Concerns about well-cooked spinach causing blockage?

Have any of you had trouble with well-cooked and chopped spinach? I am just curious about it. I am wanting to add some more vegetables to my diet. I know folks have said be careful with fresh spinach but if it is cooked well, can it cause a blockage?

Hi freedancer.

When I was in the hospital, I ate spinach à la crème just 3 days after my ileostomy surgery. It didn't give me any trouble, and it was delicious.

Hi Freedancer,

I've had my good times and bad times with spinach. I find it is easier for me to digest if it is chopped and cooked. Raw and full leaf is harder for me ... I've had one blockage from raw spinach. I love spinach though so I've switched to only cooked.

Try it in a small amount to see how you manage with it.

Brenda

It depends on how much you eat. I love creamed spinach. One time I overate some and I really suffered.

X_

I met with a nutritionist in my GI department last week and specifically asked about spinach. She said to eat baby spinach, remove the stems, and sauté it. I haven't tried it yet but wanted to share.

I eat a handful of chopped raw spinach. Spinach is pretty soft and not highly fibrous. Also, a small portion of well-cooked collards or kale. Ileostomy since Nov 2013. It's fabulous. Way better than UC!!

I eat it in all sorts of ways including raw without a problem. Spinach has a high iron content which is probably what can cause constipation in some people. I feel the answer is in the mastication; if you chew it well, then there is less likelihood of having problems at the other end.

Best wishes

Bill 

It depends on the patient. My surgeon told me I should be able to eat anything by now, 17 months later, and I agreed with the statement. So I had 1 oz of onion sautéed on a grass-fed burger... Guess what? BLOCKED stoma! 12 hours later.

I was a vegan for 3 years and really miss all the raw fruits and veggies! I'm sick of my current diet of potatoes, eggs, chicken, and rice, protein drinks also. I'm to the point of chewing on these foods and not swallowing.

I have ZERO replies on my blockages. Is this website LAME? I see they charge $50 to use it fully. Sounds like a scam.

Please reply.

Hello Bagit. I am a vegetarian, so I can empathise with your desire to return to your previous diet. Even though I have a colostomy as opposed to an ileosstomy, I rarely get blockages anymore. ( mind you I do irrigate which helps a lot with what is termed as the anal plug - that residue of output which tends to go harder if it is not pushed out with the original flushes). As for you not having any replies to your own post on the subject of blockages. As I understand it, the administration do not reply to posts themselves, but the site relies on contributions from people with experience in the subject matters under discussion. Thus, if there is a problem with not getting any replies, it is down to whoever is participating on the site at the time of the posts. In other words it is down to all of us to try to help each other.

In this regard, I have posted my reply on your own post so that it doesn't get lost on someone else's forum topic.

Best wishes

Bill

Thanks, Bill

No problems at all with spinach either raw or cooked...start with small quantities, for example in a pasta dish, then work up. Hard raw veggies can be an issue (broccoli and cauliflower, for example)...I find that cutting into smaller pieces and cooking them makes it OK in modest quantities.

Broccoli is easy if it is well steamed. How do you tolerate onions and celery?

I have an ileostomy and eat spinach in all forms.

However, I have to chew a lot!

Spinach should be fine, but start with it well-cooked and chopped into bite-size pieces. No al dente. Well cooked is easiest to digest.

Amen to that, HeyHey...