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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/20/2018 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
What is your best diet for UC? What kind of foods do you eat and what do you avoid?
Posted 6/20/2018 2:48 PM (GMT 0)
The best diet is the one your gut tells you is right for it.

If you take the time to do a search for "diet modification" you will see every food and drink in existence is both "good" and "bad". No such thing as a universal UC diet.

I have tried every possible UC diet, had some success with some of them but none of them were juuuust right for my gut. Took months and years to determine what worked for me. In my opinion there are no shortcuts. You have to do the work yourself.
Posted 6/20/2018 2:49 PM (GMT 0)
No limitations because of UC...and balanced eating, although, I would never eat half the stuff others on here eat and drink for various reasons. Take my meds.
Don't assume a grumbly gut from some foods is UC.....

q
Posted 6/20/2018 3:45 PM (GMT 0)
I do not have a diet to treat my UC, tried them all and got zero results, so I now eat whatever I want to. Some have had luck with IBD-AID, SCD, low-residue, and a variation they discover themselves. Like everything with UC, one's miracle treatment, does nothing for another, and makes another's symptoms a whole lot worse. Try and see is the only way to know if it helps you.
Posted 6/20/2018 3:49 PM (GMT 0)
SCD for me. It literally controls flares and remissions in my UC.
Posted 6/20/2018 4:53 PM (GMT 0)
Whatever is good for my gut, that's what I eat. I do stay away from fried foods.
Posted 6/20/2018 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
I eat whatever I want.
Posted 6/20/2018 5:34 PM (GMT 0)
I've kept a food diary for each flare I've had, and the foods which have affected me have been different each time, so 'a good UC diet' might not even be consistent for one person...
Having said that, I've found that dropping bothersome foods really helps me (though obviously not everyone), and the best way of finding out what those were was to eat a minimal diet for the first few weeks of a flare - just soft cooked veg and a protein: no processed food, no dairy, wheat, grains, pulses or added sugar, & no caffeine. You can add foods back in one at a time to see what doesn't suit you.

Some typical meals I ate this time around:
Egg and spinach omelette
Carrot & coriander soup
White fish, onion, garlic, courgette, mushrooms and cooked spinach stir-fried with turmeric (I get anaemic during flares, so I eat a lot of spinach)
Chicken stew made in a slow cooker with onion, garlic, carrots, celery, kale and potato, a veg stock cube and a splash of wine for extra flavour
Bananas for snacks.

Good luck!
Posted 6/20/2018 7:42 PM (GMT 0)
SCD and paleo are very similar. Here's an article with link to research on paleo AIP. Google will give you some limited research on SCD, IBD-Aid etc. https://chriskresser.com/aip-for-ibd-the-paleo-autoimmune-protocol-and-inflammatory-bowel-disease/[url]

Diet vs. disease article: https://www.dietvsdisease.org/ulcerative-colitis-diet/

Post Edited (Uniform Charlie) : 6/20/2018 1:51:46 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/21/2018 4:59 PM (GMT 0)
I just wanted to throw this out there. Ray Peats approach has helped some people I know. The core is basically dairy, offal, fruit, coffee but everyone does some variation of it. It doesn't work for me because I've never been able to tolerate dairy, and tend towards constipation. But it's worth looking into.
Posted 6/21/2018 9:31 PM (GMT 0)
I'll preface by saying I haven't been diagnosed for very long (last June), so we'll see if this continues (disclaimer smile); but I am doing the dairy-free Specific Carbohydrate diet with enzymes and probiotics and I believe it has made a huge difference for me personally. Not everyone has success with it, though. I went from bleeding and 4-6 B.M.s/day on 40 mg. of Prednisone to having normal B.M.'s a month or so after tapering on the Pred. on my G.I.'s instructions. I had started the diet while on 40 mg. of Pred. I just had a colonoscopy done that indicated very mild inflammation in most of the colon, with slightly more in the rectum. When I was diagnosed last year I had severe inflammation showing in my results, and probably had pancolitis then, although I only had a sigmoidoscopy done because I was pregnant at the time.

The SCD is really difficult, though, especially dairy-free. I fortunately love to cook and learn new recipes and try different foods, so I have it a little easier than some people. If you can get past the first couple months to where you see results and get to have more of the foods on the diet, it's motivating. I have about half a dozen friends who have either Crohn's or U.C. and they all say to keep a food journal, and I agree. I think one reason why some people can handle certain foods and others can't is maybe because we heal different levels at different rates and times, which is probably one reason why it's hard to find a one size fits all diet. I know I couldn't handle red meat at all at first, but after a few months, I tried it again and it was fine. I'm guessing I had healed to the point where my gut could digest those proteins on that level.
Posted 6/22/2018 4:26 AM (GMT 0)
Paleo Diet and SCD.

When my colon was flaring, I tried the SCD for one month. It didn't work for me. That flare got into remission with Flagyl. Later, I found out that giving up dairy containing lactose wasn't enough. I had to give up all dairy.

I then got extra-intestinal systemic inflammation of the soft tissues, and I found out about the Paleo AIP diet, which is very similar to the SCD. The Paleo AIP diet is for autoimmune conditions. But the Paleo AIP diet didn't exclude starch sugars, and starch sugars are the worst for me. So I tried the SCD again; and this time, I also avoided all the foods on the Paleo AIP diet. about 99% of the inflammation gradually went away over six months, which was the timing that Sarah Ballantyne and Robb Wolf, the authors of The Paleo Approach, said it would take. I then reintroduced foods on the Paleo AIP diet that were less inflammatory and allowed on the Paleo Diet. I'm now following the Paleo Diet and SCD.

I also do other things in addition to these two diets. In particular, I consume homemade coconut yogurt smoothies; take probiotics, digestive enzymes, and anti-inflammatory supplements; and de-stress. I also make sure I consume plenty of nutritious plants, consume good fats, and get sufficient amounts of protein to rebuild the muscle that I had lost. about 99% of my inflammation is gone. I'm still trying to get rid of my microscopic inflammation though. I just added back curcumin and started using CBD oil again. I'm hoping these will help. I'll know in another six months when I get tested again.
Posted 6/22/2018 9:09 AM (GMT 0)
Since I'm prediabetic, my doctor has me cutting back on starches and told me to quit drinking regular soda or start buying insulin. So I've switched to water, Diet Dr. Pepper, and seltzer. Other than smaller portions at dinner and lunch, I haven't made too many other changes.

However, given that I can't take Pentasa "straight" (because they're horse pills and I can't take those), I've been pouring the capsules into yogurt...and eating a ton of that, so at least I'm getting some probiotics going too. Good thing I like yogurt, because I'm eating 3-4 cups a day!
Posted 6/22/2018 12:21 PM (GMT 0)
@ U.C.Me? >


just curious - have you only taken pred to treat your UC ? and how long have you been off the pred ?
Posted 6/22/2018 10:41 PM (GMT 0)
@ TroubledTurds : )

I took pred. to get the flares under control (worked like a charm the first time, not so well the second), but I did take mesalamine until my doctor told me to stop. He said it wasn't helping anything, and recommended azathioprine. I also did the Canasa suppositories and budesonide at the same time; neither of which touched my symptoms. I have been off the pred. for about 4, almost 5 months now. I declined to go on the azathioprine until I had tried the SCD. Hope that answers your question! : )
Posted 6/22/2018 11:55 PM (GMT 0)
When I flare and my tolerances get close to zero I reduce meat to maybe 10% of my diet. The rest is vegan and grain free, except for organic white rice. I do a morning smoothie with many different fruits and berries, greens powder, chlorella, spirulina, wheatgrass and alfalfa. I add collagen or gelatin, and flax fiber. If I feel I need more protein I might add an organic egg yolk, but not often.

The meat that I eat is from soups that end up pureed in a blender. I do a lot of squash and carrot soups with meat bases, usually chicken.

I also do freshly pressed veggie juices, diluted 50/50 with water. My go-to is celery, cucumber, lettuce and green apple. Anything else is too harsh.

I avoid wheat and gluten no matter what, flare or no flare. I can tolerate dairy if I'm in remission or close to it. If my bowel is still raw there's no tolerance. I avoid all soy. I usually wait to add probiotic ferments and commercial probiotics until my bleeding and inflammation has gone down a bit. The only exception is my first flare that probiotics rescued me from -- I guess I was severely lacking them. Other than that, probiotics make my severe flares worse. I think the lining needs to heal a bit first.

The flares I've had that did not respond to diet were all from infections. Antibiotics fixed them, then the diet worked.

The cookie-cutter diets like SCD and GAPS didn't work for me. There are always foods they recommend that I can't have or foods that I can have that they don't recommend. The one aspect of SCD that helps me during flares is grain and sugar avoidance, except for white rice.
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