Crohns Disease – Page 3 – Clinical Alimentary

Chapati and low fodmap curry – yum!

Chapati

150 g of gluten free plain flour

1 teaspoon of garlic infused oil

1/2 teaspoon of Xanthan gum

20 g of well chopped coriander

Salt to taste

Water to form a dough

Method

Weigh out the flour in a bowl and add the xanthan gum and mix well.

Add the oil, salt and coriander and water.

Add water slowly and bring the flour together to form a dough – the more you work this dough the better the results will be!

Roll the dough into a sausage shape and divide to make approximately 8 small disks

Roll these into a ball then roll out evenly as thin as possible.

Cook on a flat griddle till the flour turns a little opaque then hold the chapatti in a flame to finish the cooking add some spray oil to the pan if needed.

Serve immediately – they don’t keep well and are best eaten fresh.

Curry

2 aubergines

200g spinach

200g of potato

1 red chili chopped small

1 inch of ginger chopped

1 teaspoon of coriander seeds

1 teaspoon of cumin

3 cardamon pods, split

1 red pepper chopped

1 tablespoon of garlic infused oil

1/2 teaspoon of asafoetida

salt to taste

Method

Roast the aubergines till soft and remove the skin and chop.

Add the spices and chopped chili (you can omit this if it affects symptoms too much) to a pestle & mortar and grind.

Add the oil to a pan and fry the spice paste to release the aroma.

Add the aubergine, chopped potato to the pan and cooked till tender.

Add 4-5 pieces of frozen spinach and chopped red pepper at the end of the dish and cook for ten minutes.

Serve!

Turmeric potatoes

These small potatoes are easy to make, use 3-4 potatoes per portion of salad potatoes. I roasted them in the oven in their jackets till soft them sliced them and using 1/2 tablespoon of oil fried turmeric and coriander seeds to release the flavour and added this to the potato with salt to taste. You could use this recipe with older potatoes if you wished.

December 7, 2015

Jules_GastroRD1 Comment

Cinnamon and lemon thyme roast chicken

It is the first cold snap of the season today and what better to warm the cockles than a roast chicken? This is a very simple roast, sprinkled with cinnamon and thyme.

Ingredients

1/2 roast chicken

2 teaspoons cinnamon

5-6 springs of thyme

salt and pepper to taste.

Method

Do not wash the chicken before you use it.

Place the chicken in a roasting tin on a rack to drain the fat as it roasts and add the thyme and cinnamon plus seasoning.

Roast for 3/4 hour.

I added some carrots to the roasting tin to add colour to the dish.

Enjoy!

November 21, 2015

Jules_GastroRDLeave a comment

Coriander carrots

My love of the carrot is growing – it really is a very versatile vegetable and the colour it provides to dishes adds a bit of warmth during the winter. Carrots partner very well with coriander and I have decided to use my gnocchi recipe to see if it works with carrot in place of parsnips – it appears that it does, but one word of warning – ensure you cook the carrots well and puree them before you add the flour to ensure you can roll them and they have the correct texture.

Ingredients

400g Carrots

70g of gluten free flour

2g of coriander stalks chopped finely

Coriander seeds to garnish

salt + pepper

Method

Cook the carrots till very soft and puree

add the flour, coriander stalks, salt + pepper and mix well

Roll into a 1cm width sausage on a floured board and cut even 1 cm strips.

Roll into a ball and flatten with a fork.

Boil till they float in water.

Serve

I thought I would add a picture of this little chap with his orange (red) breast – he was very friendly!

October 22, 2015

Jules_GastroRD2 Comments

Prunes – natures laxative.

“I hope my tongue in prune juice smothers, If I belittle dogs and mothers”

Ogden Nash

Ogden Nash was an American poet who suffered from crohn’s disease according to Wikipedia, his unfortunate demise was after a lactobacillus infection after eating poorly prepared coleslaw as the Wikipedia site states. Interesting quote about prune juice, do you get the feeling he detested prunes? Prunes might have resulted in symptoms for him – depending on his crohn’s disease. I can only speculate, but what do these dried fruits do for us? Should we in fact include them in our diet? The following post by Compound Interest explains the chemistry behind the prune – or dried plum.

http://www.compoundchem.com/2015/09/01/plums-prunes/

Prunes do in fact improve constipation – but for some people at a cost – the reason they do is down, in part to the large amount of sorbitol and fructans they contain, these FODMAPs or fermentable sugars draw fluid into the small bowel and rapidly ferments in the large bowel. Sorbitol is also found in sugar free mints and gum – often a warning is given on these to avoid eating too much as a laxative effect may be the result. Not great if you have IBS and bloating and are intolerant to sorbitol. Prunes could also result in symptoms for people with active crohn’s disease too – perhaps that is the reason they are suggested by Nash to be a treatment to instill an avoidance of denigrating your mother! Or alternatively it might be just down to taste or personal preference. But to help constipation if you don’t suffer from IBS, bloating and excessive wind – they are worth a try – introduce them in your diet slowly so your bowel adjusts to the extra fibre they contain. These sugars can also have a pre-biotic (food for bacteria) action, so it is worth including some in your diet if you tolerate their effects!

September 13, 2015September 13, 2015

Jules_GastroRD2 Comments

Low FODMAP fishcakes

Ingredients

1) Tartar Sauce

50 g Gherkin (check ingredients for Fodmaps)

2 teaspoons of capers

3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise

5 g flat leaf parsley

2) 300 g white fish

650 g new potatoes

9 g fresh turmeric

2 teaspoons of cumin

1 tablespoon garlic flavoured oil

2 eggs

150 g of wheat free breadcrumbs

Method

Tartar sauce

Chop gherkins, capers and parsley and mix with mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste.

Mix and chill.

Fish cakes

Peel half of the potatoes and leave the others with peel on to add more fibre.

Boil in salted water till soft, mash with pepper.

Peel and chop turmeric and cook in the garlic flavoured oil with cumin.

Add the chopped fish, cook very lightly.

Combine fish and potato – mix gently to ensure large pieces of fish remain

Using a ring fill with fish and potato mix.

Beat the egg.

Coat each fish cake in egg then roll in breadcrumbs.

Lightly fry with spray oil and then finish cooking in the oven.

Serve.

June 5, 2014November 4, 2016

Jules_GastroRD1 Comment

My annual toilet rant

I have to say I find the price of toilets rather expensive and unlike last year when I travelled to London, this year I am going to blog about the problem. My bladder is partly at fault here, because it does not feel the need to empty whilst I am on the train but as soon as I arrive at any railway station I have to go, and usually quickly.

Toilets are a problem for many people with bowel disorders, or lack of them to be precise, many people feel anxious at going out because they need to know where the toilet is, as they can need to go with some urgency. This can increase feelings of anxiety increasing symptoms, making the problem worse. I have recently written an article on IBD and quality of life and the survey (The IMPACT study) I used for the article contests to this very fact in people with this condition. The UK part of the survey revealed that during a flare 97% of IBD sufferers needed to open their bowels urgently, this only dropped to 70% between flares – this therefore represents the majority of responders. Episodes of diarrhoea were 5-10 times per day for 38% during a flare, this level remained at 11% during remission, and this clearly has a major impact on an individual’s ability to travel, work and to function day-to-day. Perhaps not surprisingly this affected the unemployed to a greater extent. One of the primary reasons for work absence is frequency of needing the toilet (38%) and anxiety due to the risks of incontinence (33%).

The British Toilet Association says that the provision of public toilets is a vital service for those people with medical conditions. They campaign for ‘provision of clean, hygienic and safe publicly accessible toilets that are available where and when needed, for all types of users. They request an end to public toilet closures and authorities acceptance that access to safe, discrete toilet facilities are a basic human need. The IBD quality of life study also highlights the need for accessible facilities, unavailability of toilet facilities can increase a persons’ anxiety at going out, which can make symptoms worse. 26% of people with IBD have found they have had to be rude with staff in public areas, whom often do not appreciate the person with IBD’s needs, and have refused to allow people access to staff toilet facilities.

This can lead to an individual being housebound by their symptoms, reducing access to society, friends and family. 81% of people with IBD reported that they are anxious about toilet facilities when travelling somewhere new. Perhaps surprisingly, the Impact survey found that the level of concern about toilet access increased with increasing age, clearly these worries are a very personal and significant problem for people with IBD. I suspect that the same is likely true for people with IBS and other bowel conditions. I do feel that it is the responsibility of the station operators to keep these prices in proportion, particularly when we are having to experience price hikes in other areas and many people who rely on government aid to live, especially those with bowel conditions, whose anxiety at trying to make ends meet can have a direct impact on the symptoms they experience. So come on guys please consider your toilet prices – available toilet facilities are a basic human need, not an excuse for making money.

Can’t wait cards can be purchased from

www.theibsnetwork.org

www.nacc.org.uk

Radar key for disabled toilet facilities and guides are available from

www.radar-shop.org.uk/Detail.aspx?id=44

Read Peter’s blog on toilets and IBD here

http://www.crohnsupport.com/toilet-finder/

The impact study can be downloaded from

http://www.efcca-solutions.net/country.php