Crohn's Disease Complications- Help!

[last15]

I have Crohn's disease, and have been in remission for almost 2 years. I was on a low fat high carb diet until 3.5 weeks ago, and was having lots of IBS symptoms, mainly cramping/diarhea. I read up on your forum about how Atkins could help IBS sufferers, so I decided to give it a shot. AFter about a week on the ATkins diet, I started having the same problems as I did on the other diet, and now I have to take Imodium every day as part of my regimen. ONly one tablet, mind you, but the fear of an "accident" looms. My question is for anyone who has used this diet that has crohns, or any nutritionist/specialist/whatever :) who would know- do these symptoms pass? I know that giving up sugar was a big plus, but now increasing my fat seems to be doing this, as well as eating salad everyday. I do not use any candies/sweets with malitol, in case you may ask, because that was the first culprit for me. I stopped eating them over a week ago. Symptoms went away for a day, but came right back when I started eating salad everyday. I don't want to give up on the diet, or the salad, if it will go away soon, but I also don't want to cause so much irritation that inflamation starts up again. Also, if the recommendationi is give up the salad, what do I replace it with? I am steriod free, but take 6mp and asacol everyday. Any ideas?
Thx
Nannie

[Kent]

Hi Nannie,

The low carbohydrate diet the best way to go for your Crohn's disease, but there are more restrictions than the normal Atkins' weight loss diet.

Raw vegetable are strictly out until you heal and test them one at a time. Lettuce is out.

The type of fats are very important. Most salad dressings are made from omega-6 vegetable oils which are highly inflammatory. The Atkins' diet book or recipe book has a mayonnaise made with olive oil and a raw egg. It is acceptable but you should leave out the spices for now.

I have prepared a web page with lots of details, reference links and a "Starting Diet." You can expand the diet to other foods on the acceptable list after your symptoms have lessened.

Bowel Diseases and Candida - News You Can Use. (http://www.biblelife.org/bowel.htm)

Continue to follow your doctor's instructions and medications.

Kent :wave:

[last15]

Thanks for your reply, Kent! I was totally symptom free before I started dieting, and the symptoms have gotten worse since I began Atkins. Is this normal? I have been in remission so long, and the reason I switched to Atkins is because I was eating too many fruits/veggies on low fat high carb diet. But I know that fat absorption is a big problem with crohns. So now I am afraid to continue this diet, if it is going to get things going again. It makes sense for someone who is in active disease to try to use this diet for relief as well as weight loss, but I was "healthy" before I began. I will check out your link, and in the mean time, please respond and tell me if it is normal for IBS symptoms to begin AFTER you start the diet. Thx again!
Nannie

[last15]

OOps, I guess I should have looked at the link first- it is one that I have read several times. I was wondering if yeast was a contributing factor, but I looked over the list, and other than the bowel/joint problems that are common with crohns, I don't really fit the profile. I scored 185 on that yeast quiz that I found on here, but 115 points simply came from the questions about medicines. I had a few questions about that article, if you are able to help me-I am assuming you have been through this by reading some of your posts. 1)what is REverse osmosis water, and what is it's importance over regular water? 2)what supplements are good for the enzymes? 3)is it normal for probiotics to cause discomfort? 4) are these measures that have to be taken forever, in order to do atkins? I can give up salad and eat normally without symptoms, but not with all of the fat/protein in Atkins. I have more questions, but I will leave it at these, for now
Thanx again!!
Nannie

[Kent]

Hi Nannie,

A change in diet can upset your system and start a flare. This may be caused by new foods that are acceptable for a low carbohydrate diet but absolutely not acceptable for IBS.

You will begin to get your energy from fats instead of carbohydrates. This will normalize the weight. Overweight persons will lose weight and underweight persons will gain weight.

Kent :wave:

[Kent]

1)what is REverse osmosis water, and what is it's importance over regular water? 2)what supplements are good for the enzymes? 3)is it normal for probiotics to cause discomfort? 4) are these measures that have to be taken forever, in order to do atkins? I can give up salad and eat normally without symptoms, but not with all of the fat/protein in Atkins.

Reverse osmosis water is commonly available in supermarkets in the US. It has minerals removed as well as impurities. Regular water is OK if you feel your water is a good quality.

Probiotics can cause discomfort which is probably caused by the carbohydrate filler. Read the labels and switch brands if you find one that looks better.

Your old diet may have been a lucky combination of foods that you tolerated well. The long term best diet is low carbohydrate for many reasons. Bad intestinal bugs feed on carbohydrates and release toxins that cause disease. Carbohydrates are also the food for Candida yeast that may be present.

Pay special to adding the Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of Carlson's lemon flavored cod liver oil and omega-6 GLA fatty acid in the form of borage oil. Strictly avoid all other omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable, nut and seed oils. These are proven in scientific research to be highly inflammatory to bowel diseases, arthritis and many other diseases.

Kent :wave: