Cookery courses for IBDs

[Glaze]

Hi, I'm very new here, a possible-probable UC case.

I work in a cookery school in the UK - we run courses for the general public. People come for the enjoyment mostly; we don't do qualifications or anything like that.

I was recently thinking about the impact IBDs have on the diet, and it occurred to me that a cookery course tailored to sufferers might be quite a good idea. IBDs may limit our intake, but they shouldn't prevent us from enjoying food as much as anyone else.

What do people think? I'm not trying to sell this idea, so please feel free to say if you think it wouldn't work.

 

[CrohnsChicago]

Hi Glaze and welcome!

There are many opinions regarding how diet affects IBD. Adjusting the food you eat definitely can help some folks but it doesn't always seem to help everyone. But it never hurts to try....or at least you hope....

I personally find my diet has a direct affect on how severely I experience my symptoms. I actively try to find foods and cooking methods that are beneficial to me and cut back or eliminate those that cause harm (broccoli puts me in intense pain so I refuse to eat it again....I'm not disappointed about losing that veggie anyway...lol )

There is a forum on this site dedicated to Diet, Fitness and Supplements. You should give it a look see. You will find lots of information and opinions regarding food and IBD.

http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17

 

[KWalker]

I too can say diet definitely affects IBD after first hand experience with the SCD diet. I started the diet on January 2nd and after a week of being on the diet I went from going to the bathroom 6-8 times a day with absolute diarrhea to 1-2 times of solid BM's. My personal opinion is anybody that doesn't believe diet makes a difference, hasn't tried.

I think a cooking course for IBD would be very exciting but you would really have to do some research to find safe foods as most people would think that because they learned it at your cooking course it must be safe. Do you know what I mean?

 

[Mia E]

I think that sounds like a great idea, but it would have to be tailored specific to the people attending the class on that day. Instead of you telling people what is safe and not (which is impossible because everyone is different), you would have to contact everyone who is attending and ask what their personal safe and unsafe foods are. Then from this you can design your menu and teach them appropriately. Fr me I know what isn't good to eat, but I find it hard to think of meals without these things, so I think your idea is good good luck!

 

[nogutsnoglory]

From a marketing perspective you would need to really reach out the IBD community. Just advertising at the school likely won't be enough to draw a big enough class.

 

[happy]

Terrific idea. You would probably want to research a low residue diet, SCD diet, gluten-free diet and dairy-free diet and create recipes that would fit into each of these diets. That way your courses would appeal to a larger audience of people with IBD who want to improve their symptoms through diet. You could help them save time, energy and money by developing yummy recipes for them. I would have attended something like this when I was first diagnosed. Word of mouth will help get people coming back for new recipes.

You could focus on a few family favourites that you modify each class. For example, a class on different forms of homemade pizza: regular but healthy, low fat; gluten-free; dairy-free; SCD compatible and low residue. Sometimes one recipe could satisfy several diets--for example an SCD crust could be the gluten-free one as well.

Good luck.