subject: Day 0- Part 1 Colitis Diet Symptoms Disease Ibs Crohns Treatment [print this page] Can Diet Change Alone Cure Crohn's Disease
The chronic infection known as Crohn's Disease is a very painful disease of the gastrointestinal tract. While not fatal the pain and discomfort can come and go over the course of a lifetime. Some doctors and researchers have come to the conclusion that all this life long suffering may not be necessary. They feel that a change in diet is the ticket to a life free of Crohn's related symptoms and side effects.
Conventional wisdom in the medical community follows a regimen of drugs, minor life change and possibly surgery as a means of managing the illness. Patients diagnosed with Crohn's are told the best they can hope for is occasional remission from the disease until a cure is found. The damage done to the intestinal tract continues unabated masked over by the medications, which often come with insidious side effects of their own. The patient, meantime, gets weaker and weaker.
Many researchers believe the culprit behind Crohn's and many other chronic ailments is the Western or American diet which is loaded with processed foods, fats and sugar. These researchers favor changing the diet altogether by going back to a simpler, unprocessed way of eating that is also free from excess sugar. The argument for changing diet is a sound one given the epidemics of obesity, cancer, heart disease as well as other illnesses along with Crohn's Disease. Crohn's is in fact just one of a number of illnesses that chronically affect all or part of the gastrointestinal tract. These ailments begin to appear in other cultures when Americanized eating and preparing food is introduced. People get fatter and start suffering and dying in similar fashion to Americans.
Scientists and researchers recommend removing all meat, dairy, eggs and other processed foods. Some mandate switching to a raw food diet of only organically grown produce to circumvent the heavy use of pesticides and other chemicals that coat typical American produce. Raw food proponents maintain that a raw food diet will cure Crohn's Disease completely. This way of eating is not new, having been around for hundreds of years. It consists mainly of whole, raw or juiced fruits and organic vegetables with added portions of nuts, seeds and some fatty fruits. Those who are dealing with a chronic illness should first talk to a doctor before switching to a new eating regimen. If you wish to go it alone then start out with non acidic raw fruits like bananas. Simple fruits are the easiest to digest.
On the other hand, vegetables may prove difficult in the very beginning for your system to handle. Eating vegetables right away may even exacerbate your situation worsening your symptoms for a while. Go slow adding foods gradually will allow your system to adapt more easily. Spread the conversion over a months time for best effects. Just be consistent. It is not uncommon to feel worse before you feel better. Know that healing is happening and better health is right around the corner.
