Thank you for your insight! Exactly the thought that I had-- your gut has more time to heal when it's empty.
Would you happen to have any materials/resources to send over about the protocols and getting started? Also-- are you on any other specific diets?
This sounds pretty dumb but I've basically just watched a lot of youtube videos on fasting. Here are a few that I felt were very informative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APZCfmgzoS0&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuj-oMN-Fk
Good video on the procedure. What to eat after the fast is over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BruBWRJzBfo&t
My diet currently is a lot of white rice and chicken. Lots of plain sushi. Chicken tacos with guacamole. I try to avoid (not always successful), gluten, onions, peppers, fluid milk, yogurt, RED MEAT. A lot of diet stuff is just trial and error. But, it is very important. I am constantly trying to tweak my diet. I think people with Crohns always need to be paying attention to what they are eating and how they are reacting to what they eat. So my diet constantly evolves. Getting bloodwork done regularly is important too, because you can truly see if something is helping or not. My CRP dropped to normal completely healthy levels when I introduced sushi into my diet. I've posted about it extensively on this forum if you want to look up my past posts.
Right now I am thinking of eating more basic salads for lunch and going easy on the white rice because my liver enzymes have been slightly elevated the past year and I think it may have something to do with the massive amount of white rice I eat.
My basic plan right now is 3 day fasts every month. I plan to do one 7 day fast for the year. So that is about 40 days of fasting the entire year. 40 days of allowing the gut to heal. Intermittent fasting (16/8) in between the 3 day fasts. Combine this with healthy trial and error eating, as best as you can. And whatever little medication you might need for this to keep you good. I think this is a solid plan. I would also, lastly, check weight often and make sure you are not losing a significant amount of weight. I am very paranoid about this when I fast because I am afraid of losing so much weight. But, after 4 months of doing it I haven't lost anything. I've maintained the same weight.
tldr
- 3 day fast per month
- one 7 day fast per year
- intermittent fasting between this (16/8) (very important I find)
- EAT HEALTHY. Lots of trial and error.