Why can't I eat healthy?!?

Stephanie, my recommendation is for you to work out what you can eat and start from there. Quite frankly, I think that it might be a good idea to stop thinking about "healthy" and "unhealthy", and just work out what foods you can tolerate and not tolerate, and focus on eating those until your symptoms improve enough for you to start integrating other foods into your diet again.

When I'm ill, my blender and food processor are my best tools, diet-wise. Here are some ideas:

* puree fruit and milk (or milk alternative) into a smoothie. Either drink straight, or freeze. Banana, peanut butter and milk is lovely!
* cook vegetables until mushy, then puree
* boil a chicken / chicken bones and make stock. Skim off fat; drink the stock; and maybe start integrating the chicken meat off the boiled bones once your gut can tolerate small amounts of solids. You can also boil some vegetables in the stock, and then puree veg and stock to make a smooth soup.

Some other protein foods you might also like to try:

* miso
* avocado
* boiled or poached eggs, mashed if necessary
* baked custard - eggs and milk / milk alternative; and a little sugar / honey if desired.
* little jars of baby food (check ingredients to make sure the ingredients are ok for your gut)

All the best,

Ivy.

Or do portion control. Eat the "unhealthy" food you tolerate but in a small enough amount you aren't getting overloaded w/ calories. Also, it could just be that your body isn't used to some of the food you are trying and that once it has it a few times you could digest it. Start to slowly integrate fiber and proteins - don't do it all at once. And in the meantime really watch your sugar and fat intake.

Did you remove the seeds from the zukes? If not, that could have been the problem.

Also, you may want to try running your cooked fruit and veggies through a food mill. It removes any fibrous pieces, skins, and seeds. It makes everything as soft and smooth as baby food.

You can make an account at someplace like fitday.com. Enter in what your activities are each day, as well as your sex, height, and weight goal. It will calculate how many calories you should eat a day to meet that weight goal (I think they generally say to eat 500 calories less per day then the energy you expend to lose a 1 pound per week). Enter all the foods you eat each day to keep track of your calories, as well as to keep track of nutritional values.

Thanks for all the advice. I have a professional nutritionist I'm working with, and though he's had clients before with crohn's, he says just eat what I can tolerate for now until I get better. But last flare, that was 6 months (short, compared to others, but a long time to put off a diet). Being overweight has killed my self-esteem and heightened my depression. I was feeling so much better when I went to the gym daily, until the crohn's flared up. I really do need to start going again. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and go today.

I have not tried removing the seeds. I should try that. I love zucchini. I tried skipping the eggs this morning for breakfast and had multi-grain waffles instead. So far, so good. We'll see how the day goes on.

Definetly make sure anything you eat veggie or fruit wise is without the seeds and peels. Those two things do me in all the time. I think Ivy's idea is great too. Maybe if you are feeling poorly for the gym you can get outside and walk for a bit. I can't really do alot exercise because of my Fibro and Osteoarthritis, but walking helps alot. I am not fat, but a little fluffier lately, but I consider this my safe weight, because if I get sick it will just fall off me really quickly.

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*