What diet should I try next

[Alicebee101]

After going to a doctor who works with my GI for diet, I was put on an elimination diet. (allowed only around 15 food items. Lactose and gluten free)
At the same time I was put on Pentasa and was doing really well for around 2 months.
I got sick again and things then went back to square one and I've been unable to get anywhere near better again.
After being on 21 tablets a day at one point with no improvement, I now have stopped taking all meds.
Overall I feel better although my diarhea is frequent and unrelenting.

I've gone back to Bikram Yoga which has been difficult but I'm sure will give me benefits.

The questions is.... what diet do I follow now?
FODMAP, paleo, SCD?

Apart from the CD I also have gallstones and acid reflux.
Any pointers will be appreciated! I've given up...

:shifty:

 

[Gianni]

I despise elimination diets. Simply taking the backseat and avoiding foods that exacerbate symptoms does nothing in benefitting you, symptoms aren't the disease.

Glad to hear you are doing yoga, let us know the benefits you get out of it.

Personally I am a raw vegan and I follow this diet because I believe in the power of fruit and vegetables. I believe humans have evolved on this vegetation and that is truly what makes us healthy. Having said that, I also do believe that the paleo diet can be massively beneficial. However, at the same time, the paleo diet can be detrimental. It really depends on the quality of meat that you would eat. Commercial meat has a 3,000% increase of fat per 12 oz than a wild piece of meat like elk or buffalo. The whole idea behind the paleo diet is that we eat what our ancestors ate. Our ancestors ate animals running around that were lean and eating natural real vegetation without any added hormones. There are farms and companies who sell wild meat, but unless you only do wild healthy meat, I don't think paleo should be pursued. (that is my opinion, others think differently).

That is why I am vegan, because the meat today is not the same as the meat 10,000+ years ago.

I'm a huge fan of juicing and you can read why here: http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=41838

I hoped that helped,

Gianni

 

[hugh]

I'd have to agree with gianni (to a point).
Real food, not grains and processed crap..

Raw food /Juicing is very cleansing but may not suit many people long term
I'd recommend that you try paleo/GAPS or Archiviore
http://www.archevore.com/get-started/ "The most important elements of this are no wheat or other grains, zero plant oils and very low fructose."
(don't read it gianni - "9. Vegetables and fruits - Besides starchy plants for fuel and micronutrients, eat a variety of different colored plants of whatever you like and tolerate. Think hormesis. Some is better than none, but neither big salads nor fruit to excess will save your life. You're not a gorilla, you're an omnivore")

Grass fed meat is better than CAFO on every level, way better.
Just like organic veg is better,

Don't get hung up on fat, so long as it is grass fed. Wild animals have alot of fat (depending on the time of year) but it is not stored in the muscle, it is usually around the organs (and in them)
Fat is fuel and you will be eating less carbs by avoiding sugar and grain

 

[jenstl]

Relieved to read this post. Diagnosed with UC on 10/30/12 and have been a vegetarian for 20 years. Was starting to think the only thing that was safe to eat was white processed foods.

 

[Alicebee101]

Wow. Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Going vegetarian is very daunting for me (I love fish). And the thought of going raw vegan is simply mindblowing!
All the diets are so conflicting. I wish someone had a crystal ball and could tell me which one would work for me.

I have a juicer and regularily juice. It's fabulous and helps for an energy boost. My favourite mix is pear, beetroot and ginger.

Day 2 of Bikram Yoga today was much easier than Monday. It really helps me get more in touch with my body and it's great to be back. I just take things easy and do the best I can (A banana before class helped too).
The interesting thing with bikram is that your body will tell you what it wants- nutritionally. I just need to remember how to listen to it.

 

[hugh]

All the diets are so conflicting. I wish someone had a crystal ball and could tell me which one would work for me.

I don't think of Gianni's raw vegan and my Paleo choices as being conflicting, I think of them as on the same side of the line.
Both are based in only eating real food and avoiding toxic processed crap.

Some paleo people eat almost all meat, and if that works good for them, but that's not what paleo is about.
It's about eating foods that are good for you rather than food like products that are bad for you, even food like products that are 'less bad'

Giani and I recommend eating the purest cleanest foods you can afford.
Nether gianni or I recommend processed foods
Nether gianni or I recommend grains and sugar and processed seed/vegetable oil.

Where you choose to be on that spectrum between 'raw-vegan' and '
meat eater' is where you feel most comfortable, not where anybody tells you you should be.

Vegetarian is another story again. So many people say they eat healthy, y'now, wholegrains and tofu and vegiburgers (out loud everybody - "Grains and Soy are bad"

Wow. Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Going vegetarian is very daunting for me (I love fish). And the thought of going raw vegan is simply mindblowing!

A fish eating vegetarian is called a Pescetarian,
A paleo person who only eats fish as their meat is just a paleo person, or you could be a fish-eating raw food (almost) vegan

You would have to transition to raw vegan, not start munching carrots straight away.

 

[Alicebee101]

Hi Hugh

I wasn't referring to Paleo vs Raw vegan. If you take an overall look at ALL the diets sufferers of IBD follow, there are huge conflicts.

My problem is perhaps that my diet is already pretty good and I am struggling to decide how to change it further. I always followed a whole foods high GI diet to try control unstable insulin levels and weight. That obviously doesn't work with CD.

Processed food is not included in my diet and never has been. It's frightening what's in so much store bought food and I'm very aware and educated on dodgy ingredients.

I do eat:
Wheat ocassionally - primarily sour dough bread (I did remove it and then reintroduced and saw no difference).
Only lactose free milk, some yogurt, ocassionally hard cheese.
Olive oil and canola margerine
Red meat very occassionally

I Don't eat:
Sugar, fast food, spicy food, citric foods (e.g. pineapple), baked goods, cereals, anything with- hydrolyzed vegetable/soya protein, whey protein, E-numbers etc.

In the words of Gwyneth Paltrow 'I'd rather die than let my kids eat cup-a-soup'

 

[hugh]

Hi Hugh

I wasn't referring to Paleo vs Raw vegan. If you take an overall look at ALL the diets sufferers of IBD follow, there are huge conflicts.

My problem is perhaps that my diet is already pretty good and I am struggling to decide how to change it further. I always followed a whole foods high GI diet to try control unstable insulin levels and weight. That obviously doesn't work with CD.

Processed food is not included in my diet and never has been. It's frightening what's in so much store bought food and I'm very aware and educated on dodgy ingredients.

I do eat:
Wheat ocassionally - primarily sour dough bread (I did remove it and then reintroduced and saw no difference).
Only lactose free milk, some yogurt, ocassionally hard cheese.
Olive oil and canola margerine
Red meat very occassionally

I Don't eat:
Sugar, fast food, spicy food, citric foods (e.g. pineapple), baked goods, cereals, anything with- hydrolyzed vegetable/soya protein, whey protein, E-numbers etc.

I must admit i haven't looked too hard at alot of diets, I found what works for me.
Having said that I have noticed more similarities in IBD diets than differences amongst the ones i have looked at. Grain, sugar and vegetable oils being the big three)
Anecdotally the most effective (more positive feedback than others) has been SCD and Paleo, but often modified (ie no yogurt on SCD) but that might just be because of where i look.

Unlike Gianni, I believe that 80-90% is about what you don't eat and the rest is about what you do eat.

Sounds like your diet is pretty darn good but
Personally speaking, in my own humble opinion, offered in the spirit of goodwill, without a hint of criticism........
Wheat has been extensively linked to many immune diseases, and to sooooo many other modern diseases that i wouldn't touch it under any circumstances, ever ,
My family, well, i just can't get through to them, they eat an expensive organic wheat-free millet bread -with added gluten!!!
If an astrophysicist and a molecular biologist and cancer researcher got together and tried to heal their own health through diet I'd listen...
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/1...-cause-of-many-diseases-ii-molecular-mimicry/
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/10/wheat-is-a-cause-of-many-diseases-i-leaky-gut/
I think canola is inflammatory, GE , and through the wonders of industrial chemistry they take a toxic oil and cook it until it can be tolerated by the majority of the population (but we're not the majority)....
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dear-mark-canola-oil/#axzz2BmEefXCs
and a paleo definitive guide to oils
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/healthy-oils/#axzz2BmEefXCs