Spending the Holidays Away from Home When Dealing with Bladder Leakage

Whether you plan on hosting dinner in your own home or visiting friends and family, the right planning can help you avoid sudden trips to the bathroom when gathered around the table. Check out these helpful hints and delicious recipes that are easy on your digestive tract and are sure to impress all the guests!

Avoid irritating foods and beverages.

While Thanksgiving is the prime time to enjoy endless amounts of your favorite dishes, monitoring your diet is an extremely helpful step to take. There are several foods and beverages that are known to trigger incontinence. Some of these items include:

• Caffeinated beverages such as coffee
• Chocolate
• Tomato-based and spicy foods
• Milk and other dairy products
• Citrus fruits and juices
• Alcohol

Tomato-based and spicy foods, as well as citrus juices and chocolate, can irritate your bladder, causing more frequent or accidental urination. Understanding which ingredients may be triggers to your body are going to help make picking out recipes and trying new dishes much easier.

Vegetables
Spaghetti Squash

While vegetables are usually part of a healthy diet, many are hard to digest and can be intolerable when you have ulcerative colitis. Depending on your specific case, well-cooked, skinless vegetables such as spaghetti squash. it’s low calorie, low-carb, and a great alternative to creamy potatoes and gravy. You surely won’t be the only one with this on your plate

Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable broth
• 2-pound spaghetti squash
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• Salt, to taste

Preparation

1. Mix water and vegetable broth in a medium-sized pot and set aside.
2. Cut the top and bottom off the squash. Stand the squash upright and trim the skin, making sure to cut off all the cream-colored rind. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Lay the flat sides down and cut into 1/4-inch slices.
3. Bring the pot of liquid to a boil and cook the squash for 5 minutes. Check for tenderness, and if necessary, cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Remove the squash with a slotted spoon and place in an oblong pan or dish. Cool slightly.
5. While the squash is still warm, break it apart into strands of “spaghetti.”
6. Season with lemon zest and seasoning salt, mix well, and serve.

Recipe provided by Everyday Health

Easy Apple Crumble

Suffering from Crohn’s can really put a damper on dessert, but here is a delicious recipe to ease your mind (and tummy) when it comes to flare ups. It’s a well-known traditional favorite, and some even prefer it to pie! Using the almond flour with coconut oil instead of dairy products will not only help you, but give this dessert a rustic, fruity, yet nutty flavor without the bloat. You may need to make two of these!

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 2 x 770g tins of pie apple.
• 1+1/2 cups almond flour
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup mixed nuts (roughly chopped) or cashews, macadamias and walnuts.
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1/3 cup honey

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F)
2. Put the pie apple into a baking dish.
3. Mix together the almond flour, coconut, mixed nuts and spice.
4. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave (about 30 seconds) and add to dry ingredients.
5. Melt the honey briefly in the microwave (about 15 seconds) and add.
6. Spread nut mix onto apples
7. Bake in oven for 15 mins

Recipe provided by An Aussie With Crohns

Enjoy Your Thanksgiving Holiday with Additional Protection and Comfort!

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The holiday season is the perfect time to relax, catch up with family, and, of course, enjoy delicious food. However, any fun and exciting family occasion can be a little difficult, especially when having to spend several nights away from home. How do you discreetly dispose of incontinence products? Or, how do you avoid embarrassment in the event of an emergency?

Fortunately, with the right preventative steps and products, these concerns will no longer come to mind. Whether you yourself deal with incontinence or care for someone who does, you deserve to enjoy a happy holiday season with your family and friends away from home. Here’s how to minimize the difficulty of spending your holiday away from home when dealing with bladder leakage.

Avoid irritating foods and beverages.

Monitoring your diet is the first step in reducing your chances of having an accident. There are several foods and beverages that are known to worsen the effects of incontinence. Some of these items include:

• Alcohol
• Chocolate
• Citrus fruits and juices
• Tomato-based and spicy foods
• Caffeine
• Milk and milk products

Tomato-based and spicy foods, as well as citrus juices and chocolate, can irritate your bladder, causing more frequent or accidental urination. On the other hand, caffeinated drinks, which are diuretics, cause more frequent urination and leakage. Avoiding these foods, and others that assist in worsening incontinence, will help you or a loved one gain more control over your bladder and help to prevent any accidents or leakage from occurring. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself! Instead of coffee or espresso with dessert, opt for decaffeinated tea. Understanding your body’s needs and planning around them is key!

Drink fluids throughout the day, rather than all at once.

Drinking fluids in intervals, such as every 2 to 3 hours, or sipping water throughout the day helps to prevent leakage. Consuming too much at one time overwhelms the bladder, consequently causing more frequent, and often times accidental, urination to occur. However, drinking small amounts throughout the day helps to regulate your bladder and decrease the chances of accidental leakage. It is extremely important to still stay hydrated and drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water per day to keep the bladder functioning properly and maintain good health, so don’t restrict your water intake. Simply space it out throughout the day.

Avoid drinking fluids 2 hours before bedtime.

This action is rather self-explanatory. Refraining from drinking anything 2 hours before you or a loved one goes to bed drastically decreases the chances of any leakage or accidents from occurring throughout the night. If you struggle with dry-mouth, try a sugar-free lozenge instead of drinking a large glass of water at once. It may even help curb the late-night holiday cravings! Following this step, along with using the restroom right before bed and wearing proper leakage products, should eliminate the fear of having an accident during the night.

Overpack... the essentials!

Having a bag packed with an abundance of incontinence products is a wise step to take when spending the holidays away from home. Along with your daily incontinence products, remember to also pack items that are essential for accidents or emergencies. Your bag should include things like:

• Bed pads
• Daily incontinence products (briefs, underwear, pads, underpads, etc.)
• Products for discreet clean-up, such as flushable wet wipes
• Disposable plastic bags
• Extra changes of clothes

Having your daily products and bed pads can provide you with more comfort, confidence, and security during your trip, while the odor neutralizer spray, plastic bags, and extra changes of clothes are quick solutions for emergency situations. Dark colored clothes in particular work well to hide any visible leaks until you can change. When packing your bag, it is very important to always pack a little extra of everything you need. That way, no frantic trips to the store or calling your pharmacy is needed.

Take incontinence medications.

Fortunately, there are some medications that help ease incontinence, especially for urge incontinence. Before embarking on your trip, talk to your doctor about your options. If recommended, you may be able to begin these medications a couple of days before you will be staying away from home to give them time to take effect.

Talk to the host.

Simply explaining your situation to your host can help to lessen any embarrassment and anxiety. You should not be embarrassed in the first place, as it is a more common occurrence than you may think! Your family and friends should be supportive and may even help you with your supplies in case of an emergency.

Enjoy Your Holiday Plans with Additional Protection and Comfort!