HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Doctors and diet

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 4/5/2017 10:58 PM (GMT 0)
Do your doctors ever make a point of diet?

No doctor I have ever had has made a point of diet. I understand that some of it's personal, but if you Google something like "sugar inflammation", a lot of stuff comes up, including an official arthritis site saying that sugar is inflammatory. This is just an example, there's also stuff online about examples of foods that are inflammatory versus foods that are supposed to be anti inflammatory.

Why is this just not an aspect of care from doctors (at least, the ones I've had) and what is your view on diet. If it does make a difference, why do people say it doesn't?
Posted 4/5/2017 11:18 PM (GMT 0)
My former GI (the one who diagnosed me) said I could eat anything I wanted. The only advice he gave regarding diet was no raw fruits or veggies while flaring, only cooked.

My new GI, who is a younger guy, gave me a low FODMAPS food list and advised me to stay away from all artificial sweeteners. He said to try the fodmaps but I didn't have to use it as a bible.

I've been gluten and diary free pretty much since being diagnosed a year ago, went off all sugars and grains in January. Haven't achieved remission except with steroids though. Although I do think it helps for me to follow my special diet rules, because I notice that I will get symptoms if I cheat, it's not a cure for me. But maybe I would also be a lot worse if I just ate anything and everything I wanted? I dunno, because I'm not willing to chance it at this point.
Posted 4/5/2017 11:49 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks. I am just so confused about all this. To what extent can we really "eat what we want". When I eat tons of sugar, I don't need to run straight to the toilet like some here. My symptoms are ALWAYS up and down and I just simply cannot tell what food might be making things worse / better. The symptoms are too variable day-to-day for me to make any correlations about that. But if I eat tons of sugar, which I do because my diet is so terrible, surely I have to expect that I am making inflammation in my body worse?

The doctors always just told me not to worry about it, but I really am beginning to wonder. It just doesn't make sense to be eating biscuits and sweets / candy and stuff and to expect it to be having no impact on my inflammation whatsoever.
Posted 4/6/2017 12:40 AM (GMT 0)
I'm a huge believer diet plays a significant role in this disease. Unfortunately, my GI doctors do not. Eat what you want they tell me and if it causes me problems to stop eating it. UGH!! They are of no help. I'm seeing a holistic doctor in addition and a chiropractor who uses supplements to treat diseases. And I'm now gluten, dairy, egg, free. I will on occasion have soy or white rice when I have sushi, but otherwise I stay away from those two things as well.
Posted 4/6/2017 1:19 AM (GMT 0)
If you're unsure of what is causing symptoms -- or not, as the case may be -- the only thing to do is an elimination diet. All of the diets, I believe, have an elimination phase. I know that SCD and the AIP (auto immune protocol, which is basically Paleo) both do. Try that for 3 weeks or a month or longer and then slowly add foods back in, one at a time. I still find that I'm sometimes adding 2 or more foods at a time, especially when baking or when I just need something different to eat!!!, and then it's tricky to know which food did or did not cause what.
Posted 4/6/2017 3:41 AM (GMT 0)
I went to an IBD center at a major university and they had some dietary programs that were offered and people were encouraged to participate in. They had online meal programs that you could follow. My doctor didn't tout them like they would solve all my problems but she also didn't poo-poo them - they do want more participants after-all... I had already tried a bunch of diets and restrictions so I didn't go crazy with any further diet stuff, but that was just my personal situation. If I hadn't tried a bunch in the past, I would have definitely been more open-minded.
Posted 4/6/2017 11:55 AM (GMT 0)
The only thing my doctor has said to me is to not eat fried foods
Posted 4/6/2017 3:36 PM (GMT 0)
There are food symptoms and inflammation symptoms....and with inflammation, anything food can be confusing.

~CW~ what part confuses you about the info as it pertains to you?

q
Posted 4/6/2017 7:48 PM (GMT 0)
My doctor encouraged eating lots of prebiotic foods and fiber as long as they were well tolerated but did not recommend any specific diet
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply