• Welcome to Crohn's Forum, a support group for people with all forms of IBD. While this community is not a substitute for doctor's advice and we cannot treat or diagnose, we find being able to communicate with others who have IBD is invaluable as we navigate our struggles and celebrate our successes. We invite you to join us.

Intermittent Fasting?

Has anyone tried out intermittent fasting? What was the protocol you used? How long did you try it for? What kind of results (if any) did you get out of it?

Happy (almost) weekend everyone!
 

my little penguin

Moderator
Staff member
Have you tried een (exclusive enteral nutrition)?
Formula only no solid foods
Used in kids a lot to induce remission
Then some use 80% formula and 20% food as maintenance

Ds has done een multiple times for 6-9 weeks
To heal the gut

He currently drinks orally neocate jr (amino acid elemental formula ) plus good and other meds
 
https://crohnsforyouandme.wordpress.com/

This covers studies on dietary approaches.

Fasting has not been shown to do anything for Crohn's, at least in part because of the length of time which is required to starve out some bacteria in the gut in addition to the length of time which is required for immune reactions to their parts to die out is on the order of a few days.

It is well-supported that if somebody with Crohn's ate nothing for a week or two, the symptoms related to their Crohn's should mitigate or disappear.
 
Last edited:
https://crohnsforyouandme.wordpress.com/

This covers studies on dietary approaches.

Fasting has not been shown to do anything for Crohn's, at least in part because of the length of time which is required to starve out some bacteria in the gut in addition to the length of time which is required for immune reactions to their parts to die out is on the order of a few days.

It is well-supported that if somebody with Crohn's ate nothing for a week or two, the symptoms related to their Crohn's should mitigate or disappear.
Kinda confusing post. First you say it doesn't do anything and then in your last paragraph you say it does.

Anyway, I've been experimenting lately with fasting. I typically go 12-16 hours for the most part without eating, and 8 hours eating. And once a month I've been doing a 3 day fast. I've been doing this for about 4 months.

I think it helps. Its allowed me to be more lenient with what I can eat and not be so strict all the time. Also, I refrain from eating in the morning, and my first meal is usually around noon. I notice my energy in the morning and my cognitive ability is so much better. I also keep track of my weight and I haven't lost any weight because I am not trying to. I think this is because your gut heals when you fast. And you absorb food easier when you start eating again.

I think if you combine fasting with eating healthy, it's a very powerful combination.
 
Kinda confusing post. First you say it doesn't do anything and then in your last paragraph you say it does.

Anyway, I've been experimenting lately with fasting. I typically go 12-16 hours for the most part without eating, and 8 hours eating. And once a month I've been doing a 3 day fast. I've been doing this for about 4 months.

I think it helps. Its allowed me to be more lenient with what I can eat and not be so strict all the time. Also, I refrain from eating in the morning, and my first meal is usually around noon. I notice my energy in the morning and my cognitive ability is so much better. I also keep track of my weight and I haven't lost any weight because I am not trying to. I think this is because your gut heals when you fast. And you absorb food easier when you start eating again.

I think if you combine fasting with eating healthy, it's a very powerful combination.
Thank you for your insight! Exactly the thought that I had-- your gut has more time to heal when it's empty.
Would you happen to have any materials/resources to send over about the protocols and getting started? Also-- are you on any other specific diets?
 
My two statements earlier are actually not a positive and negative statement of the same thing.

My first point is that fasting hasn't directly been shown to help Crohn's.

My second point is that various dietary approaches have been shown to induce remission, and these in turn share powerful features with fasting leading to inference that fasting could do the same if followed with the same duration that the dietary approaches can be(hence, well-supported).
 
Last edited:
Thank you for your insight! Exactly the thought that I had-- your gut has more time to heal when it's empty.
Would you happen to have any materials/resources to send over about the protocols and getting started? Also-- are you on any other specific diets?
This sounds pretty dumb but I've basically just watched a lot of youtube videos on fasting. Here are a few that I felt were very informative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APZCfmgzoS0&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuj-oMN-Fk

Good video on the procedure. What to eat after the fast is over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BruBWRJzBfo&t

My diet currently is a lot of white rice and chicken. Lots of plain sushi. Chicken tacos with guacamole. I try to avoid (not always successful), gluten, onions, peppers, fluid milk, yogurt, RED MEAT. A lot of diet stuff is just trial and error. But, it is very important. I am constantly trying to tweak my diet. I think people with Crohns always need to be paying attention to what they are eating and how they are reacting to what they eat. So my diet constantly evolves. Getting bloodwork done regularly is important too, because you can truly see if something is helping or not. My CRP dropped to normal completely healthy levels when I introduced sushi into my diet. I've posted about it extensively on this forum if you want to look up my past posts.

Right now I am thinking of eating more basic salads for lunch and going easy on the white rice because my liver enzymes have been slightly elevated the past year and I think it may have something to do with the massive amount of white rice I eat.

My basic plan right now is 3 day fasts every month. I plan to do one 7 day fast for the year. So that is about 40 days of fasting the entire year. 40 days of allowing the gut to heal. Intermittent fasting (16/8) in between the 3 day fasts. Combine this with healthy trial and error eating, as best as you can. And whatever little medication you might need for this to keep you good. I think this is a solid plan. I would also, lastly, check weight often and make sure you are not losing a significant amount of weight. I am very paranoid about this when I fast because I am afraid of losing so much weight. But, after 4 months of doing it I haven't lost anything. I've maintained the same weight.

tldr
- 3 day fast per month
- one 7 day fast per year
- intermittent fasting between this (16/8) (very important I find)
- EAT HEALTHY. Lots of trial and error.
 
Before I started showing UC symptoms, I had adopted a routine of eating breakfast, lunch, and no dinner, unless I went out for dinner on some sort of occasion.

Interestingly (or at least I thought), my symptoms started not long after moving in with my boyfriend and going back to the regular 3 meals a day. And I've developed a horrible habit of continuing to eat because of the presence of food even though I'm already full.

I'd really like to go back into a routine of intermittent fasting and see if it improves my symptoms but I'm just having really poor impulse control with food at the moment. I think it'll be lunch I try to pass on, but it's hard during the work week because our office is fully stocked with snacks.
I know in the past I've gotten used to eating less and I do feel you can gradually adapt to it and decrease your appetite, but it feels so difficult to get going with it at the moment.
There's an excellent BBC Panorama programme about fasting that I really enjoyed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
 
Definitely helped. I've been fasting from 24 hrs to 5 days for several years now and my annual colonoscopy results have progressively improved. Last one they said I showed almost no signs of any pathology. Haven't had any flare ups for over a year now.
 
Top