Food, diet, health

A place to discuss health and fitness, including healthy diets, etc.
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Ed1980
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Food, diet, health

Post by Ed1980 »

Hi, I’ve been advised by a doctor to experiment with my diet in order to see if certain food types are causing a current annoying bladder problem. Getting older is not nice. I eat quite healthily and I’m a vegetarian, but have a bit of a coffee addiction and a sugar/chocolate addiction (although I don’t have sugar in coffee or drink coke or anything like that). Do like a glass of red wine. I’m meant to experiment cutting out coffee, chocolate, alcohol, some dairy (mature cheese and yoghurt which are very common in my diet), some vegetables (onions and tomatoes, which I cook with regularly, tofu (which I eat around 5 or 6 times per month), some fruit (apples, bananas, strawberries, and avocados – all of which I eat as often as possible, bananas and apples almost daily). Have to avoid spicy food and soy sauce, again these are common in my diet. I don’t have to give everything up all at once, but phase some things out and see what happens. I don’t have much time and concentration to spend on this as work is a bit stressful right now. Feeling uninspired about what to cook. So far just stuck in my normal routines even though a lot of what I usually eat is on the list of what to avoid. Any suggestions for phasing things out and possible alternatives and general inspiration appreciated. Thank you. :stirthepot:
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Johnny Dangerous
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

Yeah, coffee and alcohol are well known to cause bladder irritation, when I cut coffee out my bladder spasms went away almost entirely. Red wines can be pretty bad too. IIRC the tannins in things like red wines and alcohol put them at the top of the list for bladder problems. I grew up on spicy food and while I never experienced direct bladder irritation, they can irritate your GI tract, which could probably in turn irritate everything eslse.

If I was having bladder pain/irritation, those would be first on my list, personally. Of course this is no substitute whatsoever for medical advice from someone who actually has expertise, just stating the obvious.
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Schrödinger’s Yidam
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Schrödinger’s Yidam »

Coffee. Besides caffeine it has a lot of acids and oils that will inflame your bladder. So decaf doesn't help. In fact, if you can't give up caffeine try taking a couple caffeine pills instead of drinking coffee. It helped me.

And of course alcohol doesn't help either.
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Hi, Ed1980,
Putting together your OP and the advice given so far, the obvious first thing to try is give up coffee and/or alcohol and keep on eating what you normally eat, so you don't have to worry about inventing a new diet until you have time for it.

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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Virgo »

Ed: "Doctor, I have a bladder problem, what should I do?"

Doctor: "I don't freakin' know, go figure it out, now who is your insurance provider?"

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Grigoris
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Grigoris »

Coffee is something your body does not NEED. Coffee directly effects the bowel and bladder. Stop drinking coffee NOW.

A glass of red wine is not going to be the problem... I imagine that the glass of wine you have, merely exacerbates the problem being caused by the coffee. Just to be on the safe side though, cut that (and other sources of alcohol) out as well. Alcohol is a diuretic, so it will overload the bladder. Your body does not NEED alcohol anyway.

Cut out chocolate too. In other words: cut out all sources of caffeine.

I bet that will solve your problem and you won't need to cut out the basic food sources. I mean, why is the doctor telling you to cut out tofu (for example)???

Normally, with bladder problems, doctors recommend live (healthy) yeasts so the yogurt and cheese thing is weird...

Try cutting down on the chilli too, for a while.

Have you been given a course of antibiotics or anti-fungals just in case it is a bladder infection?
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Bristollad
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Bristollad »

From the list you gave, it sounds like he's getting you to check for intolerances to certain foods/substances. All of the ones you mention are ones that are known to be problematic for some people. The easiest to start with is probably coffee and alchohol - though don't just replace the coffee with tea :) If after a month, there is no change then move onto the others on the list - but not all at once. For a start, completely changing your diet can cause dietary upset anyway, and secondly you won't know which food/substance is the problem one if things do get better.

But less coffee and alcohol is probably a good move for health anyway.
I mean, why is the doctor telling you to cut out tofu (for example)???
Because tofu and other soya products are well-known allergens.
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Grigoris
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Grigoris »

Bristollad wrote:Because tofu and other soya products are well-known allergens.
So are fava beans, peanuts, etc... but he doesn't seem to mention those.
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AlexMcLeod
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by AlexMcLeod »

Why bother going to the doctor if you're just going to run his advice past a bunch of strangers on the internet?

Also, please tell me 1980 isn't your birth year. That's not old. You'd be 36 or so. If that is old, I'd have to consider 30 old as well, and I'm unwilling to do that.
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SeeLion
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by SeeLion »

I can try to suggest some alternatives, but your list of restrictions quite challenging, primarily, because is based on avoiding certain foods, instead of listing what foods are allowed.

Do you have a rule about what/why you are avoiding exactly ?

Is there any mention about salt /sodium ? Are you trying to limit oxalates ?

For example, if you are avoiding strawberries, do you know if raspberries are allowed or not ? If you avoid tofu, do you avoid all soy products or you could drink soy milk or even cow milk ? If you don't eat bananas, can you eat other sweet fruits ?
Rakz
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Rakz »

The trick is to stop eating processed garbage like most americans/canadians do. After that you'll be fine.
dreambow
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by dreambow »

Have a breath test to rule out fructose and lactose intolerance, gluten problems, Nut allergies etc. Look into foods that are considered prebiotics like cold rice, fermented foods...do some serious reading on the matter and trial certain foods and see what's playing havoc with your gut. Of course the doctor is important but most important is be aware, be your own dietician
Ed1980
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Ed1980 »

Hi, thanks all for your comments and suggestions and sorry I did not get back here to reply until now. Anyway the comments are appreciated and I am going to read through them all tonight or tomorrow.
:twothumbsup:
Punya
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Punya »

Hi Ed. While gradually cutting down and eliminating coffee seems like the obvious first step for you, my general experience about dietary changes is take it easy and find alternative things you enjoy eating rather than just depriving yourself. With sugar (or salt for that matter) if you gradually cut down you'll find after a while you don't enjoy sugary foods anymore. The same with something like tomatoes. I used to eat a lot of tomatoes but I was advised to eliminate them last year to deal with a specific health problem. I now find I am happy to just eat them occasionally.

Making dietary changes is similar to the experience of giving up cigarettes. It's likely you'll quit a few times, then slide, before giving up permanently.
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Ed1980
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Re: Food, diet, health

Post by Ed1980 »

Thanks for your comments Punya! :smile:
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