Just a quick testimony: I started a juice fast a week ago. In Poland there is a book by MD Ewa Dabrowska which explains the rationale behind vegetable/juice fasts. She has had long practice curing people of seemingly incurable diseases by putting them on vegetable fasts, which can last from 7 days to 6 weeks. I was very sceptical about this and especially about if it applies to me. For quite some time raw vegetables seemed to me the most intestine unfriendly food. I had been almost sure I would never be able to eat raw vegetables again till I read her book. I decided to try it out, with the only exception - I didn't start with raw vegetables, but vegetable (mostly carrot) juices. According to the book, the first three days are the worst, since the organism is still in "normal feeding" mode and feels the lack of calories. But usually around the third day there is a sort of crisis (which can even include fever or some other unpleasant symptoms) and after that organism puts itself into "healing" mode, starting to eliminate weak/damaged cells, toxins etc, burning its own energy.
To my surprise, for me it worked out as described in the book. The third day was a crisis (although a mild one) and after that it only got better. I lost about 3 kg (6 pounds) so far, which is not so bad after 8 days fasting, but my disease symptoms have all but vanished. I realise this may be because juices in general put little stress on intestines, but even if this is the case, it means I can digest raw vegetables and generally feel very well.
To give some background: I was diagnosed in 12/2012 after apendectomy as a likely "Crohn case", but the later tests were not 100% indicative of that. CRP was high, colonoscopy and MR showed signs of inflammation, and I certainly had intestine inflammation symptoms, but biopsy was interpreted as "non-specific inflammation". I was put on Entocort, mesalasine and Azatioprine. I took Aza for only about a month and dropped it (after reading about side effects), against my doctor's advice, who seemed to be very keen on it, then stayed only on Entocort and after 11 months reached an uncertain remission (CRP was a bit higher than the norm, but GI decided I had already been on steroids far too long). So I haven't taken medication for about 8 months. Instead I have been taking fish oil, flaxseed oil, curcumin, boswellia and probiotics, and chose a low carbohydrate diet (not 100% SCD), which let me stay in a "sort-of" remission, that is with rather mild inflammation symptoms.
When I finish the juice fast, I shall see if the relief it gave my body, was temporary or maybe it actively promotes intestine healing. The most surprising thing is that doctors (and GIs too!) know so little about
the role of diet and fasting in intestine diseases and if it were not for some hard-to-find books and forums like this one, one would believe the doctors' myth that "diet-contributes-nothing" to Crohn's! This is exactly what I heard from all the doctors in hospital and my GI, too.