Suggested Eating Plan - Stage ONE

[tex]

Hello Joy,

Your English is fine. Regarding when to begin adding foods, we have to listen to our body. It will usually tell us whether we are ready to add foods, or not. It's better to wait too long to add new foods, than to try to add them too soon. We don't want to trigger a relapse by trying to add new foods too soon. The longer we heal, the easier it is to tolerate new foods. Back when I was recovering, when I decided I was ready, I would try a new food, and if it caused no problems, I would add it to my diet. If it caused some sort of problem, I would stop eating it and wait a few more weeks before trying something else.

A very small percentage of us feel that we are helped by taking a probiotic. But for most of us, probiotics either make no difference, or cause us to react. As you have found, it's usually helpful to take a probiotic following an antibiotic treatment, because antibiotics tend to wipe out the bacteria in our intestines, and the probiotic can prevent pathogenic bacteria from establishing a colony. But after we have a well-established bacteria population (microbiome) in our colon, taking a probiotic should be unnecessary, because the probiotic bacteria cannot establish a colony in our intestines, so they end up in the toilet each day, anyway.

The reason for this is that probiotic bacteria are raised in a laboratory, and laboratory-raised bacteria are not capable of attaching to the lining of our colon. Only bacteria that grew up in someone's intestines are able to attach to the lining of our colon.

I hope this is helpful.

Tex

[Joy]

Hi Tex,
It is very helpful thank you! And I have to say, rarely I've found someone to explain things to me in such a clear way.
Joy

[cloud9er]

How many times a day are we allowed to eat the 1-3 vegetables please?

Kind Regards,

Amy

[tex]

I'm no nutritionist, and Gabes is probably better at this than I am, but in my opinion, the answer to your question depends on our current level of fiber tolerance. The more Intestinal inflammation we have, the less likely we are to be able to tolerate significant amounts of fiber. And as we begin to heal, our tolerance for fiber tends to slowly increase. After we're in remission for a while, and our intestines have a few months or more to heal, we can usually tolerate almost normal amounts of fiber, but usually not as much fiber as we could tolerate before we developed MC. And remember, we're all different, so what works for some of us, won't work for everyone.

If I were testing "new" vegetables, I would start out with small amounts of something that's relatively low in fiber (as vegetables go), peeled (to remove most of the fiber), and overcooked (to make it easier to digest). Listen to your body, and if that works well, and you still feel confident, increase the serving size, and after a few days, try another. if something doesn't work for you, back off, and give your body more healing time before trying again.

I hope this helps.

Tex

[cloud9er]

Hi Tex,

Thank you! I wondered if people eat potatoes and one or two veggies with every meal. I tend to only eat potatoes with lunch and dinner but broccoli and carrots just at dinner. I may add to breakfast at some point.

Kind Regards,

Amy

[tex]

Most of us probably have our own preferences for various meals, depending on what works best. Back when I was originally recovering, my breakfast often looked like my other meals. In other words, it was leftovers from meals the day before. Fortunately, I'm not sensitive to chicken eggs or pork, so I eat eggs and bacon for most breakfasts, and Chex Gluten-free cereals for the other breakfasts — occasionally, pancakes made from King Arthur Classic Gluten-Free Pancake Mix, with maple syrup, and bacon.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

I do have other vegetables with meat a couple of times a day.
this is to increase intake of other key nutrients
(veges like Sweet Potato, cauliflower, broccoli have Vit B6, Vit C, potassium )

this is also to have some variety in taste for the meals

[cloud9er]

For a bone broth, what should the ratio of bones to water be please? Or roughly how many litres of water should be added to the bones?

Also I think having fruits and vegetables in a puréed form have been helping me.


Kind Regards,

Amy

[tex]

The ratio isn't critical. Simply use whatever fits the slow cooker or pot you use. Here's a link to a past newsletter published by the Microscopic Colitis Foundation that includes Gabes' bone broth recipe:

https://www.microscopiccolitisfoundatio ... h_2023.pdf

Tex

[PattyD]

But after we have a well-established bacteria population (microbiome) in our colon, taking a probiotic should be unnecessary, because the probiotic bacteria cannot establish a colony in our intestines, so they end up in the toilet each day, anyway.

The reason for this is that probiotic bacteria are raised in a laboratory, and laboratory-raised bacteria are not capable of attaching to the lining of our colon. Only bacteria that grew up in someone's intestines are able to attach to the lining of our colon.

I hope this is helpful.

Tex

I appreciate this. It has been in my mind as well over the years. I jumped down the wholistic nutrition rabbit hole over a decade ago and can't unlearn what I have learned but at the same time learning to "follow the money" in all areas of advice/consumerism. What is your opinion on soil based organisms probiotic wise? There are some that claim to survive stomach acid and have the ability to attach to our colon. Thoughts?

[tex]

I'm not very familiar with the use of probiotics, because very few of us benefit from them, and for most of us, they make no difference. The downside is that for a few of us, they can prevent us from reaching remission. And the American Gastroenterological Association Institute specifically recommends against the use of probiotics when treating MC (probably because so few patients benefit from them). Those who feel that they benefit from probiotics praise them, but as with many other issues associated with MC, we're all different.

Sorry, that I couldn't be more helpful.

Tex

[PattyD]

Thanks for your input Tex :) I appreciate you. <3

[ovenroutine]

Hello! I am new here, and a little confused about fiber. I have seen a lot of things that say Psyllium husk is really help for MC, but in this diet plan it says to avoid fiber. If I am in stage one of the eating plan (I'm newly diagnosed), should I continue to take Psyllium husk or avoid it? Thank you!

[Gabes-Apg]

Like a lot of things in MC world, Psyllium Husk has helped some people but can cause major issues for others

In the early stages of healing it is best to avoid fibre.
I would suggest trying the psyllium husk only when you have had a few weeks of stabilised symptoms so you can gauge if it is helpful or troublesome.

[ovenroutine]

Should I not expect to feel better for a few weeks on this eating plan? I’m only about ten days in and while my energy is better, my diarrhea is not. Does it take awhile for this to work? Thank you