Diverting Diverticulosis

AKA the potholes in your food highway. Have a read of that article – it sounds disgusting, doesn’t it? But that’s usually not the bit that worries you, it’s the pain and discomfort when (if) food lodges in them and becomes septic, which is called diverticulitis.

It’s a similar thing to what happens in your appendix if you’re unfortunate enough to suffer appendicitis, only not quite as severe or life-threatening. The appendix is long and narrow so it is not possible to get the inflammation flushed out by the normal digestive process, whereas diverticula are a bit wider and much more more shallow, and so a diet with a lot of fibre and lots of fluids usually helps flush out the retained particles.

Quick Essay

I’ll try not to get diverte … – ah crap … !!! – aw no. Twice already …

Quick Essay (minus diversions!)

The walls of the lower gut are flexible. Sometimes a piece of the wall can bulge outwards, forming what I referred to as a “pothole” in the introduction. It can happen because the gut wall weakens or gets inflamed or if you have constipation and there’s extra pressure on a weaker section of the wall. These potholes are called diverticulae.

As I understand it., those potholes don’t go away by themselves. Sometimes they just happen seemingly by themselves, sometimes they happen as we age and our body tissues – including gut walls – become less flexible, weaker. And sometimes we bring them on by having a diet poor in fibre and not drinking enough fluids.

Once you have them, it appears that they don’t just buff right out, and you’re stuck with them. The number of reticulae only increases with time. (Although I may be wrong in my understanding of this – I haven’t found any reference to diverticulae repairing themselves is all.) If the presence of reticulae is noted, you have diverticular disease or diverticulosis.

If food particles lodge in the diverticulae, it may rot there and cause inflammation,at which stage the disease becomes diverticulitis. This can become an emergency in quite short order. Don’t let it get to this stage.

An Ounce Of Prevention

.., really is better in this disease. As the linked article states, you are ever more likely to get diverticulosis as you age, but it’s worth noting that with the right diet you can avoid the complication of it turning into diverticulitis.

My doctor when it was established I 90% certainly had a few potholes told me to eat “low residue foods” and “avoid all the foods that make life worth living” which made me kind of look into alternatives as well as ways to make the second injunction less depressing.

So – soups and broths are low residue, and luckily, my wife refers to me as “The High King Of Soups” because if I do say so myself I do make a delicious meal of soup. Soups lead into porridges and gruels, and again – I know that sounds like a Dickensian period drama but wait – there’s a lot more to it.

Fibre is another key. Fibre will drag food particles out of the diverticulae and so prevent stuck pieces of rotten food ruining your week while your doctor uses ever more aggressive strategies to get your bowels to clean it out.

In order to be successful in keeping our guts scrupulously clean, we need strategies. To me, eating dire sludge or whacking my entire meal in the blender has never held any appeal whatsoever. I LIKE my food!

So over the next foreseeable time, in addition to still (when I can find time for it… *sad* *repentant* *bad recipe cook!*) keeping going with off-label uses for cooking appliances and also getting the most out of the appliances you already have, I’ll also start linking back to older recipes I’ve put up that are “reticula-friendly” and start putting up new recipes that cover this more thoroughly.

For Now

In Australia we have lots of vegetables that are fresh now. Grab a litre of chicken stock, a bunch of fresh vegetables (celery, green beans, parsnips, turnips, swedes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, etc) and pick out a trio or quartet that you think will go well together, an onion, a few cloves of garlic, and chop about a cupful of each veg into bite-size pieces, brown the onion in a spoonful of oil in a big saucepan or pot, then throw in the vegetable that will take longest to cook, add the stock and some water, then add the rest of the vegetables so they’ll all be tender at the same time without being sludgy, seven minutes before you think it’ll be ready add a handful of pasta, some herbs and season with salt and pepper.

You like that? A recipe in one line? It really is that easy. The vegetables have the dietary fibre we need, there’s plenty of fluid, and it’s surprisingly filling. The stock cartons in the supermarket will do if you don’t have stock, or four stock cubes in a litre of water. Most supermarkets sell “soup packs” of fresh vegetables, saving you having to decide. Most of all, this is a fairly simple and quick recipe for a lot of nutrition and gut health.

As I said – more detailed recipes and so forth (including some decidedly tasty porridges) will start getting posted in here as I find time to write up recipes I’ve developed and kept in my head to date. Maybe use the “newsletter” facility to get yourself a weekly roundup so you’ll know when new recipes are posted. (How to get it? Scroll down a little way the where it says “Discover more from The TEdASPHERE Globe” and enter your email then click the “subscribe” button. Simple!)

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