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From:	Claudia (conpx06.cms.hhs.gov)
Subject:	Re: Need to keep fat low and calories high
Date:	September 5, 2007 at 2:15 pm PST

In Reply to: Need to keep fat low and calories high posted by Andy on September 5, 2007 at 11:46 am:

Andy,

You are correct that getting all of your vegetables in the form of salad greens would not be do-able! I haven't looked at the pyramid lately, but I was pretty sure that it said a minimum of 30% of the calories in the diet needed to come from vegetables (didn't it say 30-70%?). Anyway... whatever the percentage was, the calories from vegetables includes starchy vegetables, as well as greens and other non-starchy vegetables. From the standpoint of nutrient density, colorful starchy vegetables are preferred over grains, so they are part of the vegetable group depicted in the pyramid, while grains are not. Without the starchy vegetables I really don't think you could get your percentage of calories from vegetables up to 30%. I figure that a serving of a starchy vegetable would be around 150 calories or so. Other vegetables will contribute some calories too, but the starchy ones will be the most calorie dense. For most people, once they are at their optimal weight, they will need the calories from the starchy vegetables, beans, and nuts and seeds, in order to maintain their weight.

As far as the IBS goes, if you are unable to digest certain fats, such as nuts and seeds, perhaps you could eat more avocado? I have heard Dr. Fuhrman suggest that people with IBS eat foods such as mashed avocado, banana, and soft cooked root vegetables. Also, you can gradually get your body to better tolerate things like beans, and perhaps the nuts and seeds as well. With the beans, I am sure that Dr. Fuhrman has advised people to just start with whatever very small amount might be tolerable to your system (without flare-up of your IBS), and then very gradually work up to where you can handle more. Apparently, over time, as you eat a very nutrient dense diet, and your tissues become saturated with a high level of anti-oxidants and phyto-nutrients, your body will gradually become better at digesting the foods that were once difficult for you to handle. In other words, it becomes part of a healing process. From what I have heard, it can take months to gradually get yourself to where you can fully tolerate regular full servings of the formerly offending foods without flare-ups. Dr. Fuhrman sometimes works closely with IBS patients in order to individually tweak their diets, and address their individual problems. Sometimes people ask him questions in the open forum on the member website, and sometimes they do personal phone consults with him to get private individualized attention.

Claudia

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