For me, diet is irrelevant. I try to eat healthy as it is, but food doesn't have any impact on whether or not my disease is active or in remission. When I am flaring, some foods bother me, like coffee or chocolate so I eliminate those until I feel better. I find that too much refined sugar makes me feel like hell but I suspect it has that affect on most people, whether they have IBD or not. I know people who don't have IBD who feel like death after eating too much sugar.

Some people definitely feel better when they eat a certain way. I tend to believe where there is one GI issue there are often others so I think sometimes that may be related to food intolerances vs directly related to IBD, but that's purely my opinion.

When I am in remission I can eat anything I want. I have never had food trigger a flare. Having said that, I do believe it's a good idea to treat your body well. I am beginning to feel like aspartame(Diet Cokes, Crystal Light, millions of other products) needs to be eliminated from my diet completely. I try to eat foods with fewer ingredients and ones that I can pronounce. For example, if I am going to have ice cream, I buy the one made with milk, cream, and sugar. It's a treat. At this point in my life, I do not consider chemical versions of food to be a treat. I am by no means a food freak boycotting GMOs and Monsanto but I feel like I need to nurture my body as best as I can.

If you want info on stricter diets, google the Specific Carb Diet or the GAP diet. Some UCers have good success with that. I have added a prescription strength probiotic (VSL#3 DS) and plan to add L-Glutemide soon. For me the diets are too restrictive but I someday I may change my mind....

My GI supports the Specific Carb Diet. He has a couple of patients on it who follow it who have actually gone off their maintenance meds because the diet works so well at keeping their UC under control. The caveat is that you have to follow it pretty religiously.

Diet has played a major part of my ups and downs - Dairy and sugar are my biggest triggers - It seems though that enzymes plays a big part of digestion issues: I can eat fiber out the kazoo and feel great ... Dairy can turn me inside-out in a matter of 15-20 minutes and then there's the matter of stress - I don't have control in that area - as much as I'd like to - I let some things eat me alive - I don't have anywhere to let it go - I turn to the Lord with it all and cry my darn little heart out... I'm so grateful he heals my wounds but the situation doesn't always go away - but it draws me closer to the Lord - I know I'm doing what I should and that's all I can do. As to what works food wise - the best thing you can do for yourself is a food diary and mark in it everything you are eating & drinking and somewhere in the day's recording; keep track if you were doing well or flaring. You will soon discover if there is a pattern that is food related... might be smart to write down stress levels too! I'm tired of this disease - unhappy today... Hope you do well with your journey to wellness... Prayers!

Diet for me has been a journey and I can not say for sure if it is because of the Crohn's, age, or something else.

In the flare that got me diagnosed (2002), things were so bad that it hurt like hell for me to drink water and make my body process it. I ate nothing and had to force myself to drink vanilla Ensure.

In remission I could eat whatever I wanted, hamburgers, popcorn, salads, snickers, and the like. It seemed that full fat dairy at that time was my only bothersome food (skim milk seemed OK).

As time went on and as I suffered a few more flares of the disease, been on and off a boat load of medications, I have made many changes to my diet.

Right now I pretty much eat a grain free, cow's milk free, beef/pork free diet.

I also avoid anything with HFCS, artificial sweeteners of all kinds, sugar alcohols like sorbitol are the worst! (I only use honey & real maple syrup if I need sweet). I have also found stone fruits (peaches, plums, apricots, mango, apples, pears, dates) to be bothersome to me, as well as grapes. Dried fruits are also a bit of a nuisance except cranberries. Coffee wreaks havoc on my GERD so I avoid it. Tea, especially green and white are incredibly soothing to me (body and soul).

I enjoy all seafood and shellfish, all vegetables (raw and cooked), potatoes, plantains, and yams, citrus, pineapple, bananas, berries, avocado (moderately), oils, ghee, goat and sheep milk based cheeses, eggs, hummus, lentils, and the occasional piece of chicken.

Oh, and a word on nuts. I used to be able to eat them but recently they have been making my poo scratchy (no matter how much I chew them!) The occasional spoon of nut butter with a banana is OK.

I like to be an equal opportunity eater and give all foods a fair trial. I will re-introduce foods from time to time and if they are still bothersome, they are red-listed. Gluten, apples and grapes are for sure on the red list.

I hoped that helped; my best advice is to remain curious and listen to your body as it will tell you what it needs. Sometimes it is just so hard to interpret :)

Hi Melanie,
YES diet plays a HUGE roll in my UC (and also with my arthritis). I wont overwhelm you with information, but I have done a fair bit of research and experimentation with foods, and I have found that my health improves tremendously when I:

Stay away from sugar; processed foods, especially processed grains; and dairy.

Now, this is a tall order, it's not very fun at first, but you learn to get the hang of it, and for me, it was SO worth it. A few resources for you:

A book about the Specific card Diet:
http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vicious-Cycle-Intestinal-Through/dp/0969276818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371393599&sr=8-1&keywords=breaking+the+vicious+cycle+by+elaine+gottschall

A wonderful blog about a couple who is determined to fix her husband's Crohn's with diet (and she does). The story is inspiring and the recipes are delicious:
http://roostblog.com/

BEST OF LUCK!! =)

Specific Carb* Diet
=)

It's really a six of one or half a dozen or the other.

I'm pretty much like you Melanie. I stay away from stuff that damn near kills me like pumpkin pie and oatmeal or even whole grain bread.

I have tried Specific diets for fairly extended lengths of time and experienced no improvement.

I do very well with dairy, ground beef, Brussels sprouts , those little orange colored peanut butter or cheese crackers, baked tilapia, canned peaches and even thin crust cheese pizza.

I love garden salads, but I can't afford produce very often.

Thankfully my UC has gone from life threatening to an infrequent inconvenience.

I consider not pooping my pants for six or seven months something to be really grateful for.

I really feel for you being tired of the constant struggle.

You look so much like my daughter and her name is Melanie also and she to has UC, best wishes sweetie. mm

I can directly link my flares to food most of the time. I can't have dairy at any time, flaring or not. It will cause a flare for me. In fact, when I was first diagnosed the doctors directly linked the onset with the onset of my dairy intolerance and would not guess which was first. I also can't eat pork in any form without issues.

There are a lot of foods I have to avoid if I am having any stomach issues but that I can tolerate if all is well. It seems to be a personal issue for most of us. I agree with keeping a food diary to find if there are links for you.

I know that food affects how I feel. I have a long list of foods that cause me pain and/or diarrhea, and I also recently started using a Food Combination diet. I t has to do with eating this with that, but not with the other at certain times during the meal. For example, no bread with meat or other proteins. Bread with veggies. Meat with veggies.
Foods I sadly had to give up:
Citrus,
Corn in any form
Broccoli, cabbage, spinach, cauliflower
Potato Chips!
Deli meats
Any lettuce except iceberg
Pork
Coffee
Melons
Potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, eggplant
anything in a box
microwave meals
Good luck. If you want more info about food combining, there are a few good resources with charts on the internet. I also looked into "Great Taste, No Pain" ...search it. Has a lot of good free info, but you can order a manual and cookbook as well.

Just a quick note about maters. I did not think I could eat them because every time I did I had issues. Then I had a brilliant idea. I now peel my tomatoes and they do not bother me. It turns out I cannot process the peel. I have found this with other things also. Grapes for example. If I squeeze the goody out and spit out the hull there is no problem. Just thought I would pass it one in the "for what it's worth" dept.