Curious newbie

[Panda33]

Just curious..
When people talk about foods they avoid, are these foods avoided during flare ups or do you avoid the during remission too??

How can I tell if a food is on my "naughty list"? Like will I feel terrible immediately after, or will it be a day or more.

Argh so much to learn!!! Hahaha :yrolleyes:

 

[KatyBuckeye]

Hi Panda- I think you're probably going to get a lot of different answers depending on if you are talking to someone who follows a specific diet or not. I follow a customized version of the specific carbohydrate diet, GAPS, and Paleo. When I say that I "avoid" foods, I mean that I avoid them all of the time, even when I'm feeling well. Maybe someday, far into the future, I will be able to try and add some of them back into my diet-- like I may someday try to add in some type of dairy products, like hard cheese. But that won't be for at least a few years. Some foods that I avoid, like grains and any processed foods, are foods that I intend to avoid for the rest of my life.

The only way to know for sure if you are sensitive to a food is to eliminate it for a signficant amount of time (at least 30 days). When you try adding it in again, if you are intolerant or sensitive, you will notice an increase in symptoms. It may occur right away or a few days later, so only add back in one food at a time. Also, you may notice that you start feeling better when you remove certain foods. When I took out all grains and dairy, I noticed within 2 days that I felt much better. Bloating and gas completely disappeared. Within a week, I noticed that I was no longer getting migraines. My sinuses cleared up. I've struggled with adult acne and that has disappeared. It's now been 2 months and my digestive symptoms are about 98% resolved. I hesitate to say 100% before I have normal bowel movements for at least a week, but I'm well on my way to that

 

[prplkow]

Great question Panda33. I am new too and was wondering the same thing. I agree...so much to learn.

Thanks Katy for your response. 30 days seems so long. Sounds like what you are doing is working good though.

I see it on here all the time that people keep food diaries. I think that is a good place to start too. I just started mine last week.

 

[hugh]

Just curious..
When people talk about foods they avoid, are these foods avoided during flare ups or do you avoid the during remission too??

Both, and more.
Some people have foods that cause them trouble while flaring (seeds and fibre for example)
Some people have foods that cause distress (cramping, bloating, gas, and bad poop) when not flaring (dairy for me)

Some of us avoid certain foods in the belief that they are one of the main causitive factors of IBD (and some extreamists think that they contribute to all immune diseases and most modern disease)
SCD and paleo both avoid grains.
-SCD avoids grains and sugar and most complex carbs because the theory is that they can cause an imbalance of gut bacteria that leads to IBD.
-Paleo avoids grains, sugars, legumes, processed vegetable oils, and processed foods because we have not evolved to digest them, and they have been linked to inflamation and leaky gut - i follow paleo, and while there are probably many foods i could add back to my diet i enjoy the simplicity (meat, veg, nuts, and normal poo )

 

[vanilla_chai]

I have several categories,

Foods I must avoid always
Foods I can only tolerate small amounts of
Foods that are irritating cutting a flare

The first 2 have taken years to track down mostly BC the issues weren't immediate. Gluten is in the first category for me. I stumbled upon this when I ate a dinner of a bagel along with celery and crab dip and had a really strong reaction. I thought surely it was the crab dip and celery so I ate it for breakfast and felt fine. That lead me to try cutting out gluten and it made such a huge difference that I've stuck with it for 7 years. I did try a dominos gluten free crust (they don't segregate so there is contamination issues) hoping I'd be able to tolerate it but was bloated for days. I'm not sure how related this is to the crohns rather than a food irritation, but I figure there's no reason to make myself feel sick any extra

The flare foods for me were really obvious. I had inflammation in my ti and I would get pain after a certain period of time (started out as 6 hr's, dropped to 4) and when I was in extra pain I'd count back x hours and that would give me an idea

One thing I do, going about it the observe and react way (rather than picking a diet), is I try to not try more than one new food a week (or at least 5days). This is a huge pain but if I cheat on this rule I will have made myself sick without knowing what to avoid...

No matter what route you take, you'll probably be amazed at how much more you can hear from your body after you practice listening. My husband laughs at how much I pay attention to my cravings but I've found they're a great way to hear what your body needs. I just try to narrow it down by considering healthier options (eg, if I want chips I try thinking about salt, if that isn't appealing, I think about a good fat, then mashed potatoes.)

I hope you can find something that works for you