What you eat is key

[Johanne Eagle]

My daughter is presently 14, and was diagnosed in March 2010 with crohn's, although she had it since 2008 that we know of. She was put on a tube feed at the time of diagnosis, which brought on some weight gain, but it was a band aid effect, so didn't offer total healing and long term success. What did however, was a complete overhaul in what she eats. Although GI docs are adamant this doesn't work, it does! She eats very cleanly. What I mean by that is no sugar in her diet, and has avoided most grains, and most dairy, red meats, and pork. She also watches how she combines her foods, to aid in complete and easy digestion. This was key to heal the gut, as is juicing. Once total healing has occurred, carefully introducing healthy foods, will be accepted by the gut. She is in the critical growing phase of her development, so success was very important, as she hadn't grown in a few years and was behind most of her peers. The healing has taken place, and she has grown in leap and bounds, since the spring. In fact in April the GI doc was saying remicade is necessary and should be started immediately. She was stable at the time, but not growing. Her last appt two weeks ago, has shown nice growth and weight gain of over 6 kilograms! She is now at a balanced point on the growth chart in the 50th percentile. She has lovely skin with no acne, because of the clean eating. Sugar feeds the bad microbes. If you don't feed them your gut will become balanced and begin healing. Suppressing the immune system, I believe, is a very dangerous thing. Think about what that does. How can it be healthy? My daughter takes some supplements to help boost her healing, including probiotics and fish oils. It has been very rewarding for my daughter and I to get to this point as she is enjoying her first year of high school and is able to participate in her highly demanding competitive sports, like provincial level gymnastics and rep soccer and dance. It's not easy to take processed foods and sugar out of your diet, but once you do and eat cleanly, I believe many will find the same success. We had seen a couple of Naturopaths who were very helpful, but where we found complete success was thru the guidance of an Holistic Doctor, who had completed her pHD concentrating on GI disorders, and is also a nutritionist. A perfect combination for our needs.

 

[David]

Hi Johanne and welcome! I'm so pleased to hear your daughter is doing well! That's fantastic

I also believe that dietary/lifestyle changes can be beneficial for many with IBD. Not everyone will do as well as your daughter, but every bit helps

How often does your daughter juice? I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of juicing.

 

[Johanne Eagle]

Hey, glad to help,
Alaina juices everyday, about two cups of the following recipe. 4lbs of carrots, washed, not peeled, handful of fresh parley, on peeled raw beet, one med apple and a bunch of dandelion. (I buy a bunch and it gets used for 3 batches of the juice). The Italian name of the vegetable is chicoria, not sure of the spelling as my husband is the Italian in the family, lol. I've even used fresh wild dandelion up North, where it is unspoiled by pesticides. Where we have our cottage. To the juice I add about 1/4 tsp or so of chlorella, which is very helpful for healing. The key is to have a good juicer that can handle greens. We use the Omega juice maker.
The juice is best consumed fresh, but I do make one batch every 3rd day.

Do you take fish oils? I was at a seminar in Toronto in May. One of the doctors presenting there, spoke of the healing powers the fish oil has to the cell walls of the intestines. We increased her dose to 6 capsules a day for a few months. Now she is taking two a day and will continue this forever. If you saw my emaciated daughter last March and now, you wouldn't think she was the same girl.
She is very determined and committed to maintain her health, and knows that any of the drugs recommended to her will only harm her in the long run. I'm so glad we didn't put her on prednisone, as when a growing person is on that, even for a few weeks, they are guaranteed to suffer from osteoporosis by mid life! I brought that up with our GI doc, who responded by saying that the drug offered temporary benefits. My concern is not only the long term effects, but that the fix is only temporary at such a high cost!

Have a stress free day,
Johanne

 

[David]

I personally take krill oil. I'm concerned about the heavy metals in most fish and krill oil is much better in that regard.

 

[Johanne Eagle]

I agree, as it's such a small fish, and is the bottom of the food chain, therefore much cleaner oil.

 

[Clash]

David, I think Tesscorm just posed a question about this in a thread she started. Wondering about metal levels in krill and fish oil supplements maybe since I've tageed her she can check this out.

 

[Johanne Eagle]

Not sure if Im doing this right, I just wanted to say to Clash, I love her profile pic. I was wondering if its her daughter, age 16, that has crohn's? Since my daughter, 14, has crohn's. It was suggested we put her on remicade as well, but have been able avoid it so far, and is doing great!

 

[Clash]

Johanne, you are doing fine posting the question here. The pic is actually of my 16 year old son and his girl friend. C went on Remicade straight out of the gate and it was such a life saver! C's dx journey took quite awhile and he was in rough shape by the time we got the dx. The effects were nearly immediate after the first loading dose. Now we are trying to get his dosing schedule tweaked. Another member on here, Crohsinct got me excited about clean eating, and we are doing that as well for the last month. Not sure if C will be willing to stick to it long term or when he is in charge of his meals 100%. He is also taking iron supplements and vitamin D.

Welcome to the forum. You will find some fabulous people here! So glad your daughter is feeling well!

 

[Johanne Eagle]

Ah so interesting what different peoples journeys have been. My daughter didn't get diagnosed for almost 4 years, so a lot of wasted time, where she was failing to thrive, with two flare ups. The 2nd flare was what brought us thorough testing and a diagnosis. As I was afraid of steroids, since my older son had lost his best friend on it, very suddenly, at 14, only a year prior, we opted for the tube feed. I'm not sure if you are familiar with that. It seems it all depends on where you live as to what treatments are offered. While she was on the feed for the six weeks, I read many different books my sister sent me, regarding alternative medicine. At first I was very skeptical and overwhelmed, but then settled down, feeling it was worth a try, as I didn't want to leave any stone unturned. It's been a very interesting year and a half. We've learned a lot! One thing is for certain, clean nutritional eating can only help someone who has crohn's disease. Last fall while meeting with my daughter's GI doc, who was angry at me for trying this healthy diet approach, told me she would become malnourished. I asked him what is wrong with her eating an apple as a snack as opposed to a chocolate bar?? He didn't have an answer. Unfortunately our medical doctors spend little time learning how nutrition can improve health in their patients, during their medical training. Pharmaceutical companies fund most studies, are involved in publishing the medical books our student doctors use for their courses. It's very scary to turn to alternative medicine, but also very rewarding at the same time. My daughter has learned how to be her own advocate, and to seek out all options in life, to respect herself, and have confidence in her own body's ability to heal herself. What great things she has learned through getting this illness. It isn't all bad. She is stronger for it and knows it!

Best of luck with your son. I think that picture will still be precious 30 years from now!

 

[Clash]

That's great she is doing so well!! Yes, I'm familiar with EN or enteral nutrition, you'll find many of the parents here have been able to utilize EN during a flare and many still supplement. I gave C the choice of EN or pred but he was not interested in the EN at all. I still have it in my "back pocket" should there be a need for it again. I have also been up front with C about each of the choices in treatment we have had to face and allowed him to have input in the decisions, I absolutely believe that the more knowledgeable they are and the more control they have in their treatment the better they will be for advocating for themselves when they are out on their own.

Thank you about the profile picture this was shortly after diagnosis, he has grown almost 2 inches since then, closer to average than he's ever been and this only after 5 months of treatment, so I am hoping it is an indicator of great things to come!