Kale

[melbel]

I had been doing well with instillations for two years. My doctor and I thought we had gone as far as I could with them and both decided that I should try another path that might enhance my road to recovery. It did for awhile and I was using some herbal supplements under the care of a holistic practitioner. A change in supplements caused the MOTHER of all flareups and I felt like the two years of progress I had made was wiped out. It was like I was worse off than I had ever been. Nothing was working with supplements to get me back to where I was.

This was at the end of June/early July. I could barely sit at work and had to leave early which I had never had to do in the past. I had to cancel a trip to see my family. Unfortunately, none of them were in a position to visit me in California. Things were bad. Aside from work, the grocery store and the doctor, I was pretty much housebound. i started back with instillations and they are helping me again, but I am nowhere near where I was. I am now on anti-anxiety and anti-depressants. I don't care though because I was having panic attacks daily.

Anyway, one thing that has helped me tremendously has been kale. It's a huge anti-inflammatory. Some people love the taste of kale, but I despise it. I blend (I use a Cuisinart immersion blender) it into butternut squash soup (another anti-inflammatory) and other soups daily. I feel that this has been helpful with calming down my bladder. In fact, "green drinks" have been brought to my attention and I think they really help calming down the bladder. There are tons of different ones. I have also purchased a green drink powder called Kyo-greens from Whole Foods which has helped as well. It's kelp, brown rice and other "sea vegetables". I've been reading up on other anti-inflammatory foods and will try to incorporate into my diet. Some include sweet potatoes, parsley, zucchini, carrots, avocado etc. I tried the alkaline diet, but it's still too acidic for me.

This is what has been helpful so I thought I would share. It might not work for everyone, but, knowing what we all go through, it couldn't help to share, could it? There's also a great website called crazysexydiet.com started by Kris Carr that grew out of her documentary and book "Crazy Sexy Cancer" about her fight against cancer. She is a believer in green drinks and you don't have to have cancer to benefit from her positivity. She has a whole team of people posting that give encouragement, diet advice and all sorts of help. It's a good place to go when things get you down.

God bless every single one of you going through the hell that is IC.

[Jocotter]

I have found Kale to help so much. It is a bitter tasting veggie when raw, but I fix it a different way. I wash it and tear it into bite size pieces. Then put it in a bowl and drizzle some olive oil over it. Then with my hands, I scrunch it to spread the oil throughout. Then I lay it out on a non stick cookie sheet and lightly use some season salt-free spices over it. I bake it at 350 for about 15 to 18 minutes, and I stir it once midway. When they are just getting crispy and starting to turn slightly golden on the edges, I take them out. They are crispy like potato chips and they have a good flavor.

[krs72]

I have also been eating more Kale. I notice, too, that my bladder feels better when I eat certain greens. Salad greens also help. I've been afraid to try juicing because my bladder is sensitive to most drinks other than water. I can eat some grapefruit but any sort of juice is a problem. Maybe juicing the veggies won't be a problem.

I'm reading a book called the Inside Tract. It's a book about getting great digestive health using an integrative approach. A lot of the remedies suggested in the book are ones that are used for IC. It's very interesting.