Having an inflammatory bowel disease can be frustrating and depressing. Whether it’s Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis or just an irritable bowel doctors rarely have much advice beyond “swallow these expensive and potentially dangerous pills & eat what agrees with you.” Food can often feel like the enemy. This leaves us with much work to be done — on our own.

The challenge

Control over our diet gives us power over our disease. We must accept this challenge and responsibility to prepare and ingest healthy, healing foods! Trial and error is the only way to determine a diet that works. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but once you start figuring out what hurts and what heals you’ll feel better about yourself, gain control over your disease and become optimistic about the future.

Finding the path

Sugar, bread, pasta and carbohydrates were all part of my daily diet. Breads and pastas are supposed to help us gain weight and bulk up — a typical problem for those with diarrhea several times a day. But after years of trial and error, and discovering some really good books, I’ve found a new path path that’s working for me — one that humans have been traversing since the beginning.

Paleo

I had mixed results on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) for over a year, but 4 weeks eating only Paleo foods and I’m convinced it’s the best thing I’ve tried for Crohn’s. By avoiding SCD legal foods like beans, peanuts and all fruit juices I’ve managed to completely eliminate diarrhea — something I struggled with 3-5 times a day for the last 10 years. I’m making huge progress, but I’m also just getting warmed up for the marathon ahead.

Try the diet — see for yourself. I’ll be here along the way, journaling my struggles, posting articles, tips and answers to your questions on the forum.