Foods to avoid

lunchmeat is full of additives and nitrates/nitrites (not sure, but I know they're bad!). You can usually find gluten-free/nitrite-free packaged meats (Costco has a great selection).

There's no universal list of what foods you should avoid as an ulcerative colitis patient. Rather, it's a very individual response that varies wildly person to person. I have no diet restrictions and eat whatever I want. So not everyone has issues with foods.

A careful food diary will help - we are all different in terms of what we respond to and also in terms of what aggravates, when - meaning, earlier during this flare, I could tolerate spicy foods or salads, but in the past two months, the tiniest bit of fruit or veggie caused major issues.

Now, I'm able to do a carbonated beverage each day with no issues, and found that cutting gluten didn't really help.

For me during this flare, high fat foods, alcohol, caffeine, spicy foods, fiber, fruits and veggies, whole grains and dairy are major issues. I don't dare touch coffee though I miss it terribly. But others here can do coffee, different amounts of fiber, etc. I'm doing much better on a bland, consistent diet with tuna, salmon, chicken, white rice or low fiber white breads, pasta, Italian ice for a treat, etc.

In other words, no hard and fast rules, very individual. A food and symptom diary will really help you identify what's happening. And as iPoop said, for some, food isn't an issue whatsoever.