Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Alcohol And Crohns Disease

Question:
I would appreciate any info on feasibility or successful steroid reduction with regard to Crohn's Disease.

Answer:
Anyways the gist of it is that they all went on spring water and an elemental diet. (We had Greg on turkey soup broth and water.)  They then started adding foods in and if they bugged them they cut that food out of their diet.  Out of about 110 people, 50 decided medication and surgery was easier. Of the 60 who remained, 10 did not stay in remission and found that diet did not help, the good news is 50 who stuck to their diets have been 3 years in remission.  Greg is now 1 1/3 years in remission which was unimaginable before we did this to him.  The things that bother him are gluten, corn, yeast, tap water, coffee, additives, alcohol, and chocolate.   Anyway the main food intolerances listed are wheat, dairy products, brassicas, maize, yeast, tomatoes, citrus fruits, eggs, tap water, coffee, banana, potato, lamb, pork, beef, rice, tea, fish, onions, chicken, barley, rye, turkey, additives, alcohol, chocolate, shellfish, swede. Elaine Gottschall has written a book entitled Breaking the Vicious Cycle, Intestinal Health through Diet. She says it is a diet for Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, and chronic diarrhea. Basically, you only eat monosaccharide which means simple sugars, so that everything is digested with no leftovers, like fiber. These leftovers are believed to feed to bacterium and flora in your intestines which then can get out of control (the bad ones) and make further digestion even harder. Their overabundance causes them to produce extra mucus which covers up the microvillus which break down complex sugars. So more is undigested, they eat more, they grow more, a vicious cycle. My GI said he thinks the theory has some validity, but no controlled studies have been done, so no proof, and not everyone who you would think would benefit does. Hence, the experimental side of it. What you can eat: Fruit and vegetables, cooked only at first until you can tolerate more; Nuts when you can tolerate them; Some beans (lentils and white navy) when you can tolerate them; Meat; Milk products without lactose, like hard aged cheeses (cheddar, Colby, Swiss); homemade yogurt (real easy and good!), a few others; Honey. No-Nos: Refined sugars; Wheat and other flours -- NONE at all; Most beans; Potatoes; Lactose milk products; Chocolate (of course).