Chron s Disease Diet

A Chron s disease diet could be the answer to your prayers if you suffer from this distressing condition. For one thing it can restore a sense of control in your life that you feel you lose when beset with the symptoms of chron’s disease.

What Is Chron s Disease?

One of two types of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) , Chron s disease is an immune response related condition that affects the intestinal tract. The condition can strike the small intestine, the colon or both. Either way there is diarrhea, pain and other problems related to non absorption of key nutrients such as Vitamin B, Folic acid and iron.

These deficiencies can create anemia and a general malaise along with loss of appetite. Some sufferers display all the signs of being malnourished. Significant weight loss is a hallmark of chron’s disease. Many chron’s disease sufferers have noted that specific foods are related to flare ups of their symptoms.

It is a great idea to keep a journal of what you are eating daily as this can help pinpoint trigger foods, if any. The following list of suspects has been gleaned from the feedback of chron s disease patients:

• alcohol (includes spirits, beer and wines)
• butter, margarine and oils
• Soda
• coffee, caffeinated teas, hot chocolate
• dairy products (if lactose intolerant)
• battered and deep fried foods
• high fiber cereals and foods
• brassica family of vegetable – cabbage and broccoli
• nuts and seeds (processed nuts such as peanut butter)
• raw fruits and vegetables
• meats both red and white
• curries and spicy foods
• whole grains

The Chron s Disease Diet

The chron s disease diet is really a diet of excluding trigger foods and ensuring you maintain the optimum levels of key nutrients in your body.Because of the critical need to keep your nutrition stable you need to have three regular meals that are high in protein and carbohydrate as well as several snack to ensure you get enough calories and decent food to maintain your ideal weight.

Just because the foods listed above may have proven to worsen your symptoms does not mean you cannot eat them. You can experiment with the food preparation methods to rule out definite triggers. By this I mean instead of eating raw vegetables try several ways of cooking them such as steaming, grilling or baking (no oil). You may need to take Vitamin B12 and Folic acid supplements also to boost your immune system.

Decrease Intake of Residue Producing Foods

When your condition affects the small intestine it may be of benefit to avoid those foods that add bulk or residual materials to your stools. The main foods to watch out for are corn,raw fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Doing this may reduce the frequency of bowel movements and lessen pain and cramping.

Increase Nutrient Dense Foods

Ok, so normally you would not get advice to eat pizza and drink milk shakes! That being said, the need to keep your body weight stable and include the right mix of protein,carbohydrate and vitamins in your chron s disease diet allows for this indulgence. Of course milk shakes may be forbidden due to a lactose intolerance.

This may be overcome with the right advice and medication from your doctor.

Make Sure Vitamin D Levels Are Maintained

A lot of people with chron’s disease have a vitamin D deficiency. So keep taking sun baths (10-20 minutes a day) and supplement with 1,000 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D3.

Liquid Diet Shakes

Short term use of high protein and carbohydrate shakes allows time for the body to heal the intestinal tract by giving it a rest. Good quality shakes and liquid diet products can be great for reducing the symptoms of chron’s disease as well as delivering the nutrients required. They should not be viewed as a replacement for a regular whole food diet.

Include The Good Oils

Although not clinically proven to be effective in lessening the symptoms of chron s disease, both Omega-3 and Flax seed oils have proven anti inflammatory properties. Taking low doses of both these oils for several days may be beneficial in reducing the inflammation of your intestinal tract.

The chron s disease diet is journal and observation based, so get started by buying your journal!