Diet

Hi Vivian,

I Have found that it is wise to avoid anything with skins, pips, seeds, nuts or strong spices when i am experiencing discomfort or problems. So, for example, i would avoid tomatoes, grapes, berries, cake fruit, beans, peas, seeded bread. I would eat cauliflower, leafy veg and veg or fruit that can be peeled. I would eat avocados, no problem. Some people have trouble with onions too, but i dont. Some advice says to go only for soluble fibre so its worth googling that. I take Fybogel every day for good fibre.

Once you feel better then relax the rules gently and see how it goes, but regardlessly i always skin tomatoes, peel apples and avoid berries.

Good luck.

Alex

Hi Vivian

I try to eat as little sugar as possible and no cream or any rich sauce.  I take Fibergel ever day and eat very small amounts.  This seems to keep things at bay.

In regards to bread i do not have a problem with white or wholemeal. I avoid the ones with seeds of any sort, which is a shame as these were my favourites. You may get a different response as people seem to find wheat difficult sometimes, but just stick with the no seeds as a general rule.

Alex

Hi Vivian,

Aloe vera juice is a very helpful and healing method for diverticular disease.  I have had it for over two years and only had one flare up.  I used aloe vera juice, probiotics and proper diet.  Its important to get the juice and not the drink with the aloe vera.  You mentioned being treated 4 times with antibiotics which I can tell you from experience that your gut has been stripped of all good bacteria.  This is what causes the frequent flare ups because there is nothing to fight off the bad stuff in your gut.  This is where the probiotics is important because that is what fight off the bad things in your gut.  Now when it comes to diet, everyone is different so this is a trial and error process.  For me, fried food, too much meat, corn, some nuts and too much cheese causes me problems.  The thing with this disease we are suffering with in on the inside so you can see it, you only know how you feel.  Our intestines are inflammed when feeling bad.  The things I named above is what has worked wonders for me.  You will have to do liquid diets when a flare up occur and rest as much as possible because this is the only thing that will get you back to normal.  You will need fiber but you can't take in too little nor to much.  Plenty of water is another must.  I say again that I have only had one flare up so I know this has worked for me and the doctor gives very little information on this disease.  Everything I found out was through my own research.  If you keep having flare ups and the disease is not controlled at some point the only option is surgery and eventually death.  I hope the information helps your condition as it has done for me.