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The role sugar plays!?!?

DustyKat

Super Moderator
As some of you may know Sarah has made some pretty drastic changes to her diet over time. Firstly she gravitated toward a vegetarian diet and then about 18 months ago went that step further to vegan.

All changes to her diet and lifestyle have been made with much research and forethought. The move to vegan was I think done for both physical and conscientious reasons, with the physical holding the greatest sway and part of that had to do with dairy and her seeming inability to tolerate at all well following surgery. She also found red meat difficult to tolerate too.

The latest adjustment, about three months ago, has been to eliminate sugar, well anything with more than 1 gram per serve. I have also been looking into sugar and the role it plays in Crohn's and in many ways it's adverse effects makes a great deal of sense. I'm also looking into probiotics and think I have settled on Culturelle Lactobacillus GG, anyone else use these?

I can only look to Sarah and for what seems, and in all honesty is, a very restricted diet...no meat, no dairy, no (little) sugar (sucrose)...she looks well and has loads of energy. She is very conscious of her need for calories and has found alternate ways to get the required calories she needs per day. She never use to juice but now juices vegetables, she does not juice fruits as this then concentrates the sugars contained within them.

The only downside that I can see is her weight. At present it is stable and within normal limits but it does not lend itself to her losing much should she become stressed, which she does at times, at which time she tends to lose her appetite. Other than that she really does look the picture of health.

Any thoughts/comments?

Cheers, :)
Dusty. xxx
 
HEY, Dusty!
Culturelle was the probiotic V's doc recommended and the one in which he said he had the most faith. We never ended up using it though as there's no evidence her gut flora is anything but correct.

My 28 y/o daughter went VEGAN two years ago after being vegetarian w/heavy cheese diet for her whole life. Yes, her whole life, she had never had a piece of meat in her mouth. She also uses very little sugar.
Her weight has maintained, but I worry about protein intake and B12. Her doc suggested a B12 supplement (he is vegan himself) but she doesn't take one :yrolleyes:. She looks "gray" to me, I don't like her color but she has terrific energy. She gets protein via soy but I just don't think that's enough. She does catch more illnesses since going vegan. I don't like it overall as a diet choice and I wish she'd go back to dairy/eggs but she won't.

Edited to add: Violet doesn't like sweet foods and avoids them, always has, hates chocolate (what kid hates chocolate), says certain drinks are "too sweet"...and she is very tuned in to what food she "needs" so I bet there's something to it...
 
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rygon

Moderator
make her a bacon sarnie ..nobody can resist that :p

If she is happy and can maintain her health then good for her, if she does start to lose weight can she take high energy shakes (i hear oatmeal in normal shakes can help with the calorie intake).

It would be worth making your own pro-biotic yoghurt, then use a bit of the culture to make more (assuming you can make it with soy milk or something)

Any reason why she has become vegan?
 

Dexky

To save time...Ask Dusty!
Location
Kentucky
Hah, I wasn't sure til I looked but yes EJ's been taking Culturelle, Lactobacillus GG for over two years now:)

Sarah certainly looks good to me Dusty….and I mean that in the most innocent way!
 

Tesscorm

Moderator
Staff member
Dusty, would Sarah consider having a nutritional shake each day? I would imagine that there is one that would meet her dietary restrictions while boosting her vitamin and protein intake??? :)
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
@Julie - Thanks hun. :) I haven't noticed that Sarah is picking up more illnesses than usual so hopefully it stays that way. :eek2:

@Rygon - She originally went vegetarian as red meat no longer agreed with her. She then started to reduce her dairy and as she did so realised that also made her feel sluggish and affected her bowels. Once she was down to primarily vegetables and seafood she looked further into diet and what humans 'should' be consuming and I think that coupled with a developing view of abstaining from the use of animal products she decided that veganism was the way to go. So certainly a choice on her part but I do feel it was one driven by her Crohn's.

@Dexky - Thanks Dex! Oh, and I'm sure it's all innocent! :shifty:

@Tess - Thanks for the suggestion Tess! :) I think now that she is juicing she is also looking into that.

Dusty. xxx
 
Was just thinking about the sugar aspect myself. Alex is a sugar fiend, and for now, it'd be pretty impossible to restrict it, but I could do better.

He was on Culturelle for Kids for 2 years, we stopped recently when the GI thought his recent illness was from a bacterial overgrowth. He was also on Primal Defense (google that, some interesting stuff). I could never see any effect whatsoever on him. I think it's worth taking while on/after a course of antibiotics to restore gut flora. I took primal defense myself out of curiousity, no need. I found it maybe made me more regular.
 
Caitlyn takes a probiotic called florajen which is really well absorbed.

That is funny that Violet does not like chocolate. I thought Caitlyn was the only girl in the world that does not like chocolate. She does like other stuff though with sugar. I have tried to change her diet but I don't want to push now she is on this big kick that she is fat from all the weight the steroids put on her. She lost 10 pounds but still has about 8 to go to be her ideal weight. The way she lost weight has basically been reduced portion sizes and started being able to go to gym class again now that she is feeling better. She has cut back a lot on junk food as well and is trying to eat healthy snacks.
 
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