Crohn's

[segg2009]

I've had Crohn's for about 10 years now. Today is day 2 of my first w30. I'm definitely having a problem with all the fruits and veggies. I can only eat a very small amount of raw. Almost all veggies need to be cooked or blended in my Vitamix.

About six months ago I watched several vegetarian/vegan documentaries including Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I was totally on board and excited. Then I landed myself in the hospital with a severe Crohn's flare from all the fruits and veggies. Very disappointing. It took steroids and many months to recover from that.

So I'm being very careful during my w30. Anyone else out there also not able to eat all the fruits and veggies?

[Pea]

I've had Crohn's colitis and while I have no bowel symptoms now, I am in a flare of autoimmune arthritis. When that happens, I am very careful about my diet, like I am now. I eat only grassfed beef, pastured chicken and turkey, and fish, no eggs, no nuts/seeds, very little fruit. I do best with softly cooked foods, like crockpot stews, pot roasts, soups. That way I can put my veggies in the soup, cook them soft, and know a lot of goodness is still in the broth.

 

Part of my routine is to take a nice big pastured chicken, season it well, and cook it in the crockpot until falling-off-the-bone soft. I take all the meat off the bone, leaving the drippings in the bottom of the crock, add the stripped bones to the crock along with water and leave it on low or keep warm overnight. The next day, you have chicken stock! That's a great base for cooking veggies soft. I like to throw some spaghetti squash "threads" in for noodles. A simple soup with onions, carrots, some dill and perhaps some cubed sweet potato is wonderful.

 

I wish you good healing!

 

Pea

[EatTrainClean]

First off - my heart goes out to you. I have a family member who suffers from Crohn's. It can be brutal, and frustrating.

 

You may have seen this already, but there is an excellent 'Low FODMAP' guide on the site:

http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Shopping-List-FODMAP.pdf

 

If you're not into food science, FODMAPs are short chain carbohydrates, that your small intestine can't really absorb. They then ferment via intestinal bacteria (this is where gas, bloating, etc. come from).

 

The acronym FODMAP stands for fermentable, oligo-, di-, mono-, and polyols. The oligo- etc. are finished by the word saccharide (AKA sugar molecules). As you can see by Dallas and Melissa's excellent list, many fruits and veggies are not fair game. Even people with no underlying issues can have trouble with some FODMAPs.

 

Some special notes: onion is a KILLER irritant, and can be lurking in many foods. Tread wisely. Some of the polyols are surprising too (you'll notice avocado is grayed out).

 

Hopefully this helps

[AnnaO]

So sorry to hear about your struggles! Like you, I´ve been trying a veggiecentric healing diet with no sustainable success. Fortunatley I don´t have Crohn´s but I have been struggeling with IBS and multiple food intolerances. I switched to the paleo autoimmune protocol in november and am now doing low-FODMAP as well. I´m only on day three but so far it has calmed things down. The only things I do raw are fruit, cucumber and small amounts of lettuce. Jaime Hartmann of http://gutsybynature.com is healing her Crohn´s with AIP and low-FODMAPs. I wish you good luck on your healing journey  .

[Bet]

Hey Segg, I found out last year that I had Chron's. I've probably had it my whole life, but was never diagnosed.

 

I have found that avoiding raw is necessary. Both veggies and fruit. The only raw fruits I eat are bananas and melon (not watermelon). I also avoid raw leafy veggies, including lettuce (all types).

 

FODMAPS like onions, garlic, broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, etc. I also avoid. Doing this  has eliminated most of my symptoms. I am not on any medications, but I do take HCL, digestive enzymes and prebiotics (I also can't tolerate fermented food).

 

So what CAN you eat? Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini, cooked spinach, cooked carrots, turnips, green beans (well cooked), roasted beets, rutabaga, parsnips. I've discovered a whole bunch of veggies I never ate before.

 

Also, to help you heal, you will want to do bone broth. You can make some great stews with bone broth to get it in your system every day.

 

Good luck, this diet with tweeks for Chrohn's will help you!