How quickly does food affect you?

[jacobgypsum]

Hi!

The choice of food does not seem to affect my disease, at least not immediately. Whenit's off, there is no food that immediately triggers a flare up, and also when there is a flare up (bloody diarrhea, fortunately no cramps or pain), there is no food that seems to ease or worsen the symptoms.

Is it still possible that elimination of some foods on the long term would prevent or ease flare ups? Are there any of you who are affected by the choice of food on the long term but not on the short term? If yes, how did you find out what not to eat? Conversely, is there any of you whose Crohn's is not affected by food at all?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Charleigh]

I think you do not know until you try for yourself. I would look at a paleo or SCD diet. We find that with "E" within 12 hours or less of having beef he has diarrhea. Same thing with anything fried in peanut oil. We are already on a restricted diet so I am not sure about all foods because many of them are automatically eliminated.

Not the same but I have an auto-immune thyroid problem and I do find that the long-term is a problem for me. For example, I tried paleo and felt great. I then switched to gluten free and I didn't feel bad at first but over a 2 month period of time I got more and more tired, cold, and symptomatic. I went back to a paleo diet and those symptoms subsided.

 

[prplkow]

Everyone is so different. Some people can pretty much eat anything and feel fine. Others have a limited diet. It really depends on how you feel and how your body reacts after you eat. I definitely have foods I can't eat on the long term or short term; gluten, spicy, dairy and carbonated drinks. When I am flaring then the menu is quite small and low residue. According to most GIs, food doesn't matter, but I disagree with that. You could keep a food journal and then see if by chance something you had eaten one day made you feel off and then you know to maybe avoid that choice again. Some swear by Paleo and SCD to put and keep Crohn's in remission.

 

[UnXmas]

I'm the same - particular foods don't bother me. The only things that make a difference to my symptoms are amounts of fibre and amounts of food in general (with high the volume causing more symptoms).

It takes a day or two for me to feel the effects of too much fibre, which may count as long term. It took me way too long to work it out, but eventually I found the pattern. Diarhoea worsens and my stomach feels more uncomfortable.

If I eat too large a volume, I know it straight away (feel bloated, pain, sick, etc.).

I worked this out just through trial and error - which was the same way I found that individual foods don't make a difference to me. It just took many months of observation. I tried food diaries, but that was no use to me other than causing me a lot of confusion because I was trying to link foods to symptoms when there was actually no correlation.

As everyone's said already, the best diet for you will be very individual. Some people find working with a nutritionist or dietician useful, as that way they can do some of the tracking of symptoms and deciding which foods to eliminate, etc. for you.

I would also say don't overthink it too much. That's what I did when I was attempting to make correlations where there weren't any. You'll figure out what's best for you in time, and although you may make some mistakes and cause yourself symptoms while you're trying things out, it's unlikely you can actually cause a flare or any damage through diet (unless you have an allergy, of course).

 

[Hope345]

It is hard to say, and that is probably why there can not be one diet fits all.
So far, each time we take our daughter off of lactose, her flare seems to clear up.

Right now she can eat anything and everything. How long this will last we do not know. It is so hard to tell, what foods cause problems....
I would say with pop, 12 hours. (we elimanated carbon drinks), but so far no reactions to anything else.

Of course her diet would be different if she was in a flare again.

 

[wolfem]

I have a lot of food intolerances and just steer clear from the foods that cause flares. If I stick to this diet my crohn's goes into remission and I have no problems. I found out which foods cause issues through keeping a journal and having an extensive allergy test done.

Good luck to you.