Food and FGID

When talk about FGID (Functional Gastrointestinal Disorder), you must think I will soon talk about FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyol) right? 

Nah, not so soon that we jump into these poorly absorbed sugars.

Because FOOD is not just about poorly absorbed sugars :)

Food is composed of a combination of nutrients, rather than a single agent.

I think for many many years already, we all know that food plays a role in our digestive problem. But the role of food/nutrition in controlling gastrointestinal problem has not been clearly defined. I always hear the family and friends telling these: 

• I get diarrhea after drinking cow's milk, so I choose to drink homemade soy milk. Though no more diarrhea, but my stomach gets so distended like 3 months pregnant. 
• Oh I cannot eat too much watermelon, the going-to-toilet-to-pass-motion effect is very fast. (this is my mom haha)
• One small piece of mango is okay for me. But multiple small pieces, then I will be asking for troubles. (my boss's problem :p) 
• My stomach has got a lots of wind lately, keep on passing out gas below and this makes me feel so embarrassed. I tried stopping my Oat Bran powder, now the volume and frequency of gases pass out have been tremendously improved! I just can't figure out why is this so!
• I myself can drink milk, I have got no milk intolerance. But multiple times in the morning if I were to drink caffeine-containing drink, I will soon be finding toilet to pass loose stools. (this is my experience lol)

While I was a student, I have received very little training about food and digestive disorders. I do learn about how digestion of food occurs in the mouth, the passage of food in the esophagus, the digestion in stomach, small intestine and what are the works that colon do. Unfortunately, the dietary recommendations for FGIDs have been very basic or what my boss always says: Diet for digestive problems has been very rudimentary. Most of the time, we give recommendations based on experiences, or we stop taking so much of that type of my-problem-food based on common sense (like now, I stop taking caffeine-containing drink while empty stomach) rather than credible scientific evidence. 

If you're interested too, kindly search this review online!

Previously, I only do disease related dietary managements. When a person without any diseases comes and asks me about how this particular food causes digestive problems for him or what are the foods that can cause gastrointestinal upset for him, I cannot navigate and fine-tune his problem properly using diet/food therapy! Slowly, I started to gain interests in how food is related to digestive problems. 

Occasionally, for those with digestive disorders, it is not only FODMAP will irritate their guts. But a few of my patients, the type of fibres turned out to be the real culprit. There are so many types of fibres, other than the well-known insoluble and soluble fibre types. Previously I have been only thinking about: Oh! soluble fibre can help patients with cholesterol problem. But, I haven't really look into how soluble fibre can cause gastrointestinal upset for some people. Glad that now I understand way more than its role in lowering cholesterol.

I am still learning much about dietary measures for FGID patients. Wonderful news that scientific evidences of food for functional disorders have been increasingly published for these recent years. This means more and more guidelines for dietitians. And we shall no longer need to swim hard in the murky waters of "how food is related to gastrointestinal symptoms" :)

Eating outside

Where to find healthy food? Either is cooking in the kitchen or eating outside. 

Because healthy food will not drop from the sky. You need to find it, either it grows from the ground, tree, flowers, seeds or from the water. 

Cooking in your kitchen is easy for you to eat healthily because you get to pick the right variety of food. So, for those who do not have a kitchen, how?

The good news is you get to pick the right Menu in order to eat healthily, despite you don't own a kitchen! Like me, I don't own a kitchen here at my rented place. So, I try to pick my menu properly or else I will just pop over to my friend's or boyfriend's house to cook. Because those menus from cafe can be quite expensive at times, at least for me, because I am currently living on a budget!

Last week I was at The Burgertory, SS15 Subang Jaya with my buddy. It serves Pork Burger, fries or apple walnut salad as side dish andddd I get to choose Coke light as my drink! (very rarely an individual restaurant sells Coke Light, but I think it is getting more and more in Selangor!)

This Curry Pork Burger costs me RM20, with a whole big chunk of apple walnut salad! I hardly finished the meal because the salad already filled up half of my stomach. But it was all satisfying and I was glad that I did not choose fries as my side dish, though I love potatoes.

Seriously, no much obstacles eating healthily, although living outside without a kitchen. One of the ways is the pick Mixed Rice. Because I get to choose the dishes that I want! Honestly, I will not have much choices if the food order is always fried rice, fried noodles and other fried stuffs, though these are the easy-to-order food menus. Moreover, don't forget your daily intake of at least two servings of fruits! Because fast food restaurants don't serve you fruits unless you order them. Neither the Mixed Rice restaurant serves you fruits, so buy your own fruits! You certainly don't need a kitchen to prepare fruits. Just a knife, bowl and water will do :)

Bought an avocado yesterday to cook with spaghetti, never actually bought an avocado before. Usually I eat avocado in those Japanese restaurants only, on top of sushi or in vege salad. This kinda small avocado costs me RM3. I am very untrained on how to pick the ripe avocado. I guess this small healthy fat fruit was a bit raw :p

Eat to Live & Live to Eat

Which category you think belongs to you?

The same 3 words, but when you arrange them in separate ways, totally distinct meaning.

I put my title as "Eat to live And (&) Live to eat", because I do not agree with putting Or (/) in this quotation.

If you were to choose either one...

Let's talk about EAT to LIVE. It's kinda sad when you hear someone says: "Oh food is just my fuel, I eat because I need to keep my heart pumping. That's it." Food is colourful and should be creative! Food is not medication (though some medications can be quite colourful lol) that only treat or control your diseases. Food is a Wonderful Enjoyment in life! Food surely is not fuel that only cause you to gain weight and gain fats. When you gain much weight and body fat, most certainly is related to Metabolism and Mindful eating. Don't blame real food. 

Secondly, let's talk about LIVE to EAT. Oh, I continually encounter people who practise live to eat and believe me, I struggle hard to make them change. Even require extra effort to make him/her sit there for consultation.  Because a dietitian will make sure all their favourite foods are being eliminated. Wronggg! The moment I said healthy eating plan, I am so not going to ruin your "purpose in life" which is to eat. You will never go wrong by a variety of REAL healthy FOOD. And when I mentioned healthy eating plan, I am not saying the bland dull food. I am talking about Real Food cooking which is worth changing your eating habits for! Try a different cooking method, try using spices for a new flavor happening on your tongue, try exploring adding fruit and vegetables in your cooking and baking!

It's again the BALANCE of these two. Any extremity of either one, is a nonono. Enjoy your real food for the fuel, nutrients, satisfaction and pleasure that you can get from it!

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Everytime I talk about real food, I get really hungry. And my rented house here is having water rationing for April. The whole April month. @#$%@#$% Seriously, I really pik cik (frustrated).

Yesterday night went to Cold Storage and wanted to buy some avocados. But, they don't sell there. Probably have to go Jaya Grocer. Aiks.

Anyway, I bought a very expensive potato chips. I like how they specified the amount of carbohydrates in the chips. Really interesting informative Food Label for potato chips.

So precisely, about 13 chips = 16g carbs (1 serving!)

Now that I know how much to put in my bowl for snacking next time. But, at times, counting 26 chips every time I snack, can be quite bothering. I rather boil 2 medium potatoes, sprinkles salt pepper and eat haha!

Confused between Hyper & Hypo

I was in Bangkok for the past four days. Enjoying the very well-equipped 7-11 that they have for almost every 100 meters. Enjoying walking for 10,000 steps every day during that 4 days, as I was travelling on feet, by MRT and BTS only.

On the third night in Bangkok, I and my boyfriend went to the Suan Lum Night Market for dinner and night market shopping. That night we both were having really sore legs because had been walking for the whole day to Siam Paragon and to Pratunam Market. I was worn out, but considered that it was the last night over there, so didn't want to waste the chance and time to experience the atmosphere of the night market in Bangkok!

Diabetes is 24/7. Even when I am on vacation, I still have to work for diabetes. 

Diabetes = Nasty boss

I injected insulin at a corner and begun my food hunting journey at the night market. Didn't eat much, mainly on fruit juices, fruit cuts, Thai-style garlic bread (very oily) and some BBQ chicken. At 10pm, we were about to take MRT back to our hotel. I was feeling so exhausted and leg sore all over. In my mind, I was thinking it must be due to the whole day walking or too much of good food during this travel. I was feeling with much confidence and assurance that "My sugar must be high now, at least >15mmol/L". The kind of bone-tired, worn out, ready to drop feeling were so similar to hyperglycemia. 

I couldn't find any water to wash my hand at that time. Anyhow, Yes or No, better give the sugar a check with uncleaned hands before I leave the night market. So, I poked my little finger to check the sugar, assuming that my little finger will have the least likelihood to have a false reading.

The glucometer read 3.4 mmol/L. 

I was shocked. Suddenly all the tired feelings made sense, although I was having lots of good food and fruits, but I was active! Hmmm wait, or is it because of my uncleaned little finger? From my experience, only plain water can dilute your blood from pricked finger and hence giving you a false reading/a low reading. But my little finger is dry (I wiped it hard on my cloth before I tested),  If my uncleaned little finger had some stains from food or juices, the reading will probably be high, definitely not low. 

Alright, at the end I turned around, walked back to the night market and got myself a half cup of juice and the very oily toasted bread with sugar on it. 

When I got back to the hotel, checked my sugar again, it was 5.0 mmol/L, even after eating toasted bread with sugar. Confirmed that I was confused between Hyper and Hypo just now and thank god that I ate some more food before I left the night market, or else I might be pondering in my "Hypo Wonderland" while on the way back in MRT, believing that I must be real exhausted that day.

Oh ya, I have lost all my photos in my phone because I ignorantly let someone had the chance to steal it. I don't want to repeat the whole sad story again.

Pineapple bowl!

Let me open the cover of bowl

Tasty Thai Pineapple Fried Rice!

Although the pineapple bowl looked big, but actually half of the pineapple is still pineapple, they only put in about 1 medium bowl of fried rice, accompanied with chicken floss, shrimps and sliced Chinese sausages. My fibre of the meal came from pineapple only :p The fried rice stayed warm until the last bite because of this amazing bowl! :)

Make food with 2 C

I usually will not comment much on buying Real Food at organic shop, especially for those nuts, seeds and grains family because we hardly or totally don't find them at wet market or supermarket. Nuts, seeds and grains not only give us the vitamin and minerals, also the healthy fats and fibre! Particularly for vegetarians who barely receive healthy fats from fruits and vegetables.

Last weekend, I over heard some promotional sentences from an auntie who is selling Chia Seeds. She marketed her chia seed as excellent in lowering cholesterol, lowering body fat, making your tummy small, good in controlling sugar level and it's from Mexico, chia seeds' origin country. Also, you must only eat her chia seeds in this way: Soak it in your drinking water until it expands, becomes gelatinous, then drink it together with drinking water whole day. 

Chia Seed totally sounds like a super food from her mouth. My idea of super food is not one food, but a variety of food. And of course Chia Seed is one of the super food that is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and fibre! And you know what? The famous "Chia Pet" that you always see in RM5 store, the hair that grew out from the ceramic head is actually grass that grew out from Chia Seed :p

Interesting huh. haha I just found out today!

Chia Seed which is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids no doubt can help you to control your cholesterol (I used the word "control" because I don't want anyone to mistaken it as can lower cholestrol, no matter how much cholesterol diet intake). However, reducing your tummy's fat? Sorry to say, Chia Seeds do not act specifically on your tummy's fat. Controlling sugar level? Perhaps yes due to the fibre content. But be watchful of the intake of Chia Seed because too much of fibre may cause gastrointestinal discomfort. Also, Chia Seed is a high protein seed, which may not be suitable for some patients. Please talk to your physician or dietitian first, before you start consuming. 

Oh ya! My title today is make food with 2 Cs - Colourful and Creative! Why la you want to eat this nutritious Chia Seeds only by letting it expand in drinking water? 

Please sprinkle it on your oats! Add it into your cookies dough! Enjoy it with your fruit smoothies! Incorporate it in your puddings! For more, visit WellnessMama. 

Real food can never ever be dull!

By the way, in real life, Chia Seed looks like this in pudding.

Picture from ifoodreal.com

After expanding, somehow looks like our biji sago, right? :)

Variety is the key

Someone asks:

I heard salmon fish is good. What do you think?

It depends.

Ohhh heard soy products can help in preventing cancer and allergies. What is your view?

It depends.

I heard broccolis are good. That is why I take them every day for my three meals. Good for me, right?

It depends.

I bought this Manuka Honey with an expensive price. I know it is a pure honey, good for my digestion. It can't be wrong.

It depends.

There is rarely a same diet for two individuals. And of course, there is no one food that gives you the best.

Variety is the key to health. Whenever someone recommends you a new diet or food, keep in mind that variety is the key. There is no super food in this world which, when you only eat that, you get all the benefits that you want. No matter it is a protein based, carbohydrate based or a healthy fat based, keep your micronutrients proportion correct and consume a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. 

Please try out variety first, before you start considering: If I am insufficient, there is always a supplement for me. I was thinking like this earlier on, at the end of the day, I seriously became lazier to start getting my nutrients from real food. Please do enjoy real foods people!