Role of DIET in UC

There is a lot of research indicating that diet can be helpful but since everyone is different and there isn’t one diet that fits everyone, just as there isn’t one med that works for everyone.

Probably the most popular diet for IBD is the SCD (see link below), but the SCD didn’t work for me. I prefer a food diary to isolate food triggers. For most people gluten (wheat) and dairy should be watched carefully, but any food can be a trigger, (see my signature).

https://scdlifestyle.com/2017/02/new-research-on-scd-diet/

There's a number of diets other have tried for UC from SCD, IBD-AID, low-residue, and none of them worked for me! Some have reported success. The research is spotty, only small sample-size and open labeled studies which is notoriously inaccurate. Here's a review of what's known:
https://www.dietvsdisease.org/ulcerative-colitis-diet/

If you have food intolerance, then I do not think they will magically disappear while you are on steroids.

Food is very individual when it comes to this disease. What works for one might not work for another.

Let me preface by saying what I mention below is my experience alone. It's not advice.

I was diagnosed with left sided UC a few weeks ago. Looking back, I had experienced a mild flare during the summer over a 2 month period. When I became concerned, I began to eat a little healthier and noticed a corresponding minimal improvement in my symptoms.

When I factor in my prior unhealthy eating/drinking habits, my weight peaking at an all time high over the summer and stress from large amounts of overtime at work over the past two years, I can't help but question if lifestyle factors contributed to the emergence of my colitis. Maybe it was an accumulative effect of these factors that pushed my body over some threshold it could no longer handle. Or this disease's appearance was random and it was going to happen or get triggered by something sooner or later. I don't know.

Anyway, since my colonoscopy and diagnosis, I've been eating extremely healthy. Basically, I am following IBD AID to about 95% since I consume minimal amounts of dairy such as skim milk, Greek yogurt and kefir for probiotics. Besides that, 100% compliant. I prepare all of my meals from scratch, except the aforementioned dairy. If I cook something, it is with olive or coconut oil. Haven't tried butter yet. Essentially, lots of water, oats, fruits, vegetables, spices, oils, fish and some almond or oat flour based breads. The entirety of my foods and recipes are small in scale at the moment. I plan to incorporate additional foods slowly but want to stay strict with my current foods for at least a month before adding more.

Overtime hours at work have been significantly reduced as well. Ultimately, I'm trying to reduce the factors that I believe have placed strain on my body.

This has worked for me, thus far. 1-2 normal looking bowel movements a day, no urgency, no blood, etc. It has been 3 months since my worst symptoms. Now, I do experience minimal stomach cramps periodically but they seem to be slowly going away. I am monitoring their duration and intensity to see if there is a link between when they occur and the foods I eat. I document everything I eat and track bowel movements and their appearances.

I believe what I eat has a major influence on my body. Maybe my strong belief is causing some beneficial placebo effect. Hell, I'll take it. I'm not saying I'm right. This approach feels right for me, and I can't deny it. Back to food having a big impact on the body. Since my early 20s, for over ten years, I've had consistently high blood pressure. It normally would run 140s/low 90s, even while taking the highest dosage of Losartan. I always exercised a lot (30-50 mile bike rides, 3-5 mile hikes multiples times per week) but continually ate like crap and the blood pressure remained elevated. In just two weeks of eating healthy and with minimal exercise, my BP is now routinely in the 110s/70s. This is radical for me. This change just further influences my belief that food can influence large positive or negative changes on the body.

Again, as others have mentioned, IBD affects everyone differently. This is a very personal disease and treatment strategies, such as diet modifications, and their outcomes vary greatly. Just my thoughts.

Jon

Post Edited (moedank) : 12/14/2018 10:50:00 AM (GMT-7)

I am off Prednisone and just on budenosoid and Salofalk ( oral ) right now. I haven't used anything like rectal enema's yet. My symptoms are quite better. No blood, no urgency and normal Formed shape of scoops. I have been diagnosed from August 2018 however i started seeing symptoms from May 2018. I saw significant positive changes in my symptoms in the first week after starting steroids and since then I am having symptoms under control.

I didn't have from the start too much DI or cramping. It used to be 3 4 bowel movements with blood and no cramping. I am diagnosed with left sided colitis. I am worried now that may be my symptoms are under control because of steroids and once i will stop using them it will come back considering my diet.

notsosicklygirl said...
I personally would worry more about the steroids than the diet. Are you off prednisone and just on budesonide/salofalk at this point? Are you free of symptoms? If so, that's great, maybe you don't need a diet to help things along. If you're struggling, I think step one is to get on additional medication. Is the salofalk rectal or oral? You should add whichever one you're not using if you're having symptoms.

Diet is very individual, and it sounds like you've already made some positive changes to your diet by limiting dairy and sugar. There isn't any scientific evidence suggesting SCD to be beneficial to IBD, though the book will lead you to believe it can cure, or at least cause improvement, to a wide variety of health issues... I tried it and I didn't see any improvement at all. I was hungry all the time, and lost tons of weight.

How long have you been diagnosed? When was your last scope? What are your symptoms like?

There is no or poor evidence for SCD diet. People make claims, but this is anecdotal. The only diets with some scientific evidence (and some recommendation) are FODMAPS and Mediterranean.

Websites are very poor places to research diet claims because so many are trying to push a book or product or other hype. Not just for UC, almost all website diet advice. The peer-reviewed scientific literature is the only place to get good facts.

Yeas, you are right. Ripe bananas (brown spots on skin) does not contain much carbs. However I still believe that this diet works different way then it is suggested.