Changing the way I eat.

My consultant insists what we eat does not cause a flare.. (it certainly does NOT cause Crohns)

so I eat what I like but take a few precautions ie peel vegetables and no seeds. I am doing well so good luck anyway..do whats right for you

HI joe,

glad to hear that diet change is working for you.

I agree that we are all different and what works for one may not work for another.

I have had great success with diet change. My Crohn's disease was extensive and throughout my small intestine. I was told that i would have to take mercaptopurine or my Crohn's would get worse. I had read research (pubmed) that had shown that radical diet change can put individuals with crohn's into remission so I chose to try this approach first despite my doctor knowing nothing about it and stating that diet would make no difference.

I only tried this as there are scientific studies supporting the use of it - it just isn't widely known yet. It often takes many years for scientific research to filter through to be used routinely.

For almost a year my calprotectin level has been normal and I've had no Crohn's symptoms. This is through diet alone.

If you are interested then go to pubmed and look up work by gastroenterologist Dr Suskind ( from Washington university and seattle chidrens hospital) on the specific carbohydrate diet.

I am not at all saying that this approach would work for everyone but for me, I felt I had nothing to lose ... and the scientific research made sense. Some people use this approach alongside medication.

At a Crohn's & Colitis UK meeting I attended there was a GI consultant presenting - he stated that it is now widely accepted in the medical field that Crohn's has a microbial trigger.

Basically, with diet, you are addressing this dysbiosis - overgrowth of 'bad' bacteria by eliminating the bacteria's food source.

I don't eat anything processed and my carbs come from vegetables, berries and nuts only.

There is also scientific evidence to support the use of vitamin D3 ( with K2) for Crohn's - again, dont take my word for it -look up studies on pubmed.

Good luck - I hope you continue to improve.

Also, if this research interests you then look for the SCD facebook groups. There are lots of links to research in them and lots of help from others using the same approach.