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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 9/20/2008 12:05 AM (GMT 0)
I'm curious to hear what everyone else here is eating! I follow a low fiber/low residue diet. I don't eat things with seeds or grains and mostly stay away from raw veggies. It seems to be working well for me... but since I was diagnosed with Crohn's I eat 10x more grease, carbs and meat! I used to be a vegetarian and I think it was one of the main reasons my Crohn's was diagnosed at all. Vegetarianism does not agree with me.

What works for you all?
Posted 9/20/2008 12:13 AM (GMT 0)
I eat what I crave, as over the years I have tried eliminating food groups etc and nothing seemed to work. Having said that I would like to try the SCD and am on the search for the book to give it a whirl.
Jo
Posted 9/20/2008 12:13 AM (GMT 0)
Right now I am eating mostly the same old things I was eating weeks ago after I got out of the hospital: Unsalted saltines, sometimes with cheese(sharp cheddar, smoked swiss), canned soup, really simple butter cookies, pure fruit juice, baked chicken, and so on.
I've also started putting new things in though like yogurt, noodles or rice, almonds(really well chewed mind you), small amounts of gummy or hard candy, red meat--mostly really lean ground beef for hamburgers with ketchup and recently onions--, soymilk(just tried the chocolate yesterday and seem to be fine), lactaid milk, baked chicken covered in crushed cereal and parmesan, lemon juice, etc. etc.
That's all I can think of right now.
I'm still waiting to reintroduce things like tomato juice or peanut butter but will hopefully do so soon. The rice still seems to be causing trouble unless I cook it to mush...and I tried lettuce on my hamburger, but that is a no go because it definitely is not being digested all the way.
I occasionally cheat with blowpops and restaurant food like Chinese(granted they DO have some pretty mild dishes if you order properly) and then basic italian dishes that have things with just plain noodles and baked chicken with sauce and vegetables on the side in case you want to try them.

Surprisingly I had NO problem with Macaroni Grill's three berry tiramisu when I took off the fresh strawberries and nuts. I guess mascarpone is okay..I'm so irritated that they took it off of the menu and replaced the strawberry stuff with chocolate and caramel >:(
Posted 9/20/2008 12:15 AM (GMT 0)
Hey SydneyJo! What's SCD? :)
Posted 9/20/2008 1:21 AM (GMT 0)
i follow the makers diet and include parts of the scd where i can. so i eat organic, limited grains, no processed/refined foods or sugars. if i dont buy it and/or make it i probably wont eat. i also eat low glycemic and limit my dairy to cheese and occasional yogurt/kefir. so far t his is doing the trick for me.

scd = specific carbohydrate diet
Posted 9/20/2008 1:51 AM (GMT 0)
Nothing processed or refined, all healthy pure/whole foods, fruits, veggies, meats, fish, drinking only water and chamomile tea.

:)
Posted 9/20/2008 2:25 AM (GMT 0)
For my main meals, I try to stick to a more natural, possibly organic, diet of fruits, veggies, chicken, beef, fish with scales and low mercury, honey sweetened treats and for tea/coffee. I like goat yogurt and goat mozzarella cheese.

For snacks, I sometimes eat small amounts of organic potato chips and some other organic but processed snacks, and have recently tried organic gluten free wafer cookies with little problems. I love my fruits and sourdough breads with org. peanut butter and natural sugar free jams.

I also find digestive enzymes and probiotics help alot with eating/digesting foods.
Posted 9/20/2008 5:20 AM (GMT 0)
I'm on the SCD as well, starting the 19th of December. It's been very good to me; I haven't had stomach pains for months. My blood values are normalizing- just a little low on iron, but my hematocrit is well within norms. I feel great.

"Breaking the Vicious Cycle" really changed my life. A few weeks ago, I discovered "Life Without Bread," by Dr. Wolfgang Lutz; the book was translated from the German and published in 2000. The text is on carbohydrate restriction- to about 72 grams/day- similar to Atkins, but not as restrictive. He notes that the diet was effective in controlling Crohn's in 85% of patients on the diet, many of whom were asymptomatic after three years. He notes that:

"While a low-carbohydrate diet does not provide a cure rate of 100
percent there is a high rate of return to normalcy without a relapse,
which is as close to a cure as one can get today. We hope that the re­
sults we are about to show will change the current treatment of
Crohn's disease. It is certainly a shame that so many suffer when a sim­
ple treatment is available, and one that bears no great medication cost.
The results obtained from sixty-seven patients with Crohn's dis­ease
who were treated with carbohydrate restriction are shown in
Figure 7.1. Patients were followed for up to three years to deter­
mine the long-term effects of carbohydrate restriction on their dis­
ease. More than 80 percent of the patients were symptom-free after
eighteen months on the diet, and 70 percent were symptom-free
after six months on the diet."

So I strongly recommend reading both "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" and "Life Without Bread."
Posted 9/20/2008 6:03 AM (GMT 0)
I'm doing the SCD plan but I am now trying a few trial additions. I have added white rice to the basic plan - only about one day in three. I have also included pea flour in small amounts in a few recipes. You should be aware that if your CD has been active for a long time, you can have sensitivities for all kinds of foods. It basically depends on what you have been eating while the disease has been especially active. That means that you have to watch for foods that are allowed on the diet you are on, but which still cause problems. Aside from diet, there are three things that seem to make a difference. The first is probiotics. A good mixed Lactobacillus supplement had a noticeable positive effect for me. The next is turmeric capsules. It has had a good effect on the related symptoms like muscle pain and throat and sinus irritation. That says to me that it is reducing the gut irritation. The third is glutamine. It is known to support healing of the intestinal mucosa and reduce gut permeability. I also take a collection of vitamins and minerals, but I was doing that for many years even before I was diagnosed. Diet alone is not sufficiently likely to reduce inflammation, unless home-made yogurt/kefir are a large part of the diet.
Posted 9/20/2008 1:53 PM (GMT 0)
osprey101 -

i met jordan rubin in january of 2007. he had me redo the makers diet, doing phase 1 for 3 months and phase 2 for 1 month. in this time i was limited to a total carb ceiling of 80 g/d. very rough but i feel it is what got me well. and on phases 1 and 2 you cannot eat grain based products and the diet already disallows processed and refined foods and sugars. doing this got me over the hump and allowed me to enjoy the newfound health i have now. so there is definitely something to it.

dr. mercola (i believe) has a similar book about a diet based on not eating grains. from my experience above, i truly believe that there is some validity to it. because of that, i eat grain based foods very sparingly and then from sprouted grains as much as possible when i do.

imho, it is healthier to abstain from bread than it is from meat.
Posted 9/20/2008 2:29 PM (GMT 0)
I'm on Jenny Craig.
Posted 9/20/2008 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
petittarte -

imho that is a very expensive yo-yo diet. hopefully it works for you and you reach your target weight, but just as an FYI, this type of diet (ie weight watchers, etc) generally dont work. yes, there are some great testimonials and it has worked for some and it sounds easy, but notice in the ads how it says in fine print "results not typical" regarding how much weight the spokes person lost? it gets you eating wrong (low/non fat and artificial food) and once you are off their program most resume their old eating habits cos they never learned new ones on the plan to keep the weight off and thus gain it all back and more. and i have no idea how crohn's friendly this diet can be. so be wary. but truly, best of luck to you though. i hope it works for you.
Posted 9/20/2008 10:45 PM (GMT 0)
Pretty much whatever I want. I'm done different diets, and cut certian things out before, and I never saw a difference. I try to eat healthy though.
Posted 9/20/2008 10:48 PM (GMT 0)
I see that a lot of people don't notice foods affect them either way... I'm curious if anyone else here has tried to eat vegetarian? I get a flare almost every time I try to eat vegetarian but I haven't made an effort to eat only peeled and highly cooked veggies. Most health foods are high in complex and insoluble carbs. I think I could make another attempt at vegetarianism but that I'd have to be so careful. In the meantime I try to only eat meat that is raised in a way I approve of, but it's almost impossible when eating out to find any info on where they get their meat! I also feel silly asking.
Posted 9/20/2008 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
Diet...I would hardly call it that..I eat all the bad food people shouldn't eat because I can't eat the good food people should eat! HeEHehHE.....No fresh fruit, no vegatables except I drink Vegatable juice...No milk products because I'm lactose Intolerent..Great...No Milk or Milk Products....I can't eat Steak anymore bothers the belly so Baked Chicken..All the way! HEheEH....It sucks big time but It's better then having the Belly problems I suppose! Everyone is different when it comes to this. The life of a Crohnie!
Posted 9/21/2008 12:07 AM (GMT 0)
meowese, veggies can be hard on people with Crohn's to digest. Especially raw veggies! I will eat a salad here and there, but it's not a staple in my diet. As much as I love them, I try to only eat them in moderation.
Posted 9/21/2008 10:08 AM (GMT 0)
CrazyHarry> You are correct. It is MUCH easier to stay away from grains than it is from meat.

Grains are unnatural components in the human diet anyway; the oldest cultivars (spelt, etc.) may be 9,000 or perhaps 10,000 years old. They have become increasingly larger components in the human diet without any substantial genetic adaptation to enhance their digestion. Simply put, it would take hundreds of thousands of years to develop the gut and biochemistry to handle the massive amounts of grain and starch we are consuming from wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes. They're almost certainly at the root of this disease.

Meat, on the other hand, is what we eat. Fat became "poisonous" only in the 1950s. Up until that time, sugar was the poison. Of course, between the decrease in sugar prices, the increase in high fructose corn syrup, and various nutrition lobbies, the "Food Pyramid" got turned upside down. Now everybody thinks the way to get thin is on "low fat" diets. We've BEEN on low fat diets collectively for 20 years- and we keep getting FATTER.

The solution is simple: restrict carbohydrates. Not to the level of Atkins, in all likelihood, but to somewhere between 70 and 100 grams/day. You don't need to be in ketosis to get slim- you just need to stop eating so many carbs. "Life Without Bread." Absolutely the best book on the subject.
Posted 9/21/2008 11:47 AM (GMT 0)
I just got diagnosed last year, so I'm still playing around with my diet to see what works and what doesn't. However, I have noticed that no matter what I eat, I'm still sick, but some things make it better or worse.
I try to stay away from: high fiber foods, veggies, red meat (I love steak too, but it doesn't love me back :( ), popcorn, ice cream, blueberry muffins (weird I know, but found out the hard way that its not ok to eat them), I dropped all soft drinks from my diet and it pains me to say that. The only bad thing I eat now that still makes me sick is coffee, I just can't stop drinking it! haha Spaghetti noodles plain make me sick too!

Here are things I DO eat: yogurt, cheese (thank goodness I'm not lactose intolerant!), fish, shrimp, chicken, my dr. says to eat lots of protein and to eat Flintstone's vitamin chewables b/c they are better absorbed since they digest slower than most swallowed forms...and I'm noticed a significant change since I started taking them, I also eat sandwiches without the bread, soups, sushi, and mostly bland things, little spices.
Posted 9/21/2008 1:06 PM (GMT 0)
I'm going back on WW starting tomorrow. When I did WW all last year I felt my best that I have ever felt. Then of course the holidays hit
and I went off of for a long while. Well I have been flaring ever since. So I'm going back to WW in hopes that will help settle things
back down and I can get to feeling better again, plus lose the weight.
Posted 9/21/2008 1:48 PM (GMT 0)
osprey101 -

we're on the same page here. jordan rubin had me keep a carb ceiling of 80 g/d when he had me redo phase 1 of the makers diet (he had some other special caveats as well for me). i didnt exercise cos of the lack of carbs and some how in those 3 months i still managed to lose like 10 lbs when i thought i had none left to spare! so imho, atkins goes to total extreme of its 15-25 g carbs per day. so not healthy in the long term. perhaps for a month or two for extreme fast weight loss, but by keeping a carb ceiling that low you automatically eliminate so many healthy foods (and his idea of good fat is highly questionable and his prepared food, like bars, all use sugar substitutes like aspartame to keep the carbs low). imho you can lose weight in a healthier fashion and not be as extreme about it.

the bottom of the food pyramid should be water. think about that.
Posted 9/21/2008 1:52 PM (GMT 0)
WW?

I wish it were possible right now to have more options as far as symbiotic relationships go to be able to ingest/digest/etc. some of these foods. I was reading about a certain parasite that lives inside of termites that helps its body digest the cellulose from the wood it goes after.
I know we have some things going on like that but still...

Added pumpkin bread to my diet last night :) God I love pumpkin...

misspriss-I'm surprised you can eat sushi. Is there a special kind that you make or can you just tolerate seaweed and rice fairly well? If there is something you do to it I would be curious to know...I miss sushi so much!! I love Wasabi's yum yum roll ugh...fried and with cream cheese.

I can't think that virtually all grains are bad..I think a lot of it has to do with what type and what we put into it or how we process it before it is released to the rest of the public for consumption. And then there are the things we put into it to make it so people will eat it...

I think that it's a huge shame that it is so difficult to be able to find food to buy that isn't detrimental to your health. It shouldn't be that way. I get so sad walking down aisle after aisle in the grocery store looking at all of the wasted product knowing that this will be going either into the trash or into a person's body and wreaking havoc(long or short term). More healthy choices should be available...and some of these products just should not be legal. I can see people in the future looking at our eating habits with incredulity and disgust. And by 'our' I mean society's heh...not the people here. What on earth are WE supposed to do?
Posted 9/21/2008 7:16 PM (GMT 0)
Hi I too am low residue I eat corn flakes, white bread, banana's ,white rice, chicken. carrots well cooked, can of peas and carrots, potatoes ,hamburg, turkey, tuna and other fish, macaroni, sweets, ice cream ,puddings, pancakes, noodle fast cook with tuna or salmon,jellies,ice cream, pies, pizza with cheese and pepperoni, hamurgers with cheese and ketsup and mustard,lasagna,tonight it's stew with carrots and potatoes and stew meat might try a little cabbage,french fries or poutine, TV dinners without the corn,meat pies. chips ,cheeses, lots of stuff. lol gail
Posted 9/21/2008 11:22 PM (GMT 0)
I dont' seemed to be bothered by foods so much. Alteast they dont' bother me enough to be able to distinguish what it was.

I would like to do a stricter diet to see what "could" be giving me issues. I am more ont he constipated side of crohn's so I need more fiber thatn most.
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