Crohn's Disease

[vexvelour]

Has anyone here ever suffered from this and reversed it with raw foods? My best friend suffers from Crohn's and I have done quite a bit of research but I end up more confused than ever. Some say yes, the raw foods diet can reverse Crohn's by fixing the intestines and colon. Some say no, that raw foods are too harsh on the digestive tract and that green leafies will in fact make the symptoms worse.

She has already promised me she'll be trying more raw fruits and veggies in her diet, but I just recently learned of how bad this got for her at one point (we live in different cities and don't see each other much). She told me she is taking psycillum (sp?) powder for fiber and that it helps, but I doubt this is curative, just a natural band aid.

Thanks in advance for any insight or help. I believe in the body's natural curative power with the right foods and would like to pass the good word on to her. :)

[Revvell]

Do a search for Paul Nison and, I did a couple of interviews with him on Rawkin' Radio. Might want to check them out.

[EscapeArtist]

Because you have done a lot of research, i'm almost positive you already know this but often Crohns is complicated, or caused, by gluten (in wheat, rye, spelt, etc.. glutenous grains) and lactose and your body being unable to digest it properly. It's an auto-immune disease, which occurs with molecular mimicry (you ingest certain proteins that are recognized as invaders to your body, your body confuses with it's own proteins, antibodies attack both your body and the intrusive proteins. Most commonly this happens with gluten) So I'm assuming that a raw food diet would help enormously because it elliminates gluten, lactose, and other foods like grains that, even though in the healing process without those main two, could slow the process.

I'd suggest that if you're going to transition to raw, first cut out gluten and lactose and see if it helps. Even if it does, you can still go fully raw of course :D but if you're going to slowly ease into raw with an auto-immune disease such as Crohn's, it's important that you get rid of those two foods first

(woops, I wrote that to you not your friend. Haha, change all those "yous" to "your friend")

[MelanieBear]

As someone who has healed Ulcerative Colitis (which is the same pathology but limited to the bowel rather than the entire digestive tract, as with Crohn's) and an herbal practitioner, I have some very particular thoughts about this question. They are:

1. Your friend must be the person who takes action on his or her own behalf and finds out what resonates best to him/her. It's wonderful that you want to support and be helpful, but please be wary of coming to any conclusions about what's right for your friend. That's up to your friend and his or her medical providers. (Yes, I include both conventional and complimentary medical practitioners here. Conventional medicine saved my life after I took the wrong approach to raw food and nearly died.)

2. There are times when there's nothing better than a raw diet and there are times when a raw diet can be terribly harmful. During an acute flare of Crohn's or Colitis, a high fiber diet can produce terrible pain, inflammation, and worsening of symptoms. During remission stages, it can prevent these things---in many, but not all, patients. For anyone who is hell-bent on staying raw during an acute flare, I recommend juicing. Fiber can literally tear up an already inflamed, bleeding, and friable bowel. Experiencing worsening symptoms from going raw during a flare is NOT, NOT, NOT "detox."

3. I agree with the previous poster that gluten and other allergens can be part of the issue. Soy protein is a big trigger for me. This may be a time to look at more gentle transition and eliminating allergens rather than trying to go all raw. That can happen later when the body can handle the demands of digesting raw food. (Which is not, contrary to popular belief in the raw community, easier to digest for a person with Irritable Bowel Disesases.)

Just keep supporting your friend, and make sure that any information you present to him or her (including mine!) is just an offering----and that the final decision always rests with your friend. He or she *must* be the person who is empowered here.

All the best to both of you. I know how difficult and scary this road can be.

~Melanie

[vexvelour]

Thanks to all that posted with advice. I am not the type of person to force my will on anyone, and I couldn't force her to do anything even if I tried. She mentioned to me during our last conversation that dairy is a trigger for her but that so many foods contain it directly or indirectly it's hard for her to avoid it (typical SAD). I am more trying to give her another option: fresh foods.

Thank you, EscapeArtist, for taking the time to explain that. I didn't know that gluten and lactose are the two most common, although I'm sure my friend knows. I think some people live so long on the SAD that fruits and veggies aren't considered as a realistic option for a meal.

[RoseGreen]

As an Ulcerative Colitis patient myself, I have found that diet works wonders to keep me in remission and feeling good. I still need to take my meds and Remicade infusions as my case is severe, but feeling well day-to-day and managing chronic pain from associated spondylarthropathy totally depends on feeding myself well. I have read research saying that Crohn's and colitis patients do best with diets avoiding foods that trigger an inflammatory response, which could start a full blown flare-up for me. So I avoid meat, dairy, soy, and gluten as they all can do this.

I have yet to experience eating raw during a flare-up. [correction: I have yet to experience being able to keep food in at all during a flare-up, haha, which is why I drop weight like a rock at those times]. So I guess juicing sounds like the way to go! But lots of fiber and nutrients from live greens, veggies, and fruits when healthy is wonderful for me.

I am feeling realy great right now on raw (though I am still not 100%). But what little I eat cooked is definitely not the SAD. I am taking MSM as well which helps tremendously with the spondylarthropathy and sacroiliitis. I'm running again and sleeping well too. Sleeping less, but better than before, actually. My rheumatologist is lowering the dosage and increasing the time between infusions because my symptoms are so well managed now. That will be so nice because I would be very thin if not for the Remicade! It is a safe bet that I will always be reading up on nutrition studies (and eating raw as much as possible) because it affects me so directly.

[Blazin'Jane]

David Klein has a wonderful book on curing Crohb's, IBS, and Colitis naturally. He has a website, too. I recommend his book and know some people who have been helped by him. He is quite accessible by email and phone, I believe. Good luck!