Questions about dairy and starch and gluten-free.

[Trevor]

Hey all,

So last week I cut gluten and dairy and soy and sugar from my diet. This week I feel awesome which is great but now I've got all sorts of questions.


First is dairy. Is this normally something that bothers Crohn's people? I never really drank much milk but it would be nice to maybe reintroduce yogurt and cheese maybe at some point. Or is this just a bad idea?

Second is starch. I know that complex carbs like potatoes and green bananas and things are considered bad in some circles (SCD). I'm still eating potatoes. Should I not be? Why not?

Third is gluten-free. I strongly suspect this is a big reason why I am feeling so much better. Question being though, if I go and eat a chicken burger on a whole-wheat bun next week am I going to instantly feel terrible again? What are the tolerances for people with gluten sensitivity? Basically. How close to a bathroom should I be when I decide to experiment?


As always, any help is much appreciated!

 

[EthanPSU]

I can only comment on the first and second with my personal situation...

For dairy. I think I drink about 4 glasses of milk a day and it really doesn't seem to interact with my crohn's at all. I'm guessing it differs from person to person.

For starch I also eat a lot of potatoes and bananas which also are fine with me. Fried stuff in that categorie hurts.

I'm guessing its really different from person to person on most aspects of crohns

 

[lager87]

Glad to hear the diet is helping. All of these things you mentioned are common triggers for CD sufferers. However, you might not be sensitive to all of them. I would try re-introducing them one at a time. For example, start introducing dairy and see how you feel. Give it a couple weeks though before introducing something new.

Also, with gluten- you would immediatley feel awful again. So be in the bathroom

Another helpful thing, if your sensitive to dairy, is taking lactose pills before eating a dairy product. You can get these at any grocery store, cvs, etc.

hope this all helps

 

[kiny]

Second is starch. I know that complex carbs like potatoes and green bananas and things are considered bad in some circles (SCD). I'm still eating potatoes. Should I not be? Why not?

The SCD diet cuts out all polysaccharide (complex carbs).

polysaccharide are broken down into disaccharide and eventually monosaccharide.

Now comes the SCD theory:

She (the person who wrote the book) assumes (this has never been tested afaik) that monosaccharide are better for people with crohn because not all dissaccharide from the broken down polysaccharide will be broken down into monosaccharide and they will be left over as a type of waste, serving as food for the bacteria, making the disease worse.

 

[Trevor]

Very helpful. First hand experience is great. Limits the amount of guessing and checking I'll have to do!

So the complex carbs are related to leaky gut and candida and all that? Then I probably should cut them out, at least for now.

 

[hugh]

first - lactose is a complex carb found in dairy, you need to produce the enzyme lactase to digest it.
If you don't produce enough lactase then you are lactose intolerant and it can cause problems (diarrhea, gas, bloating, vomiting) and has been linked to IBS.

Yougurt that has been prepared properly has almost no lactose in it, the lactose has been digested by 'good' bacteria and can be beneficial to IBD sufferers. It is a big part of the SCD diet,
On the other hand, Commercial yogurt is usually rushed (only fermented for 6 hours) and has milk powder added to thicken it so it has lots of lactose and buckets of sugar - (real yogurt is sour).

personally I avoid all yogurt because commercial stuff comes out violently abouy 4 hours after i eat it along with the entire contents of my intestines and SCD yogurt leads to great pain about 4-7 days after i eat it.

Hard cheeses also have very little lactose left, but soft cheeses are still high in lactose.

secondly - Potatoes are high in complex carbs and , as kiny said, are food for the bad bacteria, they also contain glycoalcaloids and these have been linked to 'leaky gut', and fried potato skins linked to IBD (in mice )

personally if i eat potatoes i begin to sweat, then mucus starts pouring out of my nose and for about 6 hours i get weird tingles up and down my legs.

Thirdly - "a big reason why I am feeling so much better" - i think you're probably right, gluten is the big nasty,
You may have an immediate reaction (bloating, gas) , but it is more likely that you will see your symptoms return over the next week or two.

Of all of them dairy is the one that I would stay near the toilet for but you may be different.

Introduce them separately (at least a week apart, preferably longer) so you can relate symptoms to foods

 

[Trevor]

Amazing. Thanks so much for the great information.

I was on the edge of stepping up and trying Humira (or something like it). Really happy I went with the diet changes first.

 

[Tummyache]

I am on a gluten free + dairy free + low sugar diet and haven't had a major flare in 6 yrs + no IBD medications – my diet is not fully SCD or Paleo, but similar and self-prescribed through trial and error. Because I cannot cheat without getting sick, I have found alternatives for gluten and dairy foods. Gluten free is easy as there are so many products and alternative flours available now even in many mainstream markets. You do not have to bake everything like we had to in the past. Anyway, for starches + flour I stick pretty much to rice [both white and natural brown] + quinoa; then there’s buckwheat, corn, almond, coconut, tapioca [yucca, manioc], and plantain + some lesser known kinds. Actually, brown rice with quinoa is my staple, which I keep pre-cooked in the refrigerator all the time for eggs n’ rice, stir-fries, or as a side dish. On occasion I will eat store purchased GF-DF Rudy’s brand bread [I like it’s taste best], pastas, crackers, and rice cakes. However, I tend to not eat other processed GF foods, but try to eat as close to natural as possible…with the exception of some AMY’S frozen + canned products. Dairy has always been a much bigger problem, but now there are dairy alternatives too made from soy, rice, almond, hemp and coconut milk or cream. I recently tried DAIYA cheese which even melts when heated and tastes the closest to what I remember cheese tasting like. I use soy sauce a lot to flavor foods and prefer Bragg Liquid Aminos [made only from soy + water with digestive enzymes]. Most health food stores sell all these things. GF foods can be rather pricey, so if you are on a budget like me, try to eat more of all the allowable foods that are naturally GF-DF. Hope this helps someone!

 

[Trevor]

Every little bit helps

I'm lucky enough to live in a city that's pretty up on GF and organic/natural eating. We've got whole grocery stores dedicated to it!

 

[Snoflayk505]

Hi Trevor!
Just wanted to let you know I am using the SCD diet as a base diet to find out what foods flare me. Crohn's disease is such an individual disease. Everyone reacts differently to different things. It's a process of elimination. Start with the basics and eliminating all of the questionable foods, then slowly add them and see how your body reacts. I have learned so much since doing this. For example. I ate beets Monday night, the next morning I was nauseous, bloating and tender in the tummy. With eating such pure ingredients and follwing SCD, it is very easy for me to determine what I cannot eat. I know within 12 hours if something did not agree with me. Hope this helps!

 

[Trevor]

For sure! My mom has Colitis (lucky family) and did SCD for years so I'm somewhat familiar with it. I've incorporated a few elements of it into my current plan and I'm happy to report things are going pretty swimmingly.

 

[Snoflayk505]

That's great! I'm super new to the diet but it has done miracles for me so far so glad u r doing well!