#diverticula

Diverticulosis is generally common in people who are above 50 years. In many cases, it has been found that the people suffering from diverticulosis later develop diverticulitis.

Diverticula disease and treatment

What is the treatment of disease symptoms and the diverticulum in the news about how you can find out. Here, diverticula disease, have been wondering about…

Disease, diverticula, or small pouches in the intestinal wall called diverticula bulge that made the presence of bags, and hence can be defined as symptoms or complications resulting.

While the term diverticulosis refers to the presence of…

Diverticulosis indicates the presence of small bags, lumps quarter hernias (diverticula) in the large intestine in the section corresponding to the colon. <\p>

This condition is muycomn and usually has secret ballot symptoms unless the wreck materials or food particles get caught in the diverticula full battery which causes diverticulitis.<\p>

If your diverticula turn to inflamed or hot and are in addition to overweight , you include till make a diet for diverticulitis and obesity. If the cause is an infection in moneymaking upon a special diet , will be corrected with antibiotics, which if not controlled the subclinical infection, myself can generate a number about complications.<\p>

When comes the inflammation of diverticula , it can become painful, you can brush intestinal cramping.<\p>

The important thing is that you try to diverticulitis except three aspects:<\p>

Food , through priggish food choices. Medication appropriate in per annum bedding. Physical actuation , it will not only help they mislay weight faster, again helps come about intestinal motility, and lower the stress train in these cases plays an important personage. Now I will outcrop ultra-ultra detail each:<\p>

From the exodontic point pertinent to view : subliminal self who choose to determine if them outsmart in order to take some regimen to wait you improve the picture. For a nutritional standpoint : We aim to jubilation the disease of obesity with the associated secondary disease is diverticulitis. From the point of bestial activity : You ought to implement a modus operandi physical exercises which incorporate aerobic exercise every day, hiking, biking, swimming for 40 brief. Then add three conditions a week exercise to strengthen muscles planted. All this under the supervision of a brutal spoon-feeding overlord. More specifically in terms of subsistence , I recommend the wiretapping selection of foods that appetite help you assume better.<\p>

How To Help Your Diverticular Disease

I have a very close friend who has suffered from diverticular disease for many years. The cramping, diarrhoea, constipation and excruciating pain are just some of his symptoms. He’s overweight, doesn’t exercise and is hitting the big five-o. He’s a carer for his elderly mother who has dementia and can never find the time to cook. They rely on frozen prepared meals that are bought online and delivered to their house every few weeks.

He tries hard to supplement this with fresh fruit – bananas, apples and pears, but more often than not, it’s the cakes, biscuits and sweets/candies that win. It’s an awful cycle that only serves to make his diverticular disease worse.

If you know someone in a similar situation, or perhaps you have diverticular disease, then this weeks blog post: How to Help your Diverticular Disease may help.

A little bit of history on diverticular disease – our most common gut disorder

Diverticulosis is a new disease; it didn’t appear until the 1800s. The actual term ‘diverticulosis’ first appeared in 1914, but it took until 1971[1] for surgeons Painter and Burkitt to suggest that diverticulosis was a deficiency disease, a disease caused by a deficiency of fibre.

But why was that?

As Dr Greger says: ‘In the late 1800s roller milling was introduced – further removing fibre from grain, and we started to fill up on fibre deficient foods like meat and sugar. A few decades of this and diverticulosis was rampant.’[2]

The United States and Europe now have the highest rates of diverticular disease in the world.[3] Whereas under developed populations in Africa and Africa have relatively low rates of the disease, but with urbanization in these areas, rates of diverticulitis are also rising.[4]

What is diverticular disease?

Imagine a balloon, one of those long skinny balloons that you use to make balloon animals. If you blow it up and then squeeze it, a bulge appears in the balloon. That’s exactly what happens in your colon. A ‘bubble’ appears in the wall of your intestine, this is diverticula. Diverticulosis is when there is one, or many of these diverticula.

Diverticulitis is when one of these diverticula becomes acutely inflamed and causes you pain, sometimes fever and sometimes infection.

What causes diverticular disease?

It’ll come as no surprise to you to learn that it all comes down to what you eat, or what you don’t eat.

If you don’t eat enough fibre every day, for instance if you survive on the typical Western diet of red meat, processed meat, sugary snacks, high-fat foods and refined grains with dairy and high-sugar drinks such as fried chicken, pizza, hot dogs, sausages, burgers and fries, then you will not be softening and bulking up your poo. As a result you may have to strain when you go the toilet.

If you’ve been straining for many years, then as Dr Greger says: “…it can literally blow out pockets from your colon.”[5]  It’s pretty similar to when you squeeze the air in that long skinny balloon and bubble occurs.

As Dr Greger goes on to say: ‘it’s easy to move large soft, moist intestinal contents through the gut. In contrast, try squeezing through a lump of tar. When we eat fibre deficient diets, our faeces can be become small and firm, and so our intestines have to really squeeze hard to move them along, and this build-up of pressure may force out those bulges. And eventually, a low-fibre diet can sometimes lead to the colon literally ‘rupturing’ itself.’[6]

What can you do to alleviate/ treat / prevent diverticular disease?

Eat fibre! It’s as simple as that.

Research has shown that ‘a diet high in fibre mainly from fruits and vegetables and low in total fat and red meat decreases risk of diverticular disease. Evidence indicates that the insoluble component of fibre is strongly associated with lower risk of diverticular disease; this association was particularly strong for cellulose. Caffeine and alcohol do not substantially increase risk of diverticular disease, nor does obesity, but higher levels of physical activity seem to reduce risk of diverticular disease’. [7]

Like most diseases, prevention is always better than cure, so try not to get it in the first place. If you do, then concentrate on eating a whole food, plant-based diet. Plant foods are bursting with fibre, whereas animal foods such as meat, fish, chicken, dairy, eggs have no fibre, and processed foods such as white rice, white bread etc have little or no fibre.

Remember the balloon, if you exert a huge force trying to pass your stool, then you may cause a bubble or diverticular. Eating fibre will keep your poo / stools soft and moist and will make them easier to pass so you won’t be straining or exerting a huge pressure.

If you already have diverticula, then eating a plant-based diet will help to keep them from becoming inflamed and infected.

Dr. John McDougall says that a starch-based, high-fibre diet has relieved symptoms in 90% of cases of severe colon disease, including diverticular problems. “Patients with diverticular disease have much less trouble after they change to a healthy, high fibre, plant-based diet. A high fibre diet will also reduce the risk of future bleeding and infection and decrease the likelihood of developing new diverticuli.” However, “the diverticuli that have already formed are permanent herniations of the colon, and will not disappear except by surgical removal, which is rarely indicated.”[8][9]

Should I avoid nuts and seeds?

As Dr Greger says: “Sometimes on autopsy, you can find nuts, seeds, or pieces of corn or popcorn stuck in those pockets, which led to this theory that they be what triggered the inflammation. So the conventional wisdom has been to tell elderly folks to stay away from these foods.”

However, he goes on to say: “But at the same time, the lack of plant foods caused the whole problem in the first place, so do we really want to tell people to cut down?”[10]

The clear answer is no.

Research in the Journal of the American Medical Association clearly states: ‘nut, corn, and popcorn consumption did not increase the risk of diverticulosis or diverticular complications.’[11]

It appears in fact that a higher intake of nuts and corn could help to avoid diverticulitis in adult males. A 2009 article in Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery states, “Without any good evidence, certain foodstuffs such as nuts, seeds, popcorn, and corn have long been implicated in the development of diverticulitis and are often advised against by physicians. They were thought to provoke diverticulitis or diverticular bleeding by causing luminal trauma. In a large prospective study of men without known diverticular disease, State et al found that nuts, corn, and popcorn consumption did not increase the risk of diverticulosis, diverticulitis, or diverticular bleeding.”[12]

Finishing up

So if you, or if you know someone with diverticulitis try to eat lots more fibre, aim for 40 grams a day and reduce or stop eating animal foods (meat, dairy, and eggs) that contain no fibre at all and processed foods that contain very little.

If you’re just starting out on your plant-based journey then read my post How to get started on your plant-based journey and to learn about the power plate. It was developed by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and provides optimal health for you and your family and is brilliantly flexible so you can eat in a way that suits your taste and lifestyle whilst getting all the nutrients you need.

If you’re struggling to eat more whole grains everyday, check out my five tips to help you here: How to easily eat more whole grains everyday

And if you’d like to read more about fibre then read my 5 fabulous reasons fill fibre You should also check out the information on page 10 in this PDF.

A typical food plan for the day may look like this:

Oatmeal/porridge for breakfast made with water or plant-based milks such as rice milk. Topped with fresh fruit such as sliced banana. Two slices of wholemeal toast, spread with 100% fruit jams. Read about my 7 of the best ever plant-based breakfasts 

Water and/or tea or coffee, black or made with plant-based milks.

  Mid morning snack of fruit, or read my post on 11 simple plant based snacks to enjoy at work

      For lunch, how about a baked potato topped with veggie chilli, or soup and a salad. For ideas on sandwich fillings read my blog post on 7 inspiring plant based sandwich fillings for your lunch

    For an afternoon snack remember to check out my suggestions here: 11 simple plant based snacks to enjoy at work

Now it comes to dinner. What’s quick to make, nourishing and doesn’t cost the earth? Try some of my delicious dinner recipes.

Wishing you lots of health and happiness.

Let me know how you eat more fibre in the comments section below. I always love hearing from you! 

p.s. Remember to share my post with your friends and family by using the buttons on the top left of the page. Thank you!

Looking to take the hassle out of planning your plant-based meals? Buy my 7 day whole food, plant-based meal plan and I tell you what to eat every day of the week including the exact snacks you can have each day.

You can find out more by clicking here.

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Diverticulitis is a condition in which diverticulitis in the colon rupture.  The rupture results in infection in the tissues which surround the colon.  The colon is the large intestine and is a long tube like striation that stores and then eliminates waste material.  As a person gets older, pressure within the colon causes bulging pockets of tissue, or sacs, that push out from the colon walls.  A small bulging sac pushing outward from the colon wall is called a diverticulum.  More than one bulging sac is referred to as diverticula.  Diverticula can occur throughout the colon, but most are common near the end of the left colon.  This is referred to as the sigmoid colon.  The condition of having these diverticula in the colon is called diverticulosis.

As a person gets older, pressure within the colon causes bulging pockets of tissue, or sacs, that push out from the colon walls.  A small bulging sac pushing outward from the colon wall is called a diverticulum.  More than one bulging sac is referred to as diverticula.  Diverticula can occur throughout the colon, but most are common near the end of the left colon.  This is referred to as the sigmoid colon.  The condition of having these diverticula in the colon is called diverticulosis

Diverticulitis occurs when bacteria get trapped in the pouches.  This leads to infection or inflammation.  No screening is available at this time for diverticulitis.  Starting at age 40, a procedure called a flexible sigmoidoscopy may be recommended every 3 to 5 years or a colonoscopy every 10 years as a screening exam for cancers of the colon and rectum.  Both flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy involve using a flexible tube with a lighted viewing instrument to see inside the large intestine.  These exams are often able to reveal diverticula if they are present.  Treatment after recovery from an attack of diverticulitis is aimed at preventing another attack. 

More serious complications include diverticulitis, abscess in the pelvis, colon obstruction, and bacterial peritonitis, plus bleeding in the colon.  A diverticulum can become infected with bacteria and ruptures, causing diverticulitis.  Fever, tenderness, and pain of the lower left abdomen are common symptoms.  Constipation or diarrhea may also occur.  A collection of pus can develop around the inflamed diverticulum, which leads to the formation of an abscess, usually in the pelvis.  On rare occasions, the inflamed diverticula can erode into the urinary bladder, which causes a bladder infection and passing of gas during urination.  Inflammation of the colon may also lead to bowel obstruction.  On rare occasions, a diverticulum ruptures freely into the abdominal cavity causing life threatening infection caused peritonitis. 

Diverticulitis is a common disease found in the digestive area, particularly in the large intestine.  Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of pouches on the outside of the colon. These pouches are called diverticula and diverticulitis results of one of these diverticula become inflamed.  Small protruding sacs of the inner lining of the intestine can develop in any part of the intestine.  They are most commonly found in the colon, specifically in the sigmoid colon.  The diverticula increase in frequency after the age of 40.  Symptoms of diverticulitis may include alternating diarrhea and constipation, and severe, intermittent cramps in the lower left side of the abdomen. 

Diverticulosis is very common, being found in more than half of Americans over the age of 60.  Only a small percentage of these people will develop the complication of diverticulitis.  Diverticulitis is caused by inflammation or a small perforation with a diverticulum.  Direct risk factors for diverticulitis are not known, but they may include older age or a low fiber diet.  To prevent diverticulitis, eat regular, nutritious meals containing high fiber foods, such as fruits and vegetables.  It is also vital to drink plenty of water and to watch for changes in bowel movements, get enough rest and sleep, and to avoid foods such as popcorn. 

Diverticulitis typically causes pain, tenderness, and fever, but unlike diverticulosis, diverticulitis does not generally cause gastrointestinal bleeding.  If a doctor has diagnosed diverticulosis, a diagnosis of diverticulitis may be based almost entirely on the symptoms.  Many other conditions involving the large intestine and other organs in the abdomen and pelvis can cause symptoms similar to diverticulitis.  These symptoms are similar to appendicitis, colon or ovarian cancer, an abscess, which is a pus filled pocket of infection, and non-cancerous growths on the wall of the uterus. 

A doctor may perform a colonoscopy once inflammation has subsided or the infection has been treated.  A colonoscopy is an examination of the large intestine using a flexible viewing tube.  These tests are performed to either confirm the presence of assess the severity of diverticula and to rule out the possibility of colon cancer.  Colonoscopy or barium enema x-rays usually need to be delayed for several weeks after treatment as they may damage or rupture an inflamed intestine.  Exploratory surgery is rarely required to confirm or deny the diagnosis.

Diverticula are small pouches that form and stick out from the gut wall. They commonly occur in the colon but can also occur anywhere else in the intestines. They are usually found in people as they age. 7 in 10 people will have diverticula at the age of 80. In many cases, the presence of diverticula does not particularly cause any problems.The cause of the formation of diverticula is related to not eating enough fibre which is essential for healthy bowel movement.

Complications

Diverticulitis- when diverticula become inflammed and infected. The patient might experience pain in the centre of the abdomen which then moves over to the left. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting and a high temperature.