Breakthrough Crohn’s Disease Guide

Though it has not been studied in great detail yet, there may be things you can do with your diet to help with the symptoms of Crohn’s disease. If you have this condition, you might already know there are some foods that make things worse for you, and implementing one of the Crohn’s disease diets might do the trick in helping you feel better from day to day.

It can take a little experimenting, but a good place to start is by whittling your food choices down a bit to see the impact certain foods have on your symptoms and what foods start help you to feel better.

One of the first items a Crohn’s patient should try to eliminate is milk and milk products. Many who have this disease have an intolerance of lactose, and eliminating that one thing can help tremendously in improving symptoms.  This would also include most yogurts, fresh cheeses, and other common milk products.

You should be aware though, that by eliminating these products you may be losing the vitamins and the calcium you get from milk and you should talk to your doctor about taking supplements to replace them. Nutritional loss is a big problem with crohn’s disease, so there is no need to make it worse when you eliminate foods. You can try soy milk as a replacement if it agrees with your system.

Some crohn’s patients have problems with certain vegetables. White potatoes can be one of the worst. There may be some benefit from cutting out vegetables that have complex fibers, and go for the ones with simple fibers. Bulky fibers can be really good for most people, but they might make things worse if you have Crohn’s. Again, it is important to make sure you are getting what you need as far as vitamins go, so make sure you are getting the nutrients found in any eliminated vegetables from another source.

Another food group that tends to cause issues with Crohn’s symptoms are grains and oats. These are hard to avoid, and it might mean eliminating bread of any type. You should also avoid breadcrumbs on any foods, and items like stuffing. Many side dishes people like to eat have these things in them, and that can be a problem. White rice often causes problems, so that should be avoided as well. To follow a crohn’s diet you are going to have to get very good at reading ingredient labels and deciphering those strange names you see on many food packages you find. This also includes the types of preservatives. You should avoid those as well.

Remember that following Crohn’s disease diets won’t work well for everyone, and you should start by eliminate food items one at a time instead of all at once, starting with the most likely culprits – milk and wheat products. Keep a food diary to monitor progress and symptoms so you know which foods you should avoid constantly, and which ones are okay for you to reintroduce to your diet.

It is also a good idea to talk this over with your doctor so they know which of the crohn’s disease diets you are planning on following. As you will be cutting out food groups they will probably recommend a vitamin, and when they do, make sure you are take it. Good nutrition is important for everyone, but for crohn’s sufferers its really vital to ensure your body is receiving adequate nourishment.

Don’t forget to sign up for the free Crohn’s Disease Newsletter if you haven’t already and discover more about the benefits of crohn’s disease diets.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Crohn's Disease. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.