your favorite thickening food or supplement?

Bananas, because they are the most nutritious natural snack food known to mankind, have plenty of potassium and taste good. There are no cons.

I like white rice as it is easy to digest and you can jazz it up by using a splash of any type of salad dressing or sweet and sour sauce. i make a large pot then put in small bags for the freezer. Very convenient.

Metamucil...the original kind. It's the only thing that really works. I put a little more than a teaspoon in a small juice glass. I fill it up halfway with very warm water and drink it fast. It doesn't take bad, it's just the thickness that's gross. I think when it's warmed up it almost tastes like Malt-o-Meal. You have to drink it fast otherwise it thickens too much and it's really hard going down.

Pumpkin.
I make soups, purées or eat it in chunks with butter or cheese.
Turns to concrete in my pouch (beware not to eat too much at a time).
Sharon

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Metamucil...the original kind.

True, out of everything I've ever used, Metamucil makes the most noticeable difference if you use enough of it. I stick with the unflavored Metamucil too or the Walmart store brand, since there's no difference at all between the 2 besides Metamucil comes with a measuring cup. Otherwise, the grainy texture of Metamucil is the reason I avoid it or add very little to my food. The orange flavored is even worse, since whatever that flavoring is tastes more like it came from DuPont Chemicals than a orange tree.

Other foods such as rice, pasta, peanut butter, etc., aren't as bad as other foods I can think of, but they're no life savers either.

i thought i tried metamucil and had terrible gas. this recovery would be so much easier without gas messing things up.

Sharon, I just discovered the thickening power of pumpkin! Made chocolate chip pumpkin cookies last night and my morning bathroom trip was the perfect consistency for me.

I also like bananas as a quick fix if things are "runny."

Also, any kind of bread or macaroni thickens things at least a little bit for me.

I love orange flavored, sugar free Metamucil and mix a heaping tablespoonful of it in a small cup of ice water. I hover over the sink and keep stirring it while taking sips (really, gulps)! Reminds me of Tang....anyone remember this astronauts' favorite beverage....as if they had a choice way back when!

1 teaspoon of Metamucil daily keeps butt burn away and thickens things up nicely, without adding additional trips to the bathroom. I've yet to find any kind of food that works as well.

and no gas from metamucil?

I'm buying it!!!!

me too

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and no gas from metamucil?

Certain foods might give you gas, but even if they don't, you still have the dilemma of too little space for storage. Think of it as trading in a Chevy Suburban for a Smart Car. It's even more drastic than that example. That's why gas can be so annoying. Sometimes my only cure for it is to eat little to nothing. I've found before I exercise in the morning, that a small meal is the best way to go. That gets me by but leaves me pretty hungry when I'm done. I have starved myself for days too, where I literally ate nothing and still gas would annoy me.

if i avoid wheat and the obvious foods i have no gas but i miss my wheat

Best or favourites?

For those that work really well for me:

Applesauce (which I've discovered only very recently), oatmeal, jasmin rice (MUCH tastier than regular white rice), bananas, and greek yogurt.

Some people use peanut butter as a thickener. Personally I love peanut butter but I don't think it does anything to bulk me up. Doesn't stop me from eating it though.

Do you find that a gluten free diet works best? Having just been diagnosed with crohns, I am trying to figure out a new way of eating. It was a little different with just the J pouch, but now I am actively chronic with pouchitis and inflammation in small bowel. Do you eat crackers, or baguettes for instance? They always calmed me before. Now I have abdominal pain from the inflammations and nausea (don't know whether it's the cipro/metron and Rowasa enemas or the crohns. Hmm?

wheat makes me very bloaty with a j-pouch and made my colitis very angry...

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and no gas from metamucil?

Nope, not for me. Your mileage may vary, of course, but for me fiber's been a real lifesaver. Other fiber supplements may work just as well, but I'm too lazy to experiment when I've already got something that works.

Good luck!

i'm in the pumpkin camp too - easy on the gut, nutritious, delicious. I either make soups or roast and add to salads, toasted sandwiches, yum.

Tom,
Wheat gives me a lot of gas too. I can handle a little of it but switched to wheat free cooking for the most part. It just feels better.
I use Questran to bind up acids in my output. It also thickens the output. I keep meaning to try Metamucil but I have not gotten around to it yet. Bananas work but sometimes gives me constipation.
Have you started a food journal yet?