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Diagnosed 10 years ago, 5 years symptom free

I was diagnosed with Crohns in 2007 and put on medication. I had three biopsies over the next few years, all confirming the condition. At the time, I went through a period of feeling like giving up. Then a friend suggested i should go through an extreme makeover and got me in touch with a personal trainer. I feel he saved my life. Over time, he got me to loose around 40 pounds, change my diet radically and exercise every day.

The last two biopsies i've had show no trace of Crohns. I've been effectively symptom free for 5 years. Stopped taking medication long before that. But I am sure that it hasn't gone away. All it takes is a few days of bad eating, and i get bad gut trouble. So I'm really careful what I eat, how much stress i allow myself to go through, sleep patterns and so forth.

I'm sure every person is biologically unique. At the same time, there are things that are common for us all. Over the last few years, i've spent a lot of time looking into nutrition research and non-pharmacological routes to health. I'm more and more convinced that what we put in our mouths is crucial to our health.

I often think that my diagnosis was the best thing that happened to me. I suffered from depression and hyper-anxiety for many years. Now I can say I am happy and normal. The most amazing period was the change i felt following giving up gluten; after a few weeks, i noticed the depression and anxiety lifting. Its been like that ever since.

The following are what i believe to be the most important factors that made me symptom free, in order of importance.

1. No gluten
2. No artificial foods, additives, MSG, Yeast, etc. No artificial gluten substitutes.
3. Eating minimal or zero non-processed foods, no frying.
4. Eating lots of vegetables, lightly steamed or raw, and salads, all as organic as possible.
5. Exercise to sweating every day. 1 hour at least.
6. No smoking
7. No alcohol
8. Meditation

I now look on vegetables as superfoods. I went through a period of taking lots of supplements, and they caused problems. I now think its important to get the supplements from food as much as possible.

There was one other key. Once i started realising the importance of food, I stopped thinking i had to 'give stuff up'. Instead, i sort of look at it as stopping self harm. I still struggle with sweet stuff; i can binge on dates and 10% chocolate, but mostly, i'm really happy with what i eat, and don't miss anything. Thats because after about 6-12 weeks, our palate retrains. So we should not be thinking 'diet' or restriction, or having to give up, but rather align our palate with the needs of our bodies.
 
Thanks. I guess that is always a big factor. Its not easy to get aftercare or preventative help here in the UK on the national health service. Too much emergency stuff I guess. I forget the figures but IIRC there's a much higher risk of bowel cancer, as well as the usual flare ups etc. As far as I can tell, its only when the condition becomes critical that the docs get interested again here.

One of the main reasons i started looking into alternatives to pharmaceutical therapy was the side effects of the meds themselves. At times they felt worse than the condition. Seems to me that suppressing the immune system in the medium and long term is not a plan. Though there are herbs that have a surprisingly strong immune suppressing capacity with smaller side effects. I still think its better to work on finding and stopping what's triggering the immune system in the intestinal tract, rather than just suppressing the function.
 
ebarker2," I still think its better to work on finding and stopping what's triggering the immune system in the intestinal tract, rather than just suppressing the function." This sentence is very innovative! The reasonable diet may be a good switch to open/close the excessive response of immune system.
 
Congratulation ebarker for your efforts and sharing.

I also believe diet is very important in general (though I dont think it can cure or kick down crohn's inflammation alone), and I avoid processed food and junk food too. But i'm not confortable with the no gluten diet. Probably because I love it, and dont eat it makes me sad... but also because I can't find subsitutes that'd give me the same amount of energy... I have strictures so I can't eat tons of fruits and vegetables...

How do you substitute gluten in your diet?
 
I find whole wheat to be beneficial, but I suspecting yeast may be a problem, even some studies shows immune response to wheat in crohn's patients.

I exercise but just walking everyday i know studies show people that work out hard have lots of disease protection but i think some of that is an association because I mean you need energy to work out that hard, and people with energy are already healthy you know, so saying heavy exercise makes people healthy is like saying being healthy makes you healthy, haha. No I'm sure exercise does do alot of good rats studies it's easier to show relationships between diseases more then humans so I'll still exercise.
 
I find whole wheat to be beneficial, but I suspecting yeast may be a problem, even some studies shows immune response to wheat in crohn's patients.

Although the whole wheat, like noodle is against the SCD' diet, you feel good and test them more than 4 weeks or longer. I think this good news for me because my child want to eat noodle.:hug:
Waiting for your kindly response!
 
I find whole wheat to be beneficial, but I suspecting yeast may be a problem, even some studies shows immune response to wheat in crohn's patients.

Although the whole wheat, like noodle is against the SCD' diet, you feel good and test them more than 4 weeks or longer. I think this good news for me because my child want to eat noodle.:hug:
Waiting for your kindly response!
Some types of wheat I've responded negatively too while others have been fine, it was organic wheat i think the irritated me organic food always irritates me, i think it's the types of pesticides they use. The SCD diet shouldn't be followed exactly, because not everyone will respond in the same way to every food, it's just meant to be a guideline and some of the guidelines may be wrong for you.
 
Some types of wheat I've responded negatively too while others have been fine, it was organic wheat i think the irritated me organic food always irritates me, i think it's the types of pesticides they use. The SCD diet shouldn't be followed exactly, because not everyone will respond in the same way to every food, it's just meant to be a guideline and some of the guidelines may be wrong for you.
Thank! Do you have another medicines from your GI when you keep your eight points that are the important factors?
 
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