Salad Addicts Anonymous

This is my first time at a meeting like this. So, um, hello, my name is Cat and I'm... I'm... a salad addict! I love salad and I can't stop eating it. I go down to the farmers market and all the delicious fresh veggies are in season and I just can't say no. I gotta have 'em! I had salad three, yes THREE times last week. I'm feeling a bit "off" today and it's probably because of my salad binge, but I don't know if I can halt my addiction. There's a whole bag of lettuce in my fridge! Snap peas and tomatoes and carrots too! Feta cheese! Ranch dressing! It's calling my name! I think I need an intervention. My pattern of addiction is, I start to feel well, then I start to get cocky with my diet, and that's when I eat salad. I can usually avoid every other unsafe food. Fast food, spicy food, fried food - I can walk away from it all! But not salads. I am a salad addict.

Anybody else a salad addict? Care to share your story?

I am the same !!! I love going out to restuarants and eating salad. I don't know why. or I will have a sub and put lots of veggies on it.
I was actually hoping to find a recipe for a cold rice salad. I seem to think rice would be good.. but I want it cold. And it is good to buy in bulk.. but I need it tasty !!
it is a vicious cycle. i am nto eating well right nwo.. mostly I don't want to eat at all..adn that is worse. I am feelign a bit tired.. and warm right now. I am goign to wash my face..see if that helps )

Freakin' veggies. I bought spring rolls at the fair on Sunday and all day yesterday I was in the bathroom, until I was bleeding. They weren't even that good.

Salad is delicious.

Like Silvermoon I am addicted to Caesar Salads. I miss crunching on raw veggies.

Hi my name is Amanda and I too am addicted to salads. I know that I should resist, but I just can't be good all the time. This has caused myself and my poor husband more than one sleepless night.

Oh. I. Wish. My new (as of late June) diet handout even bans relish. Relish! (Also: jam.) So you force me on a diet of meat and white bread and then you take away my condiments?

If I had a salad it would be fresh butter lettuce with lots of salty feta and a big (not chopped) carrot on the side. No need for dressing. But if we're going dressing, then let's just go all out and have a taco salad with blue corn tortilla chips! Nom nom!

Hi my name is Melissa and I REALLY love salad. Nothing like a good leafy green plate of veggies in front of me. Snap pees, broccoli, celary, carrots and romain lettuce makes up the PERFECT salad...add a little italian dressing for some "tang" or a little ranch and I'm good to goooo! The worst part is now I know I can;t have it the better salad tastes, and I by no means will let myself down when it comes to a craving...plus technically it's healthy...even if it means a couple extra trips to the bathroom :/

Hi my name is Jill, and I need help with avoiding salads. It is worse in the summer when fresh veggies are so ripe and delicious. My biggest weakness (which I think had a hand in my current flare) is spinach leaves with diced strawberries and feta cheese topped with Ken's Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette dressing. I also add walnuts for my husband, but I know better to avoid those. Oh, it is so, so good, but it's so, so bad for my tummy.

Hi my name is Heike and I am addicted to salad too.
I just love the butter lettuce with my home made vinaigrette or a pasta salad with any kind of fresh veggies that are available, preferably bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, black olives, tomatoes, peas ...

Ahhhhh, soooooo gooooooood! (drooling severely into the keyboard!

Another addict here. I'm planning on having one tonight. Iceberg lettuce, feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, croutons and ranch. I'll pay for it tomorrow. But I'll enjoy it tonight!

Hi Fromthegut,

Here's my recipe for rice salad - but, forgive me if there are ingredients you can't have:ybatty: I don't have Crohn's and my son was only recently diagnosed (and not a veggie eater anyway), so I'm still learning what's acceptable.

(Sorry, I don't have firm quantities...)

Recipe:

Cold, cooked long grain rice (not sure of qty - maybe 4-6 cups???)
Veggies you can tolerate (I normally use whatever I have available - chopped onion, carrots, celery, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, cherry tomatos, etc.) (qty - again, 'maybe' 2 cups total of all veggies)
Beans, if you can tolerate them (mixed beans from can - I usually use 1/2-1 can)
1 garlic clove, minced
Dried cranberries (if you can tolerate) (approx. 1/4 cup)
Extras - sometimes I add feta cheese or shrimp or chopped chicken

Seasonings:
Herbs - parsley, basil
Salt, pepper
White wine vinegar
Olive oil


Prep - rinse beans, soak cranberries in a bowl of warm water (to soften them) for 15 minutes or so.

Mix all ingredients and season with seasonings listed to your taste. Note: you will probably use more oil and vinegar than you expect as the rice soaks up the flavour.

Adjustments - you can change up the vinegar with balsamic or whatever you prefer. The cranberries add a sweet tang but, if you can't tolerate them, I'm sure if you chop up a little bit of fruit (apples, peach), the flavour will still work.

Will stay good for a couple of days but, as the rice soaks up the dressing, you may need to add more.

Hope you enjoy!

Hello, my name is DeAnna and I am a salad addict. Last week I ate tomatoes. I could still smell them as they left me, they left so fast, but they were good. Next time I vow I will remove all seeds and skins and maybe they will stay longer.

I flare almost every summer and it makes me so SAD. I LOVE fresh fruits and veggies. Always have. My friends used to laugh at me because I would eat the salad bar and lecture them about being good to their colons as they ate their steaks and baked potatoes. Who is laughing, now, huh???

Life can be so ironic.

I LOVE tomatoes, melons of all types, zucchini, spinach, nuts, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, carrots (raw only), peppers, green beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower - you name it and I like it. Except maybe okra. I MISS my SUMMER full of FRESH food!!!!!

I need help.

LOL, sunflower.

I also still remember my absolute disbelief when I was told I probably should stay away from all fresh salads and veggies. Never knew that there would be a disease that "promotes" the "bad" things!

That was the one good thing my son heard re his Crohns! He never liked fruits/veggies (OMG, who doesn't like watermelon or corn on the cobb?? :ywow !!! He was very happy to tell me that I could no longer 'bother' him about eating more fruits/veggies!

Actually, during the reintro of his food, I was told to buy 'white' bread for him, he laughed and called me a 'white bread newbie' because, in error, I bought him HIGH FIBRE white bread! LOL

Has anyone ever been to Souplantation or the Sweet Tomatoes restaurant?? It is a Salad Bar dream. I'll even get seconds, but what a price to pay!

cheerio said:

Has anyone ever been to Souplantation or the Sweet Tomatoes restaurant?? It is a Salad Bar dream. I'll even get seconds, but what a price to pay!

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YES! When I lived in California I'd make weekly trips to either Sweet Tomatoes or Fresh Choice. Of course they had the standard salad bar options, but I always loved their prepared choices too (especially the Asian-inspired ones!).

When I worked in the US, the canteen at my office used to have really nice made-to-order salads. My favourite was one with mixed greens, dried cranberries, blue cheese, walnuts and a cranberry vinaigrette. They also had a good citrus-inspired one with orange slices.

Hello. My name is Jessica, and I'm a salad addict. When I make my salads, I put a little bit of everything in, chopped up. At the end, I wind up with 10-20 ingredients in about 3-4 cups total... which I'm sure doesn't help. When I'm doing good, I can have up to 3 or so a week. When I'm doing bad, I crave them more.

Hi, my name is Ben, and I am a sex SALAD addict. I love the feel of a big, raw, hard p- p- piece of lettuce in my mouth. (Sorry, but I never pass up the opportunity for good sex jokes. I'll leave out any innuendo pertaining to creamy dressing tho ) I don't like a lot of veggies in mine, other than lettuce. Maybe some cucumber, some bacon bits, croutons sometimes, little slices of celery. I'd pass up chocolate cake for salad any day. Alas, I have been salad-sober for over a year now. My family really appreciates it, but sometimes it's difficult.

I'm in the club too! I used to be so good, but I have been so bad lately (looks at Ben sharply, daring him to make this into a "that's what she said")!

But seriously folks, this salad love has to stop. And I'm not ready!!!

I've fallen off the wagon and I think I need an intervention. I had two, yes TWO salads on Saturday. A small one with lunch and then again a small one with dinner. And I felt no repercussions from my indulgences! So I got cocky. Yesterday I had a LARGE salad at lunch, then blueberries for a snack and carrot juice with dinner. Yes, I was crazy for eating so much fresh deliciousness all in one day - and I am paying for it today! But it was sooooo tasty. So much so that I was seriously tempted to eat salad again today at lunch! I compromised and had a sandwich with a little tomato and lettuce on it. Will I pay for that? Probably! Will I eat salad again tomorrow? It's a definite possibility! Have I hit rock bottom? Getting there!

I’m one week salad sober. One day at a time.

Jer's Girl said:

I used to be so good, but I have been so bad lately

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That's what... HE said!

(see what I did there?)

Nicole, you rock! Wish I had that kind of self-control. I have been salad sober for 3 days, although I did have that lettuce and tomato in a sandwich on Tuesday, and I also had some fresh carrot juice yesterday...

Ben, sneaky!

I had salad two days ago...and I think I'm STILL paying for it. It doesn't help that my shot is due tomorrow, so things are normally getting rough around now.

Cat-a-Tonic said:

Ben, sneaky!

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That's... What... He... Said...

Hello...I am a salad addict. I eat a salad every single day...EVERY single day.
At work we order in lunch and I always get a spinach chicken taco salad with ranch dressing, when I eat out I order a salad...when I order for food to be delivered I get the Chicken Pecan Encrusted salad with nuts and blue cheese.

Don't get me wrong...I cook regular meals too but I'm all about that salad. I truly have a problem

Hi, I'm Layla and I'm a salad addict.

I grow my own tomatoes, lettuce and courgette among other things and had my resection planned for winter so I could eat salads the next summer:ylol:

Don't mind not eating salads in winter but summer is just not summer without them.

My planning wasn't as good as it could have been but now that the Humira is kicking in I have had a few salads with fewer issues than before, yay!

Tomato skins are still a problem but I've been making lots of tomato pasta sauce, I use a mouli to get the skins out after cooking, and that has been a good use for them too. There's not many things as nice as a tomato fresh from the garden!

Summer is just about over now so I'll be making more sauce and freezing it for winter, to save a taste of summer.

I love salads too. Salads do not love me. Unrequited love.

I've also been on a snap pea binge for the last few weeks. It started out alright..but it went haywire pretty fast. Lol.

There's snap peas in my fridge right now. They're calling my name.

I miss salads I especially miss spring rolls and egg rolls too. My Dad swears by salads as far has healing his proctitis. He doesn't have severe inflammation though like I do, just mild symptoms here and there when he hasn't been eating his greens.

I missed salads for years. I realised a long time ago that fibre made my symptoms worse and so only ate then in small quantities, then with my first two ileostomies I couldn't eat them at all because even small amounts of fibre gave me partial stoma blockages. I couldn't cheat then - I quickly learnt that it really wasn't worth it. I could have one baby tomato a day. Or baby-tomato-sized portions of any salad vegetable (or of many fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, nuts and seeds, but not all on the same day obviously, more like two or three of these portions a day). Then I got my third stoma last year which doesn't block and I've been gradually increasing my portions with no problems so far and I'm eating normal, though modest, portion sizes now.

I missed salads and apples and pears especially. All those healthy things. Maybe it's easier for some people to cheat with healthy things than it is with sugar or fatty foods because it's been drummed into us that things like salads are good for us that on one level it doesn't feel like cheating. We know salads are good for us so cheating doesn't feel the same as it does with sugary fatty stuff.

My son seems to do fine with salads. He eats one pretty much every day.

Salads are my bane in life. I love them they don't love me. I have been on a celery and carrot kick which as you probably all know is not a good thing with acute crohns - oh well - I hear them calling me from the fridge gotta go.

First thing I do when my insides are healed enough is to eat a salad. Tear up some prosciutto, some capers, tomatoes, a little cheese, calamatta olives, cucumber, baby spinach... Can you tell I'm Italian? Lol

Crohns08 said:

First thing I do when my insides are healed enough is to eat a salad. Tear up some prosciutto, some capers, tomatoes, a little cheese, calamatta olives, cucumber, baby spinach... Can you tell I'm Italian? Lol

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Well the prosciutto and cheese would probably be alright for a lot of people. Your salads sound far superior to mine, which usually consist of tomatoes and cucumber.

My son does better with tender leaves, like baby spinach and no raw carrots or celery.

All this salad talk is making me want a nice, delicious salad. I love spinach ones with raspberry dressing. I have found that spinach does not upset my stomach as much as other "roughage."

I used to eat a salad a day but have since stopped and am down to only one a week. Sometimes, I fall off the wagon for weeks at a time.

UnXmas said:

Well the prosciutto and cheese would probably be alright for a lot of people. Your salads sound far superior to mine, which usually consist of tomatoes and cucumber.

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Normally yes! Capers wrapped in Mozzarella and prosciutto is a favorite snack of mine but I can't eat prosciutto or soft cheeses while pregnant :/

I have some salad most days, though quite often it's not anything more adventurous than lettuce and tomato. Quite often I'll have some cold beef with salad, or a baked potato (I can eat those again post surgery - wasn't able to for years). Last night was cod fillet, chips and of course, salad.

Before I was diagnosed I kept trying different things with my diet but towards the end I was pretty much eating chicken and salad, and fish and salad, which seemed to work out as about the best balance between not making the bowel symptoms too bad, and not making me feel too weak and tired.

I had salad today: tomatoes, Waldorf salad, cheese, corned beef, cucumber, potato salad. Up until late last year and my last surgery I would have been in agony after eating that unless I'd only eaten the cheese, corned beef and potato salad, and maybe one tiny mouthful of the rest.

This sudden unexpected ability to be able to cope with high residue/high fibre foods is one good thing to come out of my intestinal perforation and the new stoma that was required in order to fix it.

Sorry to those of you who can't eat salad, I thought of you all today when I was eating my lunch and reminded myself not to take the pleasure of cucumber for granted.

I'm having salad tomorrow. I'm excited about it! I'm attending a fancy banquet dinner thing for work and I already know that they're going to have the salads set out on the tables ready to go when people walk in. My mouth is watering just thinking about it now! The dinner itself is salmon, well I have salmon all the time so it doesn't sound that amazing. Dessert is chocolate cake, and although I love chocolate cake, I think I'm still looking forward to the salad even more. Is that weird? I'm going to a fancy dinner and I'm most looking forward to the salad?

UnXmas, cucumber is sadly one of the things I just cannot tolerate - for some reason, it gives me horrendous heartburn! Which is so weird because it seems like one of the most "cool" foods, it doesn't seem possible but it makes my throat feel like it's been set on fire. Anyway, I appreciate you thinking of us while eating cucumber. I miss cucumber! Glad you're able to enjoy it again!

I am just now seeing this thread!
My dad has Crohn's, he also has short bowel syndrome. He is in remission and has been for a very lon time. But he still can't eat a salad. To be graphic, he calls himself the "salad shooter". But we all know that sometimes you just need to eat a salad!
When I was REALLY sick in 2009 I remember my sister brought home a bunch of tomatoes and lettuce and all sorts of tasty stuff. She wouldn't let me have any. I woke up in the middle of the night to sneak it! I stood in front of the fridge with a knife, a tomato, and a bottle of ranch. I went to town on it. That tomato was so dang amazing!
There is a restaurant kind of close to where I live called Diced Tomatoes. Its nothing but salads. I keep promising myself when I go back in remission that I have a date with me myself and I!

My big treat at Sunday coffee hour is one small piece of celery and one of raw red pepper. Livin' high!

LOSTnut said:

LOL, sunflower.

I also still remember my absolute disbelief when I was told I probably should stay away from all fresh salads and veggies. Never knew that there would be a disease that "promotes" the "bad" things!

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I agree: could not believe it when I found out. I was a near vegetarian before all of this started and ate all kinds of fruits, veggies, and whole grains. Now I am thankful when I can hold down chicken and plain crackers.

Went to dinner with a friend yesterday. She started to tell the waiter that she didn't want her salad. I was so quick to offer it to myself. I scarfed it down in about 3 minutes. It was nothing short of amazing!

I had butter lettuce and a bit of tomato for dinner today and so far, no problem. A salad! Me ! Woo hoo. Of course it was all ensy weensy, but still...

Yes, I too am an addict. I struggle everyday to pay attention in class because I am just dreaming about caesare salad. I eat, sleep, breathe salad.