Let's talk food: IC friendly foods & Recipes

I'm sure this is the blog you've all been waiting for, the one where i'm going to tell you what kind of food I can eat and not worry about flaring. Well this is the blog. But I will tell you that in the beginning of my first few months of being diagnosed I was in denial and wasn't always so cautious because I was completely confused, I also lacked that thing called...self control. But then I became completely scared to eat because I use to look at food like it was my worst enemy. I was so afraid of causing a flare.

Thankfully now that I have had this disease for 5 years I have established my "trigger" foods, which I avoid at all costs and I am able to eat a pretty well- balanced diet, although I have just had to start following a GF diet, but that's a whole nother story...

I have listed the IC diet list in another previous blog, but I will post it again in case you haven't read that one.

IC Diet List

Okay so I will list what I can't eat as of now. For me, my trigger foods consist of chocolate, pop (soda if that's what you call it), caffeine, orange juice, most juices, anything spicy, dyes in foods, tomato sauce, ketchup (I miss it so much), granny smith apples, pineapple, lemons, red delicious apples, regular apple juice, cranberry juice (obviously), grape juice, pizza with red sauce, any kind of grapes. Oh and Alcohol of any sort pretty much is a huge NO-NO for me.

And lastly just say no to MSG , you will thank me for this one!

I would totally love to ignore the list up above because I sure do miss those, but its nice to know I can still eat these. (Mind you I am following a GF diet now so i'm not eating the things listed with gluten, but everything else I still eat). Now these are things that I can eat without flaring, so just take EXTRA precautions since everyone is different meaning no two IC patients triggers are exactly the same, but some of these are pretty generic.

You can learn to enjoy foods again, but you just have to be careful. I know it may be difficult at first, but you will get the hang of it and you may even start to feel better. When I got discouraged my mom always use to say "It's like being a diabetic and knowing that you're not endangering your health by following the no sugar diet." So don't be afraid to eat, learn to enjoy food again, but just follow the diet if it works in your favor!

I will warn you though, I am a picky eater :)

*Fruits- Apples (Honey crisp, Pink Lady Gala & Fuji apples), Pears (i'm not the biggest fan, but they're a good snack), Blueberries (these are great because you can do so much with them, you can throw them pretty much all over your food, pancakes, cereal, smoothies or blueberry muffins).

*Vegetables- broccolli, corn, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, carrots (I like steamed and have heard from a few IC'ers that raw veggies bother them more? I have no idea why, but I prefer these hot anyways). Potatoes, Mushrooms. Newest addition to my diet...Sweet Potatoes!

*Pasta/Rice- white rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, all kinds of pasta, I recently discovered another one if you're also on a GF diet quinoa (Ancient Harvest makes a really good brand and I can't even tell its not reg. pasta which is awesome!)

* Beverages- Chamomile Tea(hot or chilled, Vanilla Red Rooibos Tea (hot or chilled), Peppermint Tea (not the biggest fan, but some people love it), Blueberry tea ( I love this one especially because chilled), Milk- Rice, Almond, 2%, 1%, Skim which ever you like. I personally prefer skim and organic),Organic Blueberry juice (check for any citric acid, I usually go to WF for my juices), Pear Juice (again check for citric acid). Root Beer (w/lots of ice, I stick to WF's organic), Vanilla Milkshakes from several FF places (i'm going to do a blog just about restaurants soon for IC friendly so keep an eye out for that), Organic Apple Juice from Whole Foods (Caution not everyone can handle this, for me it doesn't seem to bother me, maybe because of the organic factor?), Egg nog NOT spiked :), White hot chocolate (proceed with caution in case you aren't sure) and lastly WATER! I drink WF's 365 brand, but also Evian, Fiji or anything non-acidic ( I will explain more about this whole acidic water theory in a blog, keep an eye out for it)

*Cereals- Rice Chex, Rice crispies, shredded wheat, frosted flakes, cheerios, special k vanilla almond, Kix, Gorilla munch (gluten free organic cereal)

*Hot cereals- cream of wheat, oatmeal

*Cheeses- Paramesan, swiss cheese, Mild cheddar cheese, Ricotta, Provolone, feta, monterey jack.

*Breads- White bread, french baguettes, waffles, bagels (plain, blueberry), whole wheat, pancakes (plain, blueberry).

*Dairy- cream cheese, butter, eggs, half & half, milk, butter, whipped cream/cool whip.

*Meats- turkey bacon, maple turkey breast(I can only find this at Crest), Brown Sugar Ham Lunch meat( i buy Hormel Branch Natural Choice because its free of all those nitrates & is GF), frozen chicken breast (boneless tyson natural brand), Turkey hot dogs ( I buy the Oscar Myer brand). WF's ground beef. I am not a big red meat person so this list is pretty short!

*Spices- lawrys seasoning salt, garlic salt, pesto, basil, parsley, black pepper (proceed with caution in case you are unsure), nutmeg, vanilla/almond extract, cinnamon (proceed with caution if you haven't tried it)

*Condiments- Maple syrup ( I like organic), mayonnaise (proceed with caution some people I know flare), Peanut butter ( I like Whole Foods Organic 365 brand & Peanut Butter & Co white chocolate brand),olive oil, coconut oil, honey, splenda, brown sugar, cane sugar, white sugar.

*Substitute for regular Pizza- grilled chicken, garlic alfredo sauce, basil, mushrooms (as you can see this has no tomato sauce in it)

*Snacks- popcorn, pretzels, pringles, triscuits, wheatthins, rice cakes, blueberry fruit bars, saltines. Natures valley oat & honey granola bars, Chips ,tortilla chips ( I prefer whole foods brand organic/GF, Potato Chips (again I found this brand called Pop chips that are healthier), Lays (plain, sour cream & onion), ruffles (plain, sour cream & onion).

*Desserts- Vanilla ice-cream, Blueberry muffins, carrot muffins/cake, yellow cake, vanilla custard,  white chocolate (proceed with caution), Vanilla/blueberry/caramel cheesecake, apple pie (home-made). Peanut butter cookies, angels food cake, Pumpkin bread.

Now just because I listed these foods as okay for me, doesn't necessarily mean they will be ok with you, but like I mentioned before most of them are pretty much generic (from the IC diet list). I just don't want anyone getting upset because I caused them a flare :-/

Just proceed with caution if you're unsure. If you want to try it just make sure it isn't on a day that you can't be resting, which sounds completely pitiful but welcome to the life of an IC'er.

Recipe sites:

You can visit this man's site who is a chef who suffers from IC. He has some pretty good "IC Friendly" ones. The only catch is you have to sign up for an account to view the recipes, but it's free. If you're interested then click here: My Food Style

I found this one while just doing a google search: Healthy IC Recipes

*Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor nor do I endorse any of the products listed, just giving advice from one IC patient to another :) *