It has been a very long journey to get to the point where I have a pretty concrete diet. I am constantly learning of new triggers or ingredients to avoid. It is a never ending journey. I'm going to try to make this more of an overview post because I hope to talk about each category more in depth on the blog. Hopefully in the future, if there's a section you are interested in learning more about there will be a more in-depth post. But as always, please feel free to ask any questions you may have and share any triggers that you avoid that have helped you! Always great for us to learn from each other!
May you be well :)
~Brooke
"The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition." - Thomas Edison
Diet Overview:
I have tried to list these in order of importance for me, but really it's hard to order. All the items on the list are so important in healing my gut and hopefully in healing yours too. Listen to your body and I recommend cutting everything out at first. I cut everything out for 6 months and then added certain things back to my diet one at a time. Most people say it takes about 2 years before they saw a huge improvement in quality of life. I have continued to eliminate and tweak my diet, but I agree. I saw a change within weeks, a bigger change at 6 months, and at 2 years I had regained much more quality of life. I believe my diet has saved my life. It has helped more than any medication. It's just a much slower process. I saw a plateau after a couple of weeks and then after 6 months. So it does take longer, but it is a way of life that will continue to heal your body.
If there are things on the list that you are uncertain about and would like to have in your diet this is the best way I have found to add them back. The first thing I tried after cutting all these things out were grains. I added rice and then I added oats. Grains are healthy for the heart so I wanted to be able to have some grains. I did make sure to add one type of grain at a time too for two weeks. I limit the amount of grains and type that I eat, but I do enjoy having some rice and oats to help with heart health. Some categories you will always have to avoid and others you may be able to add some back, but in a limited amount. I just wanted to mention this part of my diet journey in hopes that it helps you in creating your specialized diet. Everyone is different so remember to listen to your body! I would say my diet is like a tweaked version of an Autoimmune Paleo and Low Residue hybrid diet. lol. I always get asked to classify my diet, but really you want your diet to fit you and your needs!
#1) GLUTEN FREE
This definitely provided the most relief for me! Right after I was diagnosed, I googled how to help with Crohn's and this was the number one suggestion. I was laughed at by my GI at the time, but this helped save my life. It also helped me regain some quality of life within weeks. I went gluten free for a year, but the benefits plateaued and I still lacked a lot of quality of life. It was then that a friend told me of his diet journey and that conversation truly saved my life. I drastically changed my diet for the past 2 years. Gluten free helped buy me time until I could figure out my diet and my triggers. I'm still gluten free and so thankful that this helped buy me time and quality of life. While going gluten free made the most impact, avoiding triggers has helped me slowly regain quality of life. It's a gradual change, but after two years all the little changes add up and you start seeing a lot more quality of life. It's worth it! Just be patient and continue to think about the end goal. It's easy to say it's not doing anything because the changes are small, but those changes add up to a huge difference in your life!
#2) PRESERVATIVE FREE
I have developed a lot of allergies, but one of the most difficult allergies I have is to preservatives. I have been able to identify allergens such as Polysorbates (20, 40, 60, 80, or any number) and PEG (polyethlene glycol). I have spent countless hours finding medicines and products without these harmful ingredients. I hope to have a more extensive post on this topic soon. But when it comes to food the manufacturer doesn't always list the preservatives they use. "Rosemary extract" can even be an alias for preservatives. The best way to avoid preservatives is to look for "preservative free" on the label. I love the simple truth brand at kroger because it is truly "preservative free" as labeled. I can tell when I eat a food with preservatives because my face breaks out in small, painful, red bumps. I also get very dizzy and sleepy around 30 minutes after eating. If you experience this, then you may have trouble with preservatives that you didn't even know where in your food. They are very sneaky. I have the most trouble with preservatives when it comes to proteins and meats. The best policy is to buy a brand labeled preservative free!
#3 MSG FREE
This is a huge trigger for migraines, headaches, and GI upset for me. MSG can be labeled as anything. It can even be labeled as sea salt. The best policy is to go with brands you know and if you get a headache after eating something, then it most likely contains MSG. I am very sensitive to MSG. I'm sensitive to the point that I will get a migraine 30 minutes after eating, as well as becoming dizzy and shaky. I sometimes feel like I am going to pass out. I will try to do a more extensive post on this because MSG can cause GI problems to become so much worse. Fast food is a huge offender. Not that any fast food would meet diet requirements, but when I think of MSG I think of seasoning. For example, a lot of restaurants use grill seasoning and this almost always is loaded with MSG. I think the biggest packaged offender is Doritos. If you want to know if MSG affects you then you might try a Dorito. I call it the Dorito test. lol. But I highly recommend that everyone avoid this! I always buy organic herbs and make my own seasoning. I think it tastes better anyway!
#4) NIGHTSHADE FREE
This is one of my biggest triggers. I absolutely LOVE Italian food. Every time I ate a red sauce I had so much pain and for some reason I just wouldn't give it up. But when I decided to start this diet journey I was determined to do it right. This made such a difference. Honestly, not eating out made the biggest difference. I wasn't tempted to cheat. Making your food from scratch makes such a big difference for your health because you know everything that is in your food. You can find triggers better too. Finally, I found a way to make a nightshade free red sauce and have never looked back (recipe here). Nightshades tear up my GI and cause havoc on my joints and muscles. Some common nightshades to look out for are tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and peppers (this includes paprika).
#5) ONION FREE
I have a terrible time with onions. To give food more flavor, I cook with garlic instead. It's good for the GI and doesn't cause me to have terrible flares. I have found it is a GI trigger for many people. I would definitely try eliminating it at first. I'd love to hear what works for you!
#6) HIGH GRADE OIL
High Grade oil is extremely important. This makes me sick faster than anything. When I have something with a cheap oil, like canola oil, it makes me sick at my stomach and sleepy almost immediately. Eating food that is a trigger makes you really sleepy because you just don't feel good. Changing your diet can definitely help with fatigue. I like unrefined coconut oil. Avocado oil is another good option. However, I think the secret to good cooking is coconut oil. It makes everything more tender, sweet, and savory. Some people like to use Kalamata oil, but I like to avoid olive oils. It is just really hard to tell which ones are high grade. I have heard a lot of stories of people paying a high price and finding out that the olive oil wasn't high grade. I think there is less chance with Kalamata oil, but I would stick with one of the other ones I listed.
#7) COOKED VEGETABLES
This made such a huge difference for me! I cook all my vegetables and they are so much easier to digest. Also, this limits exposure to bacteria that might be on uncooked vegetables. I am a Microbiology major and one of the classes that stuck with me the most was food microbiology. After hearing all the ways you can get food poisoning, you start to look at food differently! lol. I avoided salads for the past two years, but I have been able to add butter leaf lettuce back to my diet. I will only eat a salad if I have prepared it myself using the organic butter leaf lettuce. I never eat salads out at restaurants. This is one way to get sick fast and start a flare! It has been nice to add occasional side salads back. I have a veggie wash I love to use on the butter leaf for extra protection. It's an All Natural Fruit and Vegetable Wash by Eat Cleaner. It is available from Amazon (click here) . However, I suggest only adding butter leaf lettuce once you are sure of your diet. It's important to eliminate everything and start seeing a difference in how you feel (I suggest at least 6 months).
#8) NITRATE FREE
Nitrates are a huge trigger for headaches and migraines. I think they are also a trigger for GI and chronic disorders. I definitely suggest buying items that are labeled "nitrate free" if there is an item that may contain nitrates. A common place to see this is turkey bacon or meats. It is best to look for uncured as well on the label.
#9) SULPHATES & SULFITES
I cut out grains completely for the first 6 months of my diet. I wanted to make sure I was feeling better with the diet and that I had eliminated any possible triggers.
#10) SOY FREE
Even though this is a legume, I wanted to make it into its own category. I have found that soy is a huge trigger for people with GI and autoimmune conditions. Cutting out soy wasn't hard at all. I switched to coconut aminos and felt better (click here). It tasted just as good and I'm able to enjoy my favorite Asian dishes! Check out some of my recipes for inspiration! I love Asian and Island Style cooking! Those are my favorite dishes besides Italian.
#11) LACTOSE FREE
I know a lot of people are probably not going to agree with me on this one and I did go diary free for the first 6 months, but I have been able to introduce some products into my diet that are just lactose free. I found that a lot of the diary free substitutes for cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream were packed with bad fillers. So I decided on these items I would just try lactose free. (Quick overview: lactose free is a diary item that has an enzyme like lactase added so that it removes the lactose). I love the Green Valley brand for the cream cheese and sour cream (click here and here). I also eat aged cheeses such as cheddar, parmesan, and provolone. The lactose is lost almost completely if not completely during the aging process. If I use a soft cheese, like ricotta, then I will use the Whole Foods' diary free ricotta by Kite Hill (click here). I will be posting a whole post dedicated to this topic because it is very extensive and different degrees of removal may be right for you. However, when you are eliminating food, you have to make sure the substitutes are still healthy and don't have triggers. For me, the diary alternatives for these items had too many bad fillers so I was decided to use lactose free for these few items. I love coconut milk and coconut creamer. I cook with these almost every night. It's just a few things that I think are better being lactose free than the diary free alternatives if you are going to use them. As always listen to your body. I definitely recommend looking very carefully at the diary free ingredients and reading the label every time you get a product because ingredients could change or what you find as triggers could change as well on this journey.
#12) LEGUME FREE
Legumes are a trigger that really upsets my gut. I usually see the difference within hours or a day after eating them. I also feel pain and aching in my joints and muscles. The popular legumes are peanuts, peas, beans, soybean, and chickpeas. I think avoiding legumes is really important. Especially changing from peanut butter to almond butter has helped me a lot. I did go through a lot of almond butters until I found one that I liked and was the most like peanut butter. I'm going to list it to hopefully save you a lot of trouble (click here). I did not eliminate nuts from my diet. I am hypoglycemicand I needed another source of protein. I enjoy almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, and coconut. I did try cutting out nuts for a while, but it did not make a difference for me. If you are still having trouble this is something you could consider. However, nuts have been a great source of protein for me. If you are going to cut out nuts I would suggest cutting out everything but coconut first. Removing coconut is going to limit you so much. In this journey, you will find the balance of what has to be avoided and some things you can enjoy in limited amounts so that it's not so difficult to find things to eat. If it's too difficult to find things to eat, then you'll give up. So just keep that in mind. And if you have to eliminate one group at a time until you get down to this list for 6 months that's great too. Do what you need to do so that the diet is achievable. Don't be hard on yourself, but stick to what you outlined and don't cheat! Cheating really blurs the lines. I used to cheat and think it was fine, but you won't be able to tell about your symptoms and track triggers. You must prioritize the diet and see the extra time you spend shopping, looking at ingredients, and making food from scratch as your investment in healing yourself.
#13) SEED FREE
Seed free helped with my gut irritation. I think avoiding seeds is just a good policy for anyone with GI problems. I will eat hemp hearts that are shelled because they are soft, but other than that I avoid seeds (click here). I love to use them in smoothies. Hoping to release a smoothie edition post soon!
#14) AVOID PROCESSED SUGAR
This is huge!!! Processed sugar is so bad for inflammation! I switched to organic coconut sugar and organic agave nectar. I have never looked back. It made such a big difference. I continue to work on cutting back sugar. I try to only add a tablespoon or two to recipes. I try to substitute fruits for sugar such as in my gluten free banana bread. It makes such a huge difference to have natural sugar. I am hypoglycemic so I have to be careful of how much sugar I have anyway. It has really helped to have these natural sugars. I avoid artificial sweeteners at all cost!!! I have actually been to the ER from Splenda. I drank a lot of coffees with Splenda in them for Physician Assistant school and it caused me to pass out. I continued to feel so bad I had to go to the ER. Later, I was able to connect these episodes with Splenda. Be careful because it's in medicine! Watch out for Sucralose and aspartame in the "inactive ingredients." I always reed medication labels and I always call my pharmacy to ask the manufacturer of any new medicine so I can look up the ingredients. DailyMed is a great site for ingredients (link here). I do use organic stevia in my hot teas. I would add organic stevia after the 6 month period though to make sure your body does well with it. I have to stress it must be ORGANIC! The stevia leaf I was getting had dextrose in it since it was not labeled organic. Again, always read the ingredient labels. You never know what manufacturers will put in things even simple items that you would think would be one ingredient items! I enjoy the organic zevia green tea and hibiscus tea since it has organic stevia in them (I stay away from black tea. I hope to have a tea post soon). A lot of drinks will not have organic zevia so just be careful! This is one reason I am wary of the Keto Diet. A lot of products marked "Keto" have a lot of bad fillers and a lot of artificial or GI upsetting sugars. I always check the label twice if it's marked Keto especially on sweet items!
#15) CORN FREE
While you will see I limit grains, I definitely avoid corn. It is just too hard to digest!
#16) LIMIT GRAINS (I include Rice & Oats in my diet)
I cut out grains completely for the first 6 months of my diet. I wanted to make sure I was feeling better with the diet and that I had eliminated my trigger foods. Of course, diet and our food is always changing. I still find different ingredients to eliminate from my food and products. So it's important to always read ingredient labels and never become complacent. The more triggers we can eliminate the better we can feel and the better our body can heal. Grains are something that I wanted and hoped I could add back to my diet. Some people are not able to eat any grains, but after 6 months I was able to add a few grains back. I started by adding rice for two weeks and once I did okay with those, then I added oats back for two weeks. I like to limit my grains, but I do like to have them in my diet for heart health. I also find that they absorb well and they help when my acid reflux is bad. I have found moderation and only eating a few types of grains work well for me.
#17) ORGANIC
I try to buy everything organic. It is worth spending the extra money. Especially if you are concerned with autoimmune or chronic illness! It's also important to look for and pay more for meat products. I always look for organic, vegetarian fed, free range, gluten free, preservative free, and grass fed on these labels. The quality of the meat you ingest is huge! Actually, non-grass fed meat has been linked to cancer recently whereas grass fed meat has not. Your protein source really makes a huge difference.
#18) SUPPLEMENTS & VITAMINS
It's so important to get the extra nutrition and vitamins you need. It's hard when you have GI problems to always get this nutrition especially during a flare. I will be going over more supplements and vitamins in a later post. One supplement I have already discussed is 8 Greens. eI highly recommend 8 Greens for a vegetable and multivitamin supplement (blog post here). Finding a chewable or gummy vitamin is so important to get better absorption especially with GI problems. I always look for these when looking for vitamins!
I know this is a LOT to take in! When my friend outlined the diet he and his sister followed, my mind was blown. And it doesn't even seem achievable, but it is possible! Be patient with yourself and allow yourself to grow! This is YOUR journey to help heal yourself and your gut. This is YOUR journey to better quality of life and higher function. Enjoy it. I thought I had 5-10 years to live if I was lucky when I was first diagnosed at age 25. And I'm still alive almost 4 years later and I now have so much more quality of life than when I was diagnosed. Doctors told me it was only a matter of time until I ended up in the ICU in critical care. I was told that the few patients different doctors had with Esophageal Crohn's had died and did so fairly quickly. And here I am. It is POSSIBLE! You have the potential to help heal inside of you :)
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