Low residue diet

[aeh134]

Hi all, I'm attempting to go onto a low residue diet in order to alleviate my symptoms. I was wondering if anyone has tried this and has any recommendations for doing this ie. foods you've found successfully etc.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sarah50]

Hello,

I'm on a low residue diet, recommended by my gastro doctor and especially because I have small intestine 'stricturing' ... so I think he wants me on this diet for life - to prevent surgery is my guess from all that I've researched about stricturing intestines.

I started the diet at the end of November 2012 and still had my crohn's symptoms - bad stomach pain, occasional nausea and vomiting, night sweats and fatigue. My gastro doc had referred me to a dietitian (appoint one month later) that helped me figure out the things I was eating that was still giving me problems - like, yogurt with fruit (instead of no fruit), fruit preserves (instead of jelly), tomatoe sauce (tomatoe sauce would have to be strained - no tomato 'skins or seeds'!

Once I stopped eating food that's not allowed on the diet - ALL of my symptoms disappeared. Of course, I also feel the meds he put me on are helping with that too - Asacol. But, I KNOW for a fact that foods off of the low residue diet give me the bad stomach pain, night sweats and fatigue - it happened the night and day after Christmas when I ate something I should not have!! After that day, I have followed the diet to a T and have been symptom free and am very happy about that!!!

Bottom line with the "low residue diet":

No food with "skin", no seeds, no nuts!

No high fiber foods - like wheat, multi-grain bread - nothing but WHITE bread, white english muffins (no high fiber cereal but you can eat corn flakes or rice crispies, cream of wheat)

No raw vegtables and only cooked veggies that are on the list (see below)

No fruit except: ripe bananas or CAN peaches or pears

I'll include the list but will tell you some things not mentioned on the list that I can eat as far as "goodies" go with no problem: chocolate (no nuts), cookies, ice cream, chips - as long as there is no fruit, nuts or anything with 'skin'. If you have any questions, let me know. It's not a hard diet to follow at all!!! :dance:

I am going to ask the doctor and dietition about "juicing" so I can get more veggies and fruits in my diet. I'm pretty sure that should be fine as long as there are no seeds or skins and it's all liquid. I have upcoming appointments with both in the next few weeks so I'll post once I talk to them.

Best of luck. Let me know how it goes for you.

Same low residue/low fiber diet the dietition gave me:

http://uvahealth.com/services/digestive-health/images-and-docs/Low_fiber_Low_residue_diet_3.pdf

 

[Sarah50]

Here's a link to a website with lots of recipes for "low residue diets" but not ALL of the recipes are "low residue".

http://www.food.com/cookbook/low-residue-diet-cookbook-31173

 

[Astra]

'No fruit except: ripe bananas or CAN peaches or pears' says Sarah but......

the guide that I follow says it's ok, as long as the tough skin is peeled ie apple

http://www.hhsc.ca/documents/Patient Education/LowResidueDietFoods-trh.pdf

I believe both documents are from some health service, so I advise that you keep a food journal, document everything, then eliminate it if it gives you grief.
IBD is a trial & error game!
good luck, this diet does work, but I was told only in the short term only, our bodies need fibre sometimes to keep the natural peristalsis going smoothly.

 

[aeh134]

Thanks very much for the advice. My problem over the years is knowing what does and doesn't agree with me. They way I've been recently its very hard to tell and it seems like I'm toilet bound regardless of what I do or don't eat. I've always wondered is how long after eating something do you know it doesn't agree with you? How do you know if it's what Juve just ate it something you ate earlier?

 

[nogutsnoglory]

I have the same problem knowing what foods do or do not bother me. How do I know it's the bagel from the morning or the chicken from lunch?

The BRAT diet is standard low res. it stands for bananas, rice, applesauce and toast.

 

[Sarah50]

'No fruit except: ripe bananas or CAN peaches or pears' says Sarah but......

the guide that I follow says it's ok, as long as the tough skin is peeled ie apple

http://www.hhsc.ca/documents/Patient Education/LowResidueDietFoods-trh.pdf

I believe both documents are from some health service, so I advise that you keep a food journal, document everything, then eliminate it if it gives you grief.
IBD is a trial & error game!
good luck, this diet does work, but I was told only in the short term only, our bodies need fibre sometimes to keep the natural peristalsis going smoothly.

Astra,

Perhaps other fruits are "ok" if the skin is peeled but I'm also going by what the dietitian told me - there are lots of foods that, beside too much fiber have "residue" that is difficult or takes more work for the intestines to break down. She said that I might be able to add cantalope and honeydew after my stomach settled down. Is that the fruits that were on your list?

Since I haven't had ANY crohn's symptoms from following the low residue diet - I have no reason *at this time* to add foods that are not on the list......... as I had very bad stomach aches (and other symptoms) for almost 3 months straight.. up until I followd this diet.

And yes, I believe people with "strictures" will be following this diet for the most part - that's what research has said so far - to avoid surgery! From one of the many articles I've read, "Patients with known stricturing disease will likely be asked to follow a low-residue diet."

" Surgery – last resort

Surgery sometimes is needed to treat intestinal strictures. The operation may involve cutting out (resecting) the entire narrowed segment of bowel, especially if it is a long stricture. More recently, a more limited operation, called stricturoplasty, has been done. In this procedure, the surgeon simply cuts open the strictured segment lengthwise and then sews the tissue closed crosswise so as to enlarge the width of the bowel's passageway (lumen). After surgery in Crohn's disease patients, medication still should be taken to prevent inflammation from recurring, especially at the site of the stricture. The reason for this recommendation is that after abdominal operations, recurrent intestinal inflammation is a common problem in Crohn's disease. Furthermore, the risk of post-operative intestinal fistulas and abscesses is increased in Crohn's disease patients. Therefore, only abdominal surgery that is absolutely necessary should be done in patients with Crohn's disease."


The dietitian told me not to worry about "fiber" .... so I'm going to listen to what works for me. At my next appointment with the dietitian, I am going to ask about 'juicing' all fruits and veggies. I assume it will be ok since juicing removes the fiber. Don't get me wrong, I would love to not be on a restricted diet. I may eventually try other food and see if I can handle it without problems. But I want to do everything I can to avoid surgery ... for as long as I can. Like everyone says, crohns/IBD is very individual, so you have to find what works best for you. I would consider myself in remission so I'm going to keep doing what works. I did the diary thing everyday when having pain and still couldn't figure out which food was giving me problems. But once I followed this diet - to a T - ALL of my pain and other symptoms went completely away. :ysmile:

Astra, I printed out your link to the low residue foods and will definitely ask the dietitian about the foods included on your list that was not included on mine!! Thanks for the link!

 

[Sarah50]

Thanks very much for the advice. My problem over the years is knowing what does and doesn't agree with me. They way I've been recently its very hard to tell and it seems like I'm toilet bound regardless of what I do or don't eat. I've always wondered is how long after eating something do you know it doesn't agree with you? How do you know if it's what Juve just ate it something you ate earlier?

I wondered and questioned the very same things you're questioning. I really couldn't tell which food was bothering me and if it was from the last thing I ate or something earlier. I wrote everything down in a diary and still couldn't figure out what was bothering me. Like I explained before, because I have "stricturing" in my small intestines, my doctor AND the dietitian told me I needed to follow the low residue diet, I believe indefinitely. All I know is that by following it, I have NO SYMPTOMS - NO PAIN!

Before I followed this diet, I had no appetite, could only eat small portions and lost weight. I believe that the Asocal medication is helping, for sure, with the inflammation. And again, I KNOW that when I don't follow the diet, I have problems.

I should add that I also take a multivitamin, Calcium/Vitamin D, Fish Oil capsules, Iron (I was anemic right before I started getting crohn's symptoms) and Probiotics.

In *my* opinion, it's just easier to start with a prescribed diet that tells you what you can and cannot eat - it's a great start. Try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If you have good results, then if you wish, you can try whatever food you want to add and see how it goes. Good luck!! :rosette1:

 

[Sarah50]

I have the same problem knowing what foods do or do not bother me. How do I know it's the bagel from the morning or the chicken from lunch?

The BRAT diet is standard low res. it stands for bananas, rice, applesauce and toast.

I wondered and questioned the very same things you're questioning. I really couldn't tell which food was bothering me and if it was from the last thing I ate or something earlier. I wrote everything down in a diary and still couldn't figure out what was bothering me.

So I was happy to be told what I can eat or not eat - at least as a place to start since I couldn't figure out what bothered me!!! Fortunately, the low residue diet works wonderfully for me, including - I don't feel deprived at all! Well, except I miss salads... but overall I'm just happy and thankful that the pain and other symptoms went away!!!!!:dance:

I would suggest others to pick one of the diets listed on here - which ever one feels 'right' for you and see how it goes and then slowly add other food and see what happens. You have to begin somewhere. Just my opinion.

 

[aeh134]

I have an appointment with the dietitian coming up so I'll take all of this info with me. It's z shame crohns can't be less individual, it sure would make it easier to have a definitive list of can and can't do's.

 

[rollinstone]

You will find your good foods soon, I would start with chicken, for veggies cooked carrot and steamed zucchini always make me feel good and healthy, I'm on a low res SCD (went back on it today after 7 days of fortisip which seemed to make me worse. So hoping the diet fixes me up again soon

 

[Charleigh]

You will find your good foods soon, I would start with chicken, for veggies cooked carrot and steamed zucchini always make me feel good and healthy, I'm on a low res SCD (went back on it today after 7 days of fortisip which seemed to make me worse. So hoping the diet fixes me up again soon

I assume a low residue SCD takes the low residue food lists and then eliminates the food which aren't also SCD friendly? Just curious

 

[Astra]

Good luck Sarah50 xxx
It's a hard diet, needs will power! I try to stay low res and it works (then I fall off the wagon)
My gastro wants me to have a resection but we're gonna try Humira first.

 

[Sarah50]

Good luck Sarah50 xxx
It's a hard diet, needs will power! I try to stay low res and it works (then I fall off the wagon)
My gastro wants me to have a resection but we're gonna try Humira first.

Astra, you think the low residue diet is hard needing willpower?? I was *thrilled* to know that one of the foods I could eat was mac and cheese! LOL!! And when my dietitian told me I could eat Oreo cookies, I was in heaven! Ya see, I always try to eat healthy BUT hate deprivation diets - those that say you can't eat this and this and this, like that SCD diet - I could never do that diet and think the people that do that diet have great willpower! I need to know that I can have 'treats' every now and then. :cookie:

Good luck with the Humira, I hope it works well for you!

 

[rollinstone]

I assume a low residue SCD takes the low residue food lists and then eliminates the food which aren't also SCD friendly? Just curious

That's it, I decided to have rice puffs this morning (not SCD) but I'd broken my 4 month long run when I started the fortisips, i only started eatin solid food after a week of TLD and for the first time in weeks passed no blood so things are lookin up.

 

[Astra]

ha ha Sarah50! I love your cookie smilie.
I love wholemeal nutty crunchy bread but it really hates me! I love Nobby's nuts too, oh and cinema popcorn, crunchy crispy apples and pears with skin on, oh and vodka! lol
Then all Hell breaks loose (figureately speaking) in the loo!
Joan xx