Have you (or anyone you know well) experienced Diverticulitis? Was it one time or recurring?

My grandmother had it for many years, about thirty, from her sixties until she passed. She could not eat nuts or seeded bread (she missed rye bread with caraway seeds)

I had a friend who had it and like @Tropical_Willie‘s grandma, he had to avoid certain foods to prevent a flare-up. Other than that, I don’t think he suffered much.

Sorry to hear you haven’t been feeling well lately. Buttons!

My husband had a severe case in his early 30s. One of the diverticula became perforated and he spent a week in the hospital on a liquid diet. He then needed surgery and they removed part of his colon.

Diverticulitis is usually caused by a low fiber diet. Jon’s surgeon mentioned that this usually doesn’t occur until you’re in your 50s- 60s, but he’s seen an increase in younger adults. He blames the ‘WonderBread diet.’

Jon had another flare-up 3 years ago but it wasn’t as extreme as his first episode. He went on antibiotics and started a liquid diet the first few days, then gradually increased bland food into his diet. He had been eating peanuts daily for months before the attack.

He now avoids nuts and popcorn and foods with seeds.

I developed it last year after almost a on a strict pre-diabetes diet that included more seeded breads and cereals than i had ever eaten in my life. My gastro doc recommended a daily probiotic which has mostly solved the problem.

The avoiding seeds thing is a myth. Well, actually it’s “expert opinion’” which, when it comes to scientific evidence, is about the same thing. Randomised, controlled trails have found that people with diverticular disease who eat seeds and the like had fewer symptoms than those who avoided them. Which makes sense as the sort of food that has seeds in it tends to be higher in fibre and we know that fibre is good if you have diverticular disease. Problem is the idea that seeds could get stuck in the pouches and cause problems just seems right so it keeps getting repeated.

If it’s a myth, then why have my loved ones and others I know developed pain or worse after they’ve eaten nuts or popcorn? My husband came close to dying during his first episode. He quit eating peanuts for years afterwards. He then began eating peanuts at work every day for a few months and then suddenly had another episode. That was the only change in his diet.

It just doesn’t seem responsible to suggest a person with diverticular disease should go ahead and eat all the nuts and seeds they want.

What you have there is observational bias. Humans are particularly good at it. If you bother to read the experimental evidence (and there is an awful lot of it now) there is no basis for the belief. Its like saying eating chocolate gives you acne or cracking your knuckles gives you arthritis.

So, I assume that refers to nuts which are chewed (as opposed to cashew or peanut butter); is that correct?

I’m not a big fan of popcorn so no problems there.

What about fresh tomatoes (which obviously have lots of seeds)?

I knew two people that had it and the doctors recommended both people avoid nuts and seeds. That doesn’t mean nut butters, @Buttonstc.

Both people did have to increase their fiber intake. Whole wheat breads and whole wheat pasta were the two recommendations I remember.

One of the people had chronic diarrhea because of the disease. The other one, I am not sure what their symptoms were as it was long ago. The first one with the chronic diarrhea ended up in the hospital several times due to diarrhea and abdominal pain.