Advice on elimination diet

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Joined
May 1, 2013
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Hi All,

Quick background: Diagnosed with UC in my sigmoid colon in 2009 and struggled with flare-ups every month. Finally broke down in September 2012 and gave Prednisone a try (have used it in the past for my asthma and have hated the side effects) which gave me my longest remission of 6 months. But like a fool I got a little too excited and thought I was "cured" so I went a little crazy with what I allowed myself to eat. :ybatty: As of Easter 2013 I have been in a flare-up since. I now realize that certain foods should always be a no-no even if I'm not in an active flare because they make me go out of remission, even though my GI says foods don't cause UC to flare up. I know, crazy right? I'm looking into finding a new GI who actually knows a thing or two about UC.

So I've been wanting to try an elimination diet for years but am a married physical therapy grad student and am worried about time commitments and having to make separate "normal" meals for my husband who does not have IBD. I have time to devote to the diet this summer because I'll have my clinicals rather than studying for exams every second of my life.

I'd be very appreciative for any advice on how to go about an elimination diet, success stories, pitfalls, things to avoid, etc. Also, if I continue to make normal foods for my husband, will it be too tempting to eat the normal food? I have a weakness for chocolate, pasta, cheese, peanut butter, and pretty much anything else that my colon hates so should I just let him fend for himself to avoid the temptations lol?

Thanks so much in advance!
 
If you were diagnosed in 2009, did you take any medication since then, besides the prednisone, to treat it? 5-ASA or the likes perhaps?

As for food, it's not that it activates the disease per say, it's that it can irritate an already inflamed bowel that was just too small to be symptomatic. Prednisone is a band-aid and temporary fix, it is not a long term treatment (anymore).

When you're having a bad time, avoid fibrous food (cook all fruits or vegetables), gluten, lactose, whole grain or other known irritants that affect you (such as caffeine for some people).
 
try to cook for what your stomach can handle...your husband won't be deprived of a healthy diet. Eat as healthy as possible and you won't end up missing the other foods. You may have a relapse now and then, but do the best you can. My husband knows I won't bring junk food into the house and if he wants it, he will have to go out and get it. He has gotten much healthier for it.
 
Hello krs_02,
Welcome to the forum. You can read my thread: http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=31028 to find out how I resumed eating on a full elimination diet after a total liquid diet of enteral nutrition.

This following link has good info about intolerances: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=diet&dbid=7 and this link has a good elimination diet: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/elimination-diet. However, I would not consume fruit until much later in the diet and I would introduce it cooked, without seeds or skin. I would start the veggies this way as well. I recommend that you get a dietician to help you as you don't want to develop any nutritional deficiencies.

As far as cooking for others as well as yourself--you can still cook some of the same things, you just need to cook them as separate components and stop adding some of them to your own servings. For example, for spaghetti with tomatoes sauce: Initially you cook ground turkey with salt and pepper only for you and with rice pasta for both of you. But you add onions, carrots, tomatoe sauce etc. to his turkey after you have removed yours. Later on in the diet, you add everything except the tomatoes to yours. And still later in the diet, you add the tomatoe sauce to yours as well. And then much later in the diet, you top yours off with parmesan cheese as well!

Good luck.
 

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