Low Carb Diet

[Mazen]

Here is a link to a chapter from a book by Dr. Lutz who had success with Crohn's on a low carb diet
http://www.scdiet.org/7archives/lutz/lutz7.html


103 patients suffering from Crohn's disease were treated by a low-carbohydrate diet. After a quarter of year most patients (85 percent) showed remarkable improvement in their health. After half a year, more than 60 percent were asymptomatic, after one year more than 70 percent and after one and a half year about 85 percent. This is in contrast with ulcerose colitis, which Is shown in the lowest line, improvement of which runs much slowlier on the same diet and often is interrupted by relapses.

Crohn's disease generally thought of being incurable can so be shown to be very well accessable to dietary measures.

 

[jny1179]

I started a gluten-free diet immediatly after diagnosis and my rash cleared up within 2 days and my bowels have become more regular, I have more energy, and just all around feel much better. I'm also on pentasa and entocort but I firmly believe that a gluten free or low carb diet can really help.

 

[BWS1982]

I did a lot of carb cycling when I was cutting (trimming fat) during spring seasons for a couple years, but that was pre-diagnosis, I wonder what my body would do with again (cycling is much different than low carb though).

 

[Crohn's in LA]

Very intersting post.

I felt my best when on the atkins diet. I wondered if there was a link.

 

[Jeff D.]

One thing I feel like I have to question about this article is that he says that people with Crohn's don't experience intestinal bleeding yet I have Crohn's and I have had bleeding a lot. Also, he says that Crohn's in the rectum is rare yet again I have that and I have been told by my GI's that remicade is supposed to work best for those with Crohn's in the rectum. These are just a few things i picked out from the article that seemed wrong and I wanted to ask you guys about them.

I'm not 100 percent sure about this guys ideas. I mean people have been eating carbohydrated in the form of bread for thousands of years and it has only been recently that people have been having cases of Crohn's disease and other intestinal disorders.

I'm quite tired so maybe I missed something but maybe you guys can help me with it. Carboyhdrates may hold something to do with Crohn's but if it is I'm sure it's not carboydrates alone that hurts us. We also need carboydrates to live. Without them we stop producing proteins and withouth proteins we die so an elimination of carboydrates doesn't make sense to me.

 

[BWS1982]

Well to add Jeff, the body does enter "ketosis", where the body adapts to the absence of carbs (or a very low intake of them), and has an internal "switch" where it uses other sources, namely fat, for the purpose carbs once held, energy, etc...

Not to say that the article is right/wrong, just adding that factoid.

 

[Jeff D.]

I wasn't trying to say it was right or wrong I was trying to understand a little more about it. I know about ketosis but really the body can't live like that for long. You would have to have such a high fat content that you would end up with heart problems. Arteries would be clogged and so forth.

I mainly question because in school I was talking to my doctor about a diet similar to this and that is what he said. He may be wrong but he is on of the leading and progressive sports scientists in Virginia and that region. He knows a lot about diets and how they react with the body. I don't want to say anyone is wrong because it could be that I didn't fully understand what he said or what was written but I just felt it was needed to add a counter to this for people who decide to go on this diet long term.

 

[BWS1982]

Yeah, Ketosis isn't really long term, and it's horrible for an active athlete, I've tried it. With many diets you only enter it for a couple weeks just to kick start some fat oxidation. I like carb cycling, strictly from a fat burning perspective and muscle preservation tool. I always hated the no carb days though, tests the willpower a lot.

 

[Jeff D.]

Oh yeah. I went on no carbs for two days and my muscles started to hurt so badly. I almost collapsed. I ended up having to so many carbs that day I thought I was going to throw up and poop out solid bread.

 

[FruitLoop]

Well I have been on a strict diet with no wheat, dairy e.t.c

Today I have had to eat white bread with butter and cheese prior to a colonscopy.

I have felt ill all morning - headaches, really tired and bloated like I am pregnant.

I think that proves that wheat or dairy (or both) do not agree with me - I will be doing proper food testing next week but the way I feel now makes me think that wheat should be avoided.

 

[jny1179]

I don't think it's low carb necessarily that helps, I think it's more cutting out the carbs of the grain type. Eating a lot of fruits and veggies prepared however you need them to be to digest well is a good way to get your carbs in. It's the gluten that is difficult for our bodies to process and that is found in wheat, barley, and rye. Carbs in general are absolutely necessary, but that doesn't mean they have to come from grains.

A great read is Going Against the Grain. It will change your mind about eating grains in general, especially if you have digestive issues.