Is varied eating necessary?

[sonja]

Hi all,

All general advises insists that people should eat varied. But the food I can tolerate is limited and I notice that I tend to eat often the same food, because I react without problems to it.
Now I wonder: is it a problem if I should eat every day the same?
I would like to hear your ideas about this. Thank you in advance.
Sonja

[Gabes-Apg]

eating a variety foods is moreso a marketing ploy - it is not nutritionally necessary

In remote areas of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, South American, Africa, Pacific Islands, there are populations of people that eat a limited base of ingredient their whole lives. They did not have heart disease, diabetes, IBD's. only when western influence of food and alcohol came into those areas did they start to have health issues

It was only 100 years ago that our grandparents mainstream eating was bland small amount of ingredients, minimal processed foods (the main processed food that purchased was bread) everything else was cooked at home. Only the very rich ate out regularly.

[Gabes-Apg]

https://thediplomat.com/2019/10/island- ... o-stop-it/

Despite farming and fishing providing food and income for up to 80 percent of the population, Pacific Islanders have become increasingly dependent on imported and processed foods, which are often high in salt, sugar and fat.
The consequences for both people and planet are manifold: In many countries, nearly 70 percent of the population is now overweight or obese, and levels of diabetes, heart disease and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are on the rise.



I was working in Tonga (South Pacific island not far from New Zealand) in 2007. Their hospital did not have a heart disease ward or cardiac specialist until early 2000's. Only when processed foods, and waste product type foods from New Zealand became part of the mainstream food supply did the country start to have Heart issues with their population
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/han ... 610441_eng
It was determined that people were 2.2 times more likely to be obese and 2.4 times more likely to be diabetic if they consumed fat from imported foods rather than from traditional fat sources


When I first got diagnosed with MC and did large amount of reading about diet, my food staples are based on what my ancestors ate. Even the cooking methods is similar. Meat on the bone slow cooked, veggies cooked with the meat. I have been eating the same 'staples' for 13 years

[tex]

I totally agree with Gabes. Consider the Eskimos: until less than about 50 years ago, they lived on caribou, seal meat, and whale blubber. They never had to worry about diabetes, coronary artery disease, or other diet-related diseases, until they started eating like people in most developed countries, and now they have the same disease problems that we have. For thousands of years, the American Plains Indians (Indians that lived on the plains of the Western US), lived mostly on venison, bison, and a little corn.

My own diet is very restricted. For approximately the last 10 years, I have eaten only pork, corn (for tortillas and corn chips), chicken eggs, and one banana each day, with a little of either almond butter, or cashew butter. I eat exactly the same, everyday, except that on Sundays, I sometimes have a pancake with maple syrup for breakfast. I do take vitamins, just to be on the safe side, but I probably don't need most of them.

If you look at civilization patterns, developed societies of the world began eating a more varied diet mostly as a symbol of affluence, simply because throughout history, royalty and the wealthy tended to eat large varieties of foods in order to impress everyone else. Diet variety became a status symbol.

Tex

[sonja]

Dear Games and Tex,
Thank you very much! this is really very helpful.
Sonja

[tex]

Also, you might find the newsletter at the following link to be helpful.

https://www.microscopiccolitisfoundatio ... 46cea2.pdf

Tex

[sonja]

Thank you. I had read it before, but now with another 'view'. It is helpful.
Love
Sonja

[AGM]

One easy way to add variety when you're unable to eat many different foods is to eat a different variety of each food every few days, e.g different varieties of potato, apple, carrot, pumpkin etc. Each different variety needs different gut bacteria to digest it, so it contributes to a varied, healthy gut biome. Current research is showing that a varied gut biome is important for overall health (including obviously gut health and in particular mental health). Some indigenous peoples may have had what appear to be limited diets, but the variety of vegetables they ate would far outnumber what is normal in a modern diet. In Latin America for example, the varieties of potato people ate reached the hundreds and likewise with corn varieties. There is an indigenous group in a part of Africa (I would have to look for the details, as I can't remember which right now) that has been studied in relation to their gut health, which is incredibly healthy and varied due to the vast variety of roots and vegetables they consume. Obviously they aren't consuming any processed food (they're still hunter gatherers), but I do believe that variety is important.

Current scientific research suggests one should aim for 30 different plant foods a week (in Australia the average person consumes half or less of that). I try and do that through the different varieties of what I can eat, as that counts. It isn't marketing, because it has nothing to do with processed food, in fact it is all about promoting a whole food diet, without processed and ultra-processed foods.

[Gabes-Apg]

AGM

The research you are mentioning, was it done on IBD patients or healthy people?

[AGM]

Here is a link to the research: https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/ms ... mWz-ET2E04

It was undertaken on "healthy people" with no self-reported diseases such as IBD, but it was research comparing thousands of people's gut biomes (across several countries and including hunter gatherers) and looking at what they ate etc. These people were not fed a specific diet, rather their diet was looked at and results showed that those with a more varied diet had a more varied gut biome and less disease/ill health, including things like IBD. The point being that this suggests people with a varied gut biome are less likely to develop IBD. An unhealthy gut biome has also been linked with higher levels of inflammation. Obviously that is irrelevant here, but I believe the take-home to be that if one can get to a place of healing that allows you to eat a variety of different foods (as I said before in my post, this can be through eating different types of pumpkin, carrots, apples etc, so it is doable), then your gut will heal even more, as your gut biome is more varied = healthy, resulting in less inflammation and less likelihood of flareups. I follow some people who have IBD and have been in remission for years and who work in this area, helping people reach a place of healing that allows for food variety. Obviously there is more to the equation than just food, taking into consideration exercise, stress reduction, mindfulness, sleep etc, but I believe it to be important.

There are many other studies now related to the gut biome and IBDs, but I'm not going to spend time searching for them now to post here.

[tex]

The reason your point is irrelevant to most of the members of this forum is because many of the members here ate what they thought was a healthy diet, exercised regularly, did all the things you're recommending — yet here they are with an IBD, anyway. The gut biome advantage associated with reducing the risk of IBD is relatively minor in the overall scheme of things. And once we develop an IBD, our gut biome is skewed, and remains skewed until our digestive system heals and normal digestive capability returns. But an altered gut biome will remain, because gut biomes are almost entirely determined by diet and environment. And when we try to expand our diet by introducing new foods, we have a relatively high risk of triggering a reaction, which can easily turn into a relapse, and then we're back at square one.

Consequently, trying to convince IBD patients to eat a more varied diet is counterproductive. If you want to preach that gospel, you should be preaching to people who don't have an IBD, because most of them can add foods to their diet without any abnormal risk. Our ability to add foods to our diet is limited, and fraught with risk.

Tex

[sonja]

Hi AGM and Tex
Thank you for this discussion, because this makes things very clear for me! And that is that I do good to stick to my limited diet and don't be afraid to limit it even more, when I feel fine with every day the same food.
Sonja

PS sorry for the delay, but I didn't succeed to receive notifications in my mail

[sonja]

And Gabes of course, thank you too. That was a very good question and the answers on that reveal a lot.
Sonja