Does bad food only temporarily worsen symptoms?

I read in a book that eating bad food will only temporarily raise your symtoms. So if you ate a burger you might bleed more for a few days or have stomach pains, but is that true? Or does it worsen your condition in the long term?

Hi GidHike-
I guess the "bleeding part" depends on the individual.
When I eat food that causes irritation and inflammation in my colon, I don't bleed but I experience discomfort (gas/bloating) and spend a lot more time in the bathroom.
As far as long term....inflammation in your colon for a long period of time (years) increases the probability of ending up with colon cancer.
Simply put: When inflammation is present, the cells of the colon are "dying" and replacing themselves constantly. At some point the "replacement" process goes very wrong and dysplasia (pre-cancerous) cell result. These are the cells that can become cancer.

I know this because I have them. If I knew a few years ago what I know now about the effect of diet on this disease, I could have been working on reducing the inflammation by adopting an anti-inflammatory diet. My doctor didn't think diet mattered.

I strongly advise you to work on your eating habits so that you don't have this to look forward to.
Some things I have to avoid: gluten, dairy (lactose), certain carbs and sugars. You can google "anti-inflammatory" diets and read more posts on this website to get more info.
Does this help to explain the "big picture"?

What I mean is, is it generally safe to eat a known bad food (in my case, for example, a burrito) once in a while?

I'm afraid to eat any sort of fast food because I'm afraid if I will eat a burger or something, my colitis will be much worse, and for much longer.

So, for example. Say I'm in a flare unrelated to my diet. As is the case currently. I get minimal diarreah and some bleeding for up to 3 months. I'm afraid if I eat a burger today, from tomorrow on I'll have like almost all diarreah and blood and very painful BMs for 6 months (not from just one burger but you get my drift)

Hope that makes sense?

The book said that eating a bad food is sort of like putting salt on an open wound. It hurts like heck, but it doesn't make the wound itself worse, right? Just a temporary discomfort with no long term affects.

So if I knew I could eat one or two fast food meals a week without any worries that my UC will last 6+ months instead of the usual 3 months, and would just instead have gas or something then I'll take the trade off :)

Or another way to put it. If my flares usually last 3 months, and now I would eat a bad food once in a while, would my flare still only lasts 3 months just with stronger symptoms, or would it be for much longer as long as I kept eating the bad food?

Post Edited (GidHike) : 2/2/2012 5:12:47 PM (GMT-7)

i think bad eating ends up hurting you over time but not one meal. at least that's how it is with me.

Bad food? food doesn't cause flares, and if you're having symptoms, you're flaring anyway.

q

How about you do a happy compromise here? Like you can have what you call bad food once in a while but I suggest 2 options:

1- If you indulge on a burrito at taco bell for example well make sure you have a gentle diet a few meals before and after. So actually it absorbs it a bit.

2. Why not make your own burrito from scratch? Or maybe burger or fajita?
Nice grilled meat and vegs and then how about finding a homemade recipe for the sauce. Im sure the mexicans do the sauce from scratch and so can you! Or how about a nice burger and some oven baked sweet potatoes fries? That would do for me fore sure!!!!

I cheated last night and had fried calamari. It was delicious but I paid for it with painful gas/bloating and painful BMs. This morning I feel better. Did the calamari aggravate my current flare? Probably but it was so nice to eat something spicy and crunchy. Did I set myself back? We shall see but I have to remember that in order for me to feel control over my disease I need to indulge once in a while and eat something yummy. I won't repeat this again tonight but I know that once I get my flare under control I will be able to eat those 'bad' foods again in moderation.

Personally, I am yet to come across any food that put me in flare or caused bleeding. When I was traveling around Europe, I did spend few days in McD fries but thats about it. McD is my absolute last resort for food. On the other hand, when at home, I eat everything in moderation, that does include fried food. So I think, it pretty much varies how someone reacts to certain kind of food.

Could you please cite the book here? If someone is interested, they could also look into it.

GidHike, I was in constant flare meds did not work my GI said "it has nothing to do with Diet" Wrong it has every thing to do with diet and food. You need to get it all under control get into remission for awhile if you can either by meds or even better through diet and more natural remedies. Then if you once you have achieved that you may be able to cheat alittle ocassionally but dont become complacent. Cancer is what we are all trying to avoid here is it not, either through medication which the body usually becomes immune too. Or even better Diet, supplements if they work for you but if you go this road dont cheat for the first few monthes give your body a fighting chance for your colon to heal alittle. If you are in constant flare obviously the colon is a very unhappy organ it cannot talk but it is sure trying to tell us something. You know your body bette than anyone else you know if you think about it what upsets you. I am happy in remission and I use a diet and some supplements that a naturopath recomended and I can cheat a little bit every so often. But I always think is it worth it my colon is functioning the way it was before UC. Why would anyone wnat to upset that. I love pizza but I have alot of will power and get stronger every day I DONT NEED PIZZA..

ItsAlwaysSomething,

When you want to indulge in something that usually causes you issues, why not drink a slippery elm cocktail before going out? Or trying it after you come home?

Great idea. That's what I've been doing, when I occassionally cheat. I do a slippery elm cocktail before and after the cheat.

And it works! But I still wouldn't advocate cheating more than once a month, because cheating = inflammation.

 

well said tournevice processed food is a bad choice creating from scatch is good I agree and am still in remission I will even go as far to say filtered water and no microwaved food not even to reheat.

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