Trying to gain weight

Hi Im in same situation.

The problem is that the energy rich food such as carbohydrats are often causing flare.

Im not a good example myself, but I would suggest to add a apple/fruit between the meals.
Nuts are also high in calories, and for uc friendly you cant go for the peanuts or cashew, better go for pine or paranuts.
Fish oil is good for ulcerative colitis and since its just fat it gives loads of calories, go for two spoons two times daily. Too much pure oil might set up your stomach.

many uc cant digest animal protein, so also here nuts is a good source, an even better would be hemp protein. They sell hemp shakes in the stores.

Put extra olive oil on everything, or butter if you can take it.


Work out in small sessions, 5 minute twice daily.
This works better then doing 2-3 weekly long passes at the gym.

It works for me but that doesnt mean it works for everyone. Good luck

I am pretty much in the same situation. I had my first bad flare in May -June and I lost 10lbs. I am 5'3" and now 100 lbs. I was on Prednisone for 2 months and did not gain weight. If you are very stable, imagardner2 's suggestions would work. But if you avoid chocolate and sweets, you might try to make smoothies. I add a vanilla soy protein powder to smoothies made with kefir or yogurt. I also add 1 Tbs nut butter and a piece of soft fruit (cantaloupe, peach, mango.)
Another good fatty produce is avocado - add it to your grilled chicken or to any lunch/ dinner.


Good luck,
R

You might want to consider Benecalorie. It's a 1.5oz liquid portion pack that is added to food or beverages. Each container adds 350 calories to your meal without adding bulk. You can get an extra 1000 calories per day in less than 5oz. Benecalorie is made for people who are chronically ill or recovering from cancer; you can order it online at Amazon.

Sue

I see you guys are all suggesting fruits and nuts and oils. No good for me!

I am 5'3 and and 90lb, i have always been small but lost some weight after christmas due to a bad flare.

I am intolerant to everything! I am on no meds for my colitis because i can tolerate nothing.

Diet wise i can't eat fruit or veg, nuts etc

I eat potato, meat, bread, chocolate biscuits, cake, crisps, and i drink just water and these foods are ok

I can't eat dairy, and i am fructose intolerant, and too much fiber is not good.

So i can eat all the unhealthy things, but no healthy things. Maybe as a teenager i would have thought that great, but at 29 i crave fruit and veg and a really healthy diet. I am awaiting an appointment with a dietitian to see if she can help me introduce some new foods, in a controlled way.

You would think i would be huge the amount of unhealthy foods i eat, but i don't put on any weight at all!

Mercury
I have been EXACTLY where you are now, intolerant of everything it seemed except bread/pasta etc. Like you, fruit and dairy made my gut much worse and I thought bread was good for me. As it turned out the bread/pasta/gluten was the enemy, I just couldn't tell because my gut was in such bad shape.

Because of that it took me years to be able to tolerate the Specific Carbohydrate Diet long enough to start healing. I wish I could tell you exactly what to do but it seems so individual.

All I can say is keep trying, with meds (edit: I see you can't take any), with diet modification, with supplements. Be your own detective and little by little you can discover what works for you. After 5.5 months on SCD I began to be able to add dairy and fruit slowly back into my diet with no problems at all.
You don't mention sugar but that is a major problem and the thing I'd suggest you eliminate as much as possible, except for honey in small amounts.

Everyone has given great suggestions to the OP, see how you can use them too.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 9/10/2010 9:34:58 AM (GMT-6)

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'm glad dairy wasn't the only thing suggested.. I forgot to mention I can't tolerate dairy. I will add more fats healthy fats that were mentioned. I will add calorie drinks even tho they contain sugar. I'll check out benecalorie that Suebear recommended. I stopped at the vitamin shoppe tonight but they dont carry it so I guess I'd have to wait for delivery. This is such a confusing disease and it's so difficult for me to figure out what foods to avoid because I may eat the same things for 2 days and feel ok one day and discomfort the other day.

Imagardener, I purchased the breaking the vicious cycle book but can't seem to commit to the scd diet. I feel that I'll start it when I get more desperate ESP. Since I'm trying to put on weight and a diet as restricted as scd will make it even more difficult to gain. What do you think? Did you lose or gain since you've been on it?

I eat rice almost daily because it seems to be easy on my gut and it's easy as it comes in cereal, bread, I find cream of rice with butter and honey so good and easy and should help me put on some wt. But everyday Ifeel guilty for giving the bad bacteria in my gut more ammo. If it doesn't give me discomfort, should I continue eating it? Or should I be proactive and eliminate it now?

I am right there with you, II. I lost 10-15lbs. from my recent and most horrible flare. I was thin to begin with (around 140lbs and 5'10"; now I'm around 128lbs.) I too cannot really gain weight no matter what. Some would love that/say it's a good thing and in a way it is but I would like to at least gain a little here and there. Somehow, I just think it's the way we are/is what it is and we will just always be thin due to our disease and genetics. I am starting ot become very ok with it, as I seem pretty healthy otherwise. If I can just get my UC under control I'll be a happy camper.