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In this Issue...
Special Events
Rx News & Research
Ask Heather
About Us
Eating for
IBS
Eating for IBS is the
life changing cookbook for good digestive health. Discover the delicious diet that controls IBS!
Tell a friend
about
the IBS newsletter!
First Year: IBS
First Year: IBS is an essential guide that covers the
core issues of
IBS symptom prevention on a daily basis.
Need help?
Have questions?
Come
join the IBS Message Boards!
Did you miss the latest
IBS newsletter and
Italian Chicken and Artichoke Pasta recipe?
Past issues
are posted here!
Yoga Can Help IBS!
Come to YogaBellys for info, or ask questions on the
IBS Yoga Board!
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June 5, 2003 |
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Summer Peach Cobbler
8 Servings
Filling:
4 C peeled, pitted fresh peaches
1/3 C - 2/3 C sugar (to taste)
1 T cornstarch
1 T fresh lemon juice
Biscuits:
2 C sifted white flour
2 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 T granulated sugar
4 T canola oil
1 C soy or rice milk
1 t apple cider vinegar
Preheat oven to 425F.
For Filling: Chop peaches, then stir all filling ingredients except lemon juice together in a medium saucepan, and bring mixture just to a boil. Remove from
heat and add lemon juice. Spray an 8" or 9" baking pan or casserole dish with cooking oil spray, and fill pan with fruit mixture.
For Biscuits: In a large bowl, sift then whisk dry ingredients. In a small bowl blend together
soy milk and vinegar until mixture thickens slightly, then blend in oil. With a
fork blend wet ingredients into dry until well-mixed. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto the fruit filling in pan (have spoonfuls
lightly touch - this will help them rise).
Bake for 18-22 minutes until golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into a biscuit comes out clean.
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Hello to everyone -
This newsletter brings a sunny summer recipe and the exciting debut of our
IBD board!
To begin, here's a delightfully delicious recipe to welcome the sunshine and glorious
fresh fruits of summer - Peach Cobbler! This sweet and luscious dessert is
also wonderful with fresh apricots or plums, so choose whichever fruit you
love best.
Peach cobbler is an old-fashioned dessert that's traditionally topped with a
very high fat butter (or lard!) based biscuit dough. Our version is much
healthier, and uses just a small amount of canola oil for richness. The biscuits
are especially light and tender from the clabbered soy milk, which is simply soy
milk blended with vinegar. This step replaces the traditional buttermilk, so you
can avoid the digestive upsets from dairy while keeping the tang and fluffy
texture buttermilk lends to baking.
Choose the freshest, ripest fruit you can find for this recipe, and for extra digestive stability peel the fruit
to reduce the insoluble fiber level. To peel peaches or apricots, simply drop the whole fruit into a large bowl
filled with boiling hot water, and let sit for about 5 minutes. Remove the fruit and the skins should slide right off.
If you're feeling creative, you could add a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, or cardamom to the fruit filling. Peach cobbler
is delicious served warm from the oven, drizzled with a little vanilla soy milk, or served a la mode with vanilla soy
ice cream. The cobbler also reheats beautifully the next day...in the unlikely event you have leftovers!
Best Wishes,
Heather Van Vorous
Check out our fabulous new
IBS Recipe Index!
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Come join the new Crohn's and Colitis Message
Board!
If you're dealing with IBD instead of IBS (or suspect you might be), our
new
inflammatory bowel disease board is the place to ask questions and find support. Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis can make life
very difficult, but having a place to go for friendly help from others who are dealing with the same issues can make a world of difference.
I'm delighted to welcome Jill Sklar, an award-winning author who specializes in medical writing, as our new board moderator.
Jill is not just a good friend with a great heart, she's the vice
president of the Michigan chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of
America, the author of The New York Times-reviewed First Year: Crohn's and Colitis, and she's personally dealt with Crohn's disease since childhood.
Jill joins our five current well-informed, empathetic, and excellent board moderators, who are there to help with everything
from diet information and recipes to hypnotherapy and yoga. Welcome Jill, and thank you to all of my fantastic moderators!
NOTE: For all article links, please refresh your browser page if the article does not appear when you click on the link.
For Medscape and Cardiosource articles you may have to register in order to view articles (registration is free).
A New Drug Approach to Irritable Bowel Syndrome
A drug currently used to treat alcoholics and drug
overdoses may also offer relief in a surprising quarter -- to sufferers of
irritable bowel syndrome. A small trial of 50 patients with the painful disorder showed that
three-quarters of them got relief from the drug, known best as naltrexone. Tiny doses of naltrexone, which is available generically, eased the bloating,
pain, constipation and diarrhea that marked irritable bowel syndrome in both men
and women. Click here for more
information...
Genetic Link in Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
The two most common forms of IBD by far are Crohn's disease and Ulcerative
Colitis. In both conditions, there is an immune response that causes the
inflammation. Though it is not yet clear what causes the body's immune system to
initiate this response, doctors and researchers are now confident that the human
genome plays a role in this process.
Pattern-Specific Brain Activation and Personalities in IBS
Patterns of brain activation in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
suggest an altered perception of pain compared with healthy subjects. Patients
with IBS also tend to exhibit a distinct personality profile, which varies
according to sex. Research demonstrating these findings was presented the
during Digestive Disease Week Conference 2003.
Click here for more
information...
IBS with Constipation: A New Report for Women
A new report released by the Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR) and reviewed by a panel of experts, finds
that the symptoms of IBS with constipation - which include abdominal discomfort
or pain, bloating and constipation - significantly impact the physical, social
and emotional well-being of sufferers. According to the Report, IBS is
under-diagnosed, mistreated and is often misunderstood by both practitioners and
the general public.
Use of SSRI Antidepressants & NSAIDs Increases GI Side Effects
This study aimed to investigate the relationship
between the use of antidepressants with or without NSAIDs and the risk of
gastrointestinal side-effects. It concluded that SSRI antidepressants increase the risk of gastrointestinal adverse effects in first time users
as compared with nonselective antidepressants. The combined use of SSRIs and
NSAIDs strongly increases the risk of gastrointestinal adverse effects and
should be avoided.
Click here for more
information...
Looking for the latest IBS research and news?
Click here for the IBS Newsletter Archive
"Soluble fiber supplements - help!"
"I'm really confused about how much and how often I should take a soluble fiber supplement for my IBS.
The product labels say these are laxatives, and have warnings not to use them for more than a week. But my
doctor told me to take them everyday and didn't mention any risks!"
Soluble fiber supplements (such as Equalactin, Citrucel, Fibercon, Benefiber, Fybogel, Normacol, Regulan, Metamucil) are marketed as over-the-counter laxative
and anti-diarrheal products, so they are bound by the FDA prescribing guidelines for those products. This means that
the supplements must have the dosage limitations on their packaging that apply to OTC anti-diarrheal and laxative drugs,
even though they are not drugs but fiber supplements. The FDA packaging guidelines for this category do not discriminate
between the drugs and the fibers. This explains why the dosages for these products that your doctor recommends for IBS
may conflict with the package information.
The dosage information for IBS that I have been given by doctors and fiber supplement manufacturers, and that
I believe works best for preventing IBS symptoms, is as follows:
For the powders (Citrucel, Benefiber, non sugar-free Metamucil) start at 1 teaspoon twice a day and over the
next week or two (or three or four) work up to 2 tablespoons twice a day. If you're using pills (Equalactin, Citrucel, Fibercon)
start at 2 pills twice daily and work up to 2 pills four times daily. You can also mix and match the powders and
pills (for example, take the powders at home but keep the pills on you at work or for taking before restaurant meals).
If you're combining powder and pill supplements, I think it's definitely best to make sure that your total daily dosage
is equal to what it should be for just the pills or fibers alone. You don't want to take the maximum dose for the pills
and then take the maximum dose for the powders on top of this.
If you do not see a measurable improvement in your symptoms within one week of using the maximum dosage of a soluble fiber supplement, this
could certainly point to a problem other than IBS, and you should see your doctor again. If you have any questions or concerns about the dose and frequency of taking soluble fiber supplements, check with your own
physician.
For all fiber supplements, make sure you have a large glass of water with each
dose, and drink fresh water frequently throughout the day as well. Soluble fiber
needs water to work - this is essential. I believe you can take soluble fiber
supplements every day for the rest of your life, and this should really help
your IBS.
If you're at all prone to bloating or gas avoid Metamucil (psyllium) and try
Equalactin, Citrucel, Fibercon, or Benefiber instead. Also, be aware that the sugar-free versions of the supplements can contain artificial sweeteners,
which can trigger IBS attacks. In addition, citric acid is often added to orange-flavored supplements, and this can
cause acid reflux in some people. If these are concerns for you, choose a sugar-sweetened or unsweetened, unflavored
variety of supplement. Aside from the concerns about psyllium, there doesn't
seem to be one type of soluble fiber supplement that is more or less likely to
be well-tolerated by people in general. There is a great deal of individual
variation here in how someone responds to any particular supplement. So if
you have gas or bloating from starting a supplement that doesn't disappear after a week or so, don't be discouraged, just try a different brand and perhaps a
different formulation (the pills instead of powder, or vice versa). It may take
several different tries to find the supplement that works best for you, but the
results can be well worth the effort.
The USDA recommended minimum fiber intake for adults is 25 to 35 grams daily, and soluble fiber should
account for one third of this amount. Some scientists actually recommend up to 60 grams of fiber a day,
so the USDA recommendations are not maximum dosage limitations.
The typical American eats only a meager 10-15 grams of fiber daily. For comparison, the average fiber intake
in China is 33 grams of fiber a day, and it ranges as high as 77 grams per day
in some regions.
Dosages and fiber content for common soluble fiber supplements:
Benefiber provides 3 grams of soluble fiber per tablespoon dose.
One tablespoon of Metamucil smooth texture orange and original texture orange (these are not the sugar-free varieties)
contains 2 grams of soluble fiber and 1 gram of insoluble fiber.
Two Metamucil wafers provide 2 grams soluble fiber and
1 gram insoluble fiber.
Two Fibercon tablets contain 1 gram soluble fiber.
Two Equalactin tablets contain 1 gram soluble fiber.
One tablespoon of Citrucel provides 2 grams of soluble fiber.
Two Citrucel caplets provide 1 gram of soluble fiber.
Fiber supplements have health benefits in addition to controlling IBS symptoms.
Soluble fiber (both foods and supplements) not only normalizes bowel function,
it also helps stabilize blood glycemic levels, slows the rate of
carbohydrate absorption, improves regulation of blood sugar, and lowers insulin
requirements. Soluble fiber also decreases LDL ("bad") blood cholesterol levels,
and therefore reduces the risk of heart disease. Studies have also shown that fiber helps prevent colon cancer.
Heather & Company is dedicated to serving people with
IBS. Our mission is to offer education, services, and products
that
allow people with IBS to successfully manage their symptoms
through lifestyle modifications. We currently offer the books
Eating for IBS and
First Year IBS, web
site
resources, seminars and classes, and Heather Cooks!, a healthy cooking
show on the internet and television. We also host the only patient-expert moderated IBS Bulletin
& Message Board on the internet with forums for diet, recipes,
hypnotherapy, and yoga. We will soon have other IBS services
available. Heather Van Vorous, an IBS sufferer since age 9, is the company
founder and president.
Our websites receive over 700,000 unique visitors each year, and our newsletter
is sent to over 14,000 people twice monthly. Every month over one thousand new people join
our mailing list. Heather & Company and Heather Van Vorous offer the following...
The world's best-selling and best-reviewed books for IBS
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focus on good digestive health
Developed the first and only comprehensive IBS dietary guidelines and recipes
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Included in 4th edition of Marquis Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare
Clinical research study based on Eating for IBS diet underway in the
private gastroenterology practice
of Dr. Noel Hershfield in Calgary, Canada
Dietary information used by the Radiology Department of the Cancer Centre in Birmingham, England, for treatment of radiation enteritis
Dietary information featured in Today's Dietitian 2003 cover story, "IBS: Suffering in Silence"
Information requested by gastroenterologists, family physicians, and
dietitians across the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia for IBS patient distribution
The "Authorized Expert" for Diet & Nutrition at the IBS Association and IBS Self Help Group forums
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LEGAL DISCLAIMER - This email is not intended to replace the services of a physician,
nor does it constitute a doctor-patient relationship. Any application of the recommendations in
this email is at the reader's discretion. Heather Van Vorous and Heather & Company are not liable for any direct or indirect
claim, loss or damage resulting from use of this email and/or any web site(s) linked to/from it.
Readers should consult their own physicians concerning the recommendations in this email.
© 2003
Heather and Company. All rights reserved.
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