meal type. So you can make a quick note of which meal, be it a main meal or a snack. Also it has a food groups section, which allows you to enter in the type of foods contained in a specific meal. This is a bit tough to fill out if your eating out, just try to be as accurate as possible but don't ruin a nice evening out by witting everything down. Use your discretion to try and live as normally as possible whilst using the diary. There is also a fiber rating to give you an idea of how your fiber consumption is going, the fiber may be a little hard to fill out in the early stages, but just use it as an indication. If you should be on a high fiber diet, it will give you a quick glance to see how you a progressing. If you are unsure of the fiber, then just put good or low. And maybe do a quick check with a food fiber list, such as the one in the End Diverticulitis Kit.

The last is a feeling/problems column, so you can keep track of how things have been going. Remember it does take a little while for the food to make it down there, so a problem might not show up for several hours.

It may also pay to make a note of how you are feeling mentally, ie if you are stressed or not. As stress is a major factor with Diverticulitis.