Food Restrictions

While people with CD may have different food intolerances, there are some guildelines all people with CD would do well to follow:

- Abstaining from sugar (use honey or stevia instead), processed food, and preservatives will help symptoms of CD.

- When obstructed or partially obstructed, a liquid diet or pureeing/mashing foods will help.

- Eating a more natural diet overall with plenty of fruits and veggies, even if the person has to mash or puree them or avoid the acidic or gassy fruits and veggies temporarily is a must for us crohnies. Eating fruits and veggies is alot harder for people who have crohn's in the stomach or duodenum because the acidity hurts so bad. I had this problem for years, but they are still so important for us to consume.

- Implementing a daily probiotic is also beneficial with symptoms of CD.

Red meat is iffy for alot of us, but it should be chewed extremely well.

There are two very popular diets that alot of ppl with crohn's tend to follow:

The Maker's Diet - eating natural preferably organic foods that detoxify, reduce inflammation, and provide higher nutrition for healing. This includes eating whole grain breads made with sourdough that can be soaked/sprouted (this makes grains much easier on the tummy).

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet - I believe this one is about eating foods that are generally easier to digest.

I kept having obstructive epispodes last year about this time. They can't locate any strictures, so I had to do my own research. I quit eating red meat and haven't had any more problems. Also, on the news lately, they having been talking alot about red meat. They say that even a healthy person should not eat red meat more than once or twice a week at the most. Red meat is very hard for anyone to digest. It has to literally rot in your intestines to break down and digest. So I agree more with your MIL in your husbands case. We already have problems, why add to it. JMHO!

I'll modify that comment by adding that in people with narrow strictures, there is some evidence that very fibrous foods (e.g. celery) and nuts can get stuck and cause problems.

I'm fine with red meat, poultry, fish, seafood, so long as it is lean not fatty. 4 weeks after my resection I had an 8 oz ribeye at our favorite steakhouse. Pure heaven, it was the most I had eaten. The donut I ate this morning at church, fried of course, just about killed me though. To each his own! I think your MIL needs to realize he has a wife, he doesn't need a mommy!! Good luck!

Both the Maker's Diet and SCD, which I suppose are as close to a "Crohn's diet" as currently exist, allow red meat.

I recently read the book "Eating Right for a Bad Gut," and it suggested IBD sufferers eat red meat no more than once a month. The reasoning has to do with the type of fatty acids present in animal fat. The book suggests that they promote inflammation.

Personally I don't eat red meat more than once a month, if that, and this has been my habit for years--well before the Crohn's diagnosis. I made that decision after my grandmother had colon cancer about ten years ago. Honestly once I stopped eating beef and pork often, I pretty much had no desire for them at all. My husband still likes them so we do buy it occasionally.

I agree that every IBD patient needs to find out what works for them--it's an individual journey. Remember, just like you, your MIL only wants what is best for your husband :)

Thank you all!
We're lucky in that my husband has had no obstruction issues at all. As it is, we eat primarily chicken. about once a week beef is part of our meal, but it is usually just ground meat. My husband usually only has problems with really fatty things.