Crohn's
Disease Diet And Its Benefits
When you suffer from Crohn’s
disease, you’ll take any help you can get. Although there
are various medications and supplements you can take to reduce symptoms
associated with the disease, such as severe abdominal cramps, pain,
and diarrhea, a Crohn’s disease diet can also aid in diminishing
your symptoms. The Crohn’s disease diet is very similar to
the colitis diet, mostly because both of these are inflammatory
bowel diseases.
These are a few tips for an effective Crohn’s disease diet:
- Limit your dairy consumption—if you
suffer from Crohn’s or colitis you are likely prone to
gas, abdominal pain, or diarrhea after ingesting dairy products.
This is because you are probably lactose intolerant, meaning
your body cannot digest milk sugar. Often the best solution
is to eliminate dairy completely, eat low-lactose foods, or
take an enzyme product when you eat dairy.
- Low-fat foods are best—often foods
that are high in fat can irritate your small intestine and worsen
your symptoms. Try avoiding foods such as butter, peanut butter,
mayonnaise, cream, ice cream, fried foods, chocolate and red
meats.
- To fiber, or not to fiber—some believe
a high fiber diet is essential for a healthy diet. This isn’t
exactly true if you have Crohn’s disease. A diet that’s
high in fiber can lead to horrible diarrhea, gas, and abdominal
pain. Try to avoid raw apples, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and
the like. If you want to eat these foods, steam, bake or stew
them first.
- Avoid the bad foods—your Crohn’s
disease diet should not include beans, cabbage, raw fruit, spicy
food, alcohol, chocolate, or caffeine.
- Fluids and more fluids— drink plenty
of water and avoid large amounts of alcohol, caffeine, and carbonated
drinks.
- Multivitamins are your friend—although
beneficial, the Crohn’s disease diet can limit the amount
of nutrients your body receives. Multivitamins and supplements
help replace them.
Although it isn’t proven that certain
foods cause Crohn’s disease, there are still some foods that
aggravate symptoms. Removing these from your diet can decrease your
symptoms, and possibly lengthen the time between flare-ups. Contact
your physician if you are interested in starting a Crohn’s
disease diet.
|
