Does a vegan diet help anyone

[Nadene]

Right now I am on a low residue diet. I guess since I haven't had any symptoms I didn't really pay much attention to my diet, only that I made sure to eat right. Contemplating a diet to stick to after my surgery, such as vegan. Anyone tried vegan, and what are your thoughts/opinions?

 

[Caitlyn336]

To each their own. I have a hard time with a lot of vegetable and fruit, seeds hurt my stomach as does fibrous plants. Without being able to do things like scrambled eggs I don't think that I could keep weight on like I do now.

 

[Lizzie]

To each their own. I have a hard time with a lot of vegetable and fruit, seeds hurt my stomach as does fibrous plants. Without being able to do things like scrambled eggs I don't think that I could keep weight on like I do now.

Me too. I was almost vegan before my IBD but it became impossible with fibre being one of my worst triggers. Nuts, seeds, legumes, vegetables - pretty much all off the menu. Horrible having to eat eggs but I don't have much choice. Soya protein doesn't agree with me either.

 

[hugh]

'Vegan' is such a broad term,
There are many vegan staples that many people benefit from avoiding.
There are some truly awful foods that are vegan, and i can't see them being good for anybody's health [1],
but many foods that are vegan are beneficial.

I recommend reading Paul Jaminet’s blogs on gut disease to get a well thought out take on diet and supplements and see if it makes sense to you...

Bowel Disorders, Part I: About Gut Disease
“In our view, various dietary and nutritional tactics are critical, with toxin elimination and vitamin D normalization among the most important steps. Most medical treatments are likely to be ineffective if the diet is bad.
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/07/ulcerative-colitis-a-devastating-gut-disease/

Bowel Disease, Part II: Healing the Gut By Eliminating Food Toxins
“Summary of Toxic Foods to Eliminate or Avoid
In short, bowel disease patients should eliminate toxic foods from their diet:
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/0...i-healing-the-gut-by-eliminating-food-toxins/

Bowel Disease, Part III: Healing Through Nutrition
Summary
Although not a complete list of the vitamins and minerals which may be helpful to bowel disease patients, these are among the most important – and most often overlooked:
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/07/bowel-disease-part-iii-healing-through-nutrition/

Bowel Disease, Part IV: Restoring Healthful Gut Flora
A healthy gut is a multi-species society: it is the cooperative product of the human body with trillions of bacterial cells from a thousand or more species.
An unhealthy gut is, more often than not, the product of a breakdown in this collaboration.
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/07/bowel-disease-part-iv-restoring-healthful-gut-flora/

[1] Top 20 Accidentally Vegan Foods
https://www.peta.org/living/food/top-accidentally-vegan-foods/

 

[wild_one353]

I've been avoiding meat since 2009, but now i think that was a mistake because meat has the most absorbable form of minerals.

Most cases of zinc deficiency were in people that didn't eat meat. Phytic acid in grains and nuts, seeds seems to make it harder to absorb minerals form plants, I mean you'll get some, just not as much as you would when you eat meat. Red meat seems to have the most zinc, iron and selenium compared to pork and chicken. Fish has the most selenium but very little zinc or iron. All these minerals are crucial for antioxidant defenses which strengthen the immune system. zinc has been shown to boost the immune system to fight infections and help protect from diarrhea, something that would help in crohn's so minding your zinc is an important crohn's issues.

Explore this nutrient database for more info on meat mineral content. oysters and organ meats also have high mineral content.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000124000000000000000-w.html

 

[Lizzie]

I've been avoiding meat since 2009, but now i think that was a mistake because meat has the most absorbable form of minerals.

Just out of interest (I don't think I could bring myself to eat meat), have you started to eat meat again and noticed an improvement in your IBD?

 

[wild_one353]

Just out of interest (I don't think I could bring myself to eat meat), have you started to eat meat again and noticed an improvement in your IBD?

I just started today!! with oysters, but i will be eating 3ozs of beef per day I think, now that i just learned some oysters have lead in them. But i suspect i will have higher zinc levels because of going back to meat, and zinc is supposedly an anti-inflammatory, thats one reason it could help my crohn's as i believe I'm too low in minerals. my iron levels are about half way which is acceptable when i had a blood test though, its probably because i take 500mg vitamin c which helps absorb iron better from plant foods, I don't take an iron supp by the way.

There is so much bad press on red meat though, it's just controversial but i believe its what makes us human, even though some of these farmed animals may not be the healthiest compared to how they live in the wild. Now that I've read some scientific articles on zinc deficiency and how meat eaters rarely have it, and also how zinc is one of the most abundant minerals in the human brain and also an NMDA antagonist which is one of the most promising targets for treating depression as ketamine has shown rapid recovery of depression within 24-48 hours in studies, its also an nmda antagonist, i just suspect that not eating meat has made my overall health worse over the years. There some research that suggests red meat increase the risk of colon cancer, but then i also just read studies showing colon cancer cells are severely low in zinc, and the increaseing zinc levels stops their growth and is protective, and red meat is the highest and most absorbable source of zinc so its hard to believe red meat could be bad for colon cancer.

Some studies show that iron administered alone can be a potent oxidant under inflammatory conditions, but when you consider iron in red meat is always paired with selenium and zinc, which are potent antioxidants you'll see it seems to balance things out and those lab study scenarios probably can't tell us exactly what is going on in the natural world, unless you decide to take an iron supplement when under chronic inflammation which is probably not the best idea. And there are some scientists who now thing giving other minerals like zinc along with iron to treat anemia, is a good idea.

Then there are studies that claim sialic acid in red meat or meat in general is involved in increasing inflammation, but sialic acid is also in human breast milk and enhances brain growth for infants? so there are lots of studies and papers and I've looked them over and the case isn't very strong for red meat being bad for us, in fact the better studies show that red meat and meat in general is necessary for optimal functioning.

then there is arachidonic acid which could increase inflammation, but it's also a major part of your brains cells!! like dha! It seem scientists like to explore many ideas, and they are communicated in the wrong way, and they are still just trying to evaluate these ideas, but I'm going back to meat and getting my minerals so i no longer have to rely on crappy mineral supplements that seem to be an inferior way of getting them.

 

[Pilgrim]

This is just anecdotal, but my daughter has a persistent zinc deficiency. It became worse on the SCD diet, large meat component to the diet.
10 months later we are transitioning to a vegan diet. We have been doing this for a month for her. In a few weeks we get her zinc tested again. I'll be curious if there continues to be a zinc problem.

 

[wild_one353]

This is just anecdotal, but my daughter has a persistent zinc deficiency. It became worse on the SCD diet, large meat component to the diet.
10 months later we are transitioning to a vegan diet. We have been doing this for a month for her. In a few weeks we get her zinc tested again. I'll be curious if there continues to be a zinc problem.

if there is significant diarrhea despite SCD, I suppose that could cause any deficit. hoping she is on drugs too, and zinc deficit during certain growth stages can be pretty detrimental, there is always something you could do though, maybe supplementation would help but consider zinc methionine a.k.a. L-optizinc, studies show it's absorbed the best. i just tried zinc gluconate and made me feel weird, i wouldn't recommend that, most mineral supplements are crap. only pork and beef are high in zinc, chicken has very little minerals at all unless you eat the organ meats, so not all meat will provide zinc.

list foods highest in zinc
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000124000000000000000-w.html

 

[Pilgrim]

She does not have diarrhea. Just silent inflammation. She's on meds and a zinc supplement. We used a high zinc foods list but I admit she won't eat the oysters. Pork and beef, yes.
The only thing changing is the diet.

 

[Smartfitness1992]

I find eating a ton of veggies and fruits makes me bloated and gassy like crazy. But I've heard from other people that they have little to no sides and actually feel great eating little to no dairy and meat.