Most basic non inflammatory diet?

[Fish_feelings]

I am undiagnosed and my doctor wants to do a colonoscopy, & mri. I've delayed that for 6 months because i have a high deductible insurance plan and honestly the 2 gastros ive seen gave unsatisfactory care. I'd rather self diagnose then have to deal with them right now. For 5 years I've had off and on flare ups that cause pain and swelling in lower colon and rectal area. Diet was always the cause and in that time I learned from trial and error that reducing wheat like junk food products helped reduce my flare ups. I also get severe dandruff on my scalp and face if I eat a lot of starchy or sugary foods. Anyways I just today learned about Crohn's disease and I'm excited to finally have a direction. I'm wondering if anyone could recommend the most universal and simple non inflammatory diet? From what I have gathered. Bananas, apple sauce, white rice & chicken? I'd like to do a totally basic diet for a week to see if it can make a difference. Thanks so much!

 

[ronroush7]

Have you tried a food diary to see what foods aggavate your gut?

 

[Fish_feelings]

I will begin a food diary today. I can't believe I've let things go this long without taking action. I mean I've seen many doctors but they were always inconclusive until my last one wanted to do $5,000 in tests and well I'd rather figure things out myself if possible.

 

[akduck]

I have had a similar experience! Undiagnosed through about 6 years of horrible gastro symptoms. Finally pinpointed in a CT scan in the ER in 2012. Bad year, obstruction, perforated small bowel, abscess, small bowel resection... Crohn's diagnosed through colonoscopy. I did not want to take a biologic, so saw a naturopath and an alternative medicine MD. Had a lot of tests, including allergy, and I am very allerigc to wheat. I stopped all wheat. I also supplement with Vitamin B12 (hydroxo, not cyan) D3, vitamin E, several essential oils and oil blends, juice several times a week, eat as organic as I can afford to, etc. Within a couple of weeks of cutting ALL wheat I stopped having cramps every time I ate. In late 2015 an MRI showed no crohn's in my small bowel, and in 2016 a colonoscopy showed no crohn's in my colon! My GI was very surprised, but pleased, and I am on no meds. I believe that you have to advocate for yourself, but you also need to have medical oversight, and sometimes that means biting the bullet and having the tests. (my insurance deductible was $7,500 with an additional co pay of $5,000, and the policy was $675 per month). I changed GI docs in the middle of all of this because I didn't like the first one- his attitude was HE knows everything, I know nothing, and I HAD to do what he said, and he didn't have to answer all of my questions because this is what he does... blah blah blah. I have one I really like now. He wasn't happy that I would not take meds, but he agreed to keep me as a patient, and respected my opinion. It hasn't been an easy road making all the dietary changes, but it has been worth it. A food diary helps a lot, too. I wish you the best in your journey.

 

[Dawn101]

Check out Julie Dalinuk. She is a nutritionist with three books out regarding healing inflammation. She gives good info and the recipes are really good. Working my way thru hot detox recipes and so far have liked them all. One thing with being a cronie, if you are going to try changing a way of eating there is no half way. Go all in and be true for a period of time. We can't keeping jamming food into our guts that cause inflammation. One you get on the right track then it's possible to reintroduce a food and see how the body handles it.
One food at a time and give it two or three days to see how the body handles it.
I played around for years eating really healthy but I was still consuming foods that were jamming up my system. It's not what we do but what we don't do.

 

[Dawn101]

Also check out ibd aid diet. It's from umass medical school.

 

[hugh]

Avoid radical changes and listen to what happens when you make small changes

Anything in the 'Paleo' spectrum is worth considering, but avoid extremes

Giving up gluten, reducing carbs, and eliminating processed foods is a basic starting point.

Some form of elimination diet will do wonders to identify what foods you tolerate.
Something like 'the whole 30' or any of the moderate 30 day paleo elimination diets is a good start.
FODMAPS is good for identifying what is tolerated
'The paleo AI protocol is at the other end of the spectrum, and is a fairly daunting diet.

"the perfect health diet" is worth a look....Well thought out, basic healthy eating but will need modifying to your personal situation.
recommend this series of 4 blogs on the issue....
Bowel Disorders, Part I: About Gut Disease
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/07/ulcerative-colitis-a-devastating-gut-disease/

Be careful with all supplements, for example - fibre and probiotics are generally touted as a good thing but if you have an out of balance microbiome (i believe we all do, to some degree) then reducing microbial (and fungal, viral, protozoic, etc) activity tends to be beneficial (broad generalisation) and if you are in a good place then increasing beneficial bacteria ever so gradually tends to lead to a positive outcome (broad generalisation).
It gets more complicated, the SCD diet people have been warning against bifodus bacteria supplements for 20 years and i have personal acquaintances who found that out the hard way....

 

[Dawn101]

You are right about radical change it can be quite a leap for some people with poor diets. She goes from liquid healing to full meals and snacks. If what your doing is not working this will give you a step in the right direction. Take the information she gives you and weigh it against what you know. It might just take radical to get out of a flare. For me I didn't know any foods bothered me until I cut them out and felt better.