Must Be Something I Ate

In this post, I want to talk about foods that Crohn's and ulcerative colitis patient can and can't eat. As you will learn, that is a very general statement. But first, I want to make a few things clear...

One of the most common misconceptions about Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis is that it's caused by foods we eat. As if eating some sinister combination of foods will cause anyone who eats it to become gravely ill. I would like to clear that myth up right now, in a way that should be easy for anyone to comprehend.

Crohn's Disease is a disorder of the immune system. In people with the disease, the immune system thinks the digestive system (anywhere from mouth to butt) is a foreign object, and tries to attack it. This leads to severe swelling, bleeding, and pain as our bodies try to "fight off" something it shouldn't be. Basically, it's a civil war between body functions. What a person eats will not determine whether or not they get the disease. 

That begs repeating:

WHAT A PERSON EATS WILL NOT DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THEY GET THE DISEASE.

It's extremely difficult to determine what causes the disease to become active in someone who carries the disorder. In fact, years of medical studies have still not pinpointed exactly what factors cause the disease to "activate." Some theorize it could be certain types of pollution, various medications, or pure luck. A popular theory is that genetics determine the exact moment the disease will become active, and studies are ongoing.

With all of that said, let's talk about FOOD!

If you came here hoping to find a list of foods you can offer to your Crohnie friends, I'm terribly sorry that I can't provide that to you. No one can. There is no one-size-fits-all diet for Crohn's sufferers. But, I can give some perspective from at least one point of view - mine.

I'll start with the most common trigger foods, which seem to cause symptoms for many people with the disease. These are NO-NO foods for me:

• Nuts - any kind
• Seeds - any kind
• High-fiber foods, such as whole grains
• Most fresh fruits, especially apples (including applesauce), strawberries, grapes, and raspberries
• Fresh greens, like lettuce, spinach, or cabbage
• Vegetables with seeds or "skin," like corn, peas, and small tomatoes
• Vegetables with stringy insides, like celery or bean sprouts
• Beans - any kind (although, I can get away with eating green beans sometimes)
• Spicy foods

As you can already see, eating "healthy" is really difficult for me because all of the healthy foods make me sick. Here are a few other seemingly random items I have discovered I shouldn't eat, that aren't as common as the above items:

• Bacon (yes, it's OK to cry)
• Red meat
• Some fried foods - still trying to determine if it's a certain type of oil
• Popcorn
• Peppers - all kinds, even the sweet variety
• Onions
• Highly-carbonated beverages

I won't lie and say that I NEVER eat the foods in the lists above. Sometimes, I bargain with myself: If I eat this, will it be worth the pain/fever/trips to the bathroom or possibly even a trip to the hospital? It's a gamble. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. But I also do this to keep trying foods that once triggered my Crohn's, to see if my Crohn's will now allow me to have them. 

At one point, I could not digest any cholesterol. ZERO. All meat, eggs, and dairy made me violently ill with vomiting. (It was a trip trying to narrow down the diet to figure it out, too, trust me.) After about two years of a strictly-vegetarian diet, I started to reintroduce animal products, one by one. I can now consume dairy products, eggs, and even some poultry and fish/seafood! Sorry, animals, but this girl is hungry, and you're edible. 

The cows and pigs remain lucky at this point. 

The things I CAN eat will be in another post, for another time. It's a sad list, because it's short, and it's full of all of the things that make other countries hate America. Until then, please feel free to comment with your trigger foods, or questions about certain foods.