In remission, but something bothers me

You could try what your doctor suggested but if I increase soluble fiber it just increases my BM # and soluble fiber does not add calories. Perhaps he is thinking that more soluble fiber will slow down your gut and therefore your gut would have time to get more nutrients before eliminating

To gain weight you need to increase calories, that's basic science. Slowing down elimination will help of course. So add more calories of the foods you have no trouble with: olive oil, bananas seem likely.

Potatoes are a source of resistant starch (paleo people are split on whether potatoes are legal for paleo) and my gut LOVES fried potatoes (in peanut oil), potato salad with mayo, mashed potatoes with lots of butter. You can add extra coconut or olive oil in smoothies you make for more calories. Good oils and potatoes are where I'd head for safe calories, not sugar in other words.

hey Jeanloup -

Glad to see you are in remission.

The paradigm and definitions fn paleo are changing everyday with the accumulating research on nutritional interventions like resistant starches. For example, foods like legumes, potatoes, plantains and rice are turning out to be excellent mediators of gut health because they promote butyrate production in the colon.

Butter too is also a precursor to butyrate production and a good source of biovailable vitamin A (retinol) - grassfed is important for the CLA and omega-3 (interesting fact: butyrate is actually derived from butter).

Paleo, like SCD, can potentially be a weight loss diet if one does not eat enough calories as imagardner said. The addition of safe starches like potatoes and rice might accelerate the healing process and help you gain weight as well.

IMO, any diet that excludes these foods are dogmatic and not up to date on the current research so you do have to be careful about what people say. At the end of the day, your body is the one that will tell you what foods it likes and doesn't like

Also, bioavailable glycine and proline are both found in bone broth and that is "paleo friendly".

Best.

Post Edited (Guardian7) : 1/19/2015 8:52:02 AM (GMT-7)

"proved" is an easy word to type, much harder to substantiate with anything other than non-scientific websites like mercola or paleo self-references.

glad you elimination diet has worked for you, but I am very skeptical of anything dogmatic, and which does not have sound clinical literature in respected journals

Yes it's more a personal choice then, than a scientific proof. I choose to avoid potatoes, according to many solid arguments, but I'm okay if some people choose to keep it as a regular food in their diet.

The key is in cooking, you have to cook all by yourself, and stop buying processed food. Back to furnaces guys, is the ticket.

I'm on the leaner side still as well, sitting at about 110-114 lbs where I use to be in the 120-125 lbs for a long time, though I've always been lean so it doesn't really bother me...I would be thrilled to have BM's the way you're describing and although I'm in remission with my crohn's my IBS is what's causing all my grief now so I am going to the toilet more than 2X a day and not necessarily always controlled but that issue is better than when my CD was attacking me.

As long as you feel good that's the main thing, it may take some time and usually with age weight will come on anyway.

I found that psyllium helped add bulk and slow my motility, even though it is often sold as "colon cleansing." I also find that resistant starch does this for me, you might want to give it a try.

If your bowel movements aren't liquid, then you are absorbing your nutrients, even if you go 2-3 times per day. It takes much more severe diarrhea to impact absorption of calories.

If your CRP and ESR are normal, if your colonoscopy is normal, if you are without pain, bleeding, or urgency, I recommend accepting 2-3 BMs per day as your remission normal and moving on with your life. When you flare you have no choice but to think about your BMs -- in remission, you have the luxury of not worrying about it. Don't give that up voluntarily.

Hi Jeanloup- sounds like you are on the right track. I also eat paleo and have noticed a huge improvement as I introduced some of the safer starches, especially plantains. I really decided to live on the edge and have a little white rice too - it's been terrific for me. I avoid white potatoes, not because of the starch but because I can be sensitive to nightshades (solanae family).

It really sounds like you are doing well overall symptomatically, and that you are just looking to gain weight. What are you doing for healthy fats? Coconut milk, avocado? Those things helped my weight get back to normal - maybe a little too much. I made a delicious shake with a frozen banana, full-fat coconut milk, 2 eggs, a blob of nut butter, cocoa powder, and sea salt. SO good - made my tummy happy and gave me lots of calories.

Good luck!

CGK1998, I'm always happy when I see someone else who can live quite normally, I'm really happy for you mate.

Yes I'm living normally since I eat paleo, and the only thing I would love to happen is going less to stool in order to gain weight. My average now is 2 times a day, I would like to go 1 time every 2 day (but I dont know if it's doable...)

In fact when I think about it I realize I dont eat so much fat foods. I only eat an advocado or 2 per week, and a table spoon per day of olive oil. When I read your post I see it's not enough and I have to increase this.

I'm planing to add fatty foods to my diet, like more advocados, almonds, coco milk, and also sweet foods like bananas, apples, dates etc.


Hi ewafromwarsaw, well you need fibers they are great to help the body in digestion and nutrients absorption, they also protect from inflammation because fibers (soluble ones) ferment into short chains fatty acids in the gut, and they "repair" it. So they are very usefull.

Well, half of the ingredients you mentionned are forbidden in the paleo diet, but thank you for the inspiration ^^

I noticed my body doesnt have time to store fat/muscle if I go 2 or 3 times a day to stool.

Yes they are solid stools, but even with this, if my transit is too rapid I think I won't gain any weight.

That's why I'm searching to calm down my transit a bit.

Today I didn't eat olive oil, and it seems things are better, only one stool today. So I'm going to continue lowering this oil.