Colitis dietary taboos

Avoid foods that will significantly aggravate your symptoms after eating them, and on this basis, avoid high-risk categories that are recognized to have a high probability of irritating the intestines.

A while ago, I met a man who had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis for half a year. He read a health post that said "eat more whole grains to protect the intestines." He ate corn and oat bran porridge for three days in a row until he couldn't stand up. The ulcer on the colonoscopy was even redder than last time. To put it bluntly, he just stepped on the trap of "generalization". Different types and stages of colitis have different dietary taboos.

Nowadays, there are actually two mainstream ideas about taboos for colitis in the gastroenterology department. There is no better or worse, but they are just suitable for different groups of people. One is the "mild and low-irritation" principle that has been passed down for many years. It is suitable for patients who are in the active stage and have obvious congestion, ulcers, and bleeding points under colonoscopy. It requires minimizing intestinal friction and irritation. The core is to avoid high-residue, high-oil, and highly irritating foods. The other is a low-FODMAP diet that has become more and more popular in recent years. It is more suitable for patients who cannot find clear trigger foods and are complicated by irritable bowel syndrome and suffer from gas and colic at all times. The core is to eliminate short-chain carbohydrates that are difficult to absorb, such as excess lactose, fructose, and polyol sugar substitutes, to reduce the osmotic pressure stimulation of the intestines. Many people will have their gas problems significantly relieved after trying it.

Don't think that taboos mean you can't eat this or that. I've seen many patients who were so nervous when they were first diagnosed that they didn't even dare to touch fruits at room temperature. They drank plain porridge and boiled vegetables. In less than half a month, they lost five or six pounds in weight. Their immunity was broken, and inflammation caused recurring symptoms. It’s really unnecessary. Let’s take the iced milk tea that everyone loves in the summer as an example. Some patients are fine with half a cup, while others have to run to the toilet half an hour after taking a sip. The latter will of course put iced drinks on their blacklist. The former, as long as they don’t drink it during active periods, can occasionally satisfy their cravings. It’s already hard enough to be sick, so there’s no need to deprive them of that little happiness just for the so-called “correctness”.

Of course, this does not mean that all foods can be tried blindly. There are some high-risk items that will aggravate symptoms for most patients. You can avoid pitfalls according to your own situation. Oh, by the way, needless to say, strong irritants, strong liquor, cold beer just taken out of the refrigerator, super spicy tripe from the hot pot and stuffed directly into the mouth. To put it bluntly, these things are to sprinkle irritants on the intestinal mucosa with wounds. Don't touch them during the active period. During the stable period, even if you are greedy, you have to taste it briefly. Don't act too hard with the mentality of "I'm fine", you will be the one to suffer.

There are also dietary fibers that many people can’t distinguish. Don’t just eat them when you hear “dietary fiber is good for the intestines.” Those kinds of insoluble fiber that have a lot of chewing residue, such as old celery stalks, leeks, the hard skin left on the teeth after chewing corn, and wheat bran, really should not touch them during the active period. When these small hard residues scratch the ulcer surface, they are no different from sandpaper grinding wounds, which can easily aggravate bleeding and abdominal pain. But if you have entered a stable period and the mucosa has grown well under colonoscopy, you can add a little more to help regulate the intestinal flora, which will be beneficial to the condition. Oh, by the way, soluble dietary fiber is an exception, such as the glutinous white fungus soup, the layer of paste on the surface of oatmeal, and steamed apple puree. These are soft and will not irritate the mucous membranes, so you can eat them with confidence during active periods.

There is also an invisible pitfall that many people don’t know: sugar substitutes. Nowadays, everyone is afraid that eating too much sugar is bad. Many people will choose sugar-free Coke and sugar-free biscuits. However, they do not know that sugar substitutes such as aspartame, erythritol, and xylitol are added to them. Many people will suffer from flatulence and diarrhea after eating them, especially patients who are prone to flatulence. There are many people who have a bloated belly like a small ball after drinking a can of sugar-free Coke. If you are not sure, try to avoid it. Oh, and there are also pickled high-salt foods, such as old pickles, bacon, and pickled fish that have been stored for several years. No matter what type of colitis you have or what stage you are in, try to eat as little as possible. Not only will it irritate the intestinal mucosa, but long-term consumption will also increase the risk of intestinal cancer. This is recognized by gastroenterologists around the world and there is no controversy.

There is a particularly useful method popular among my fellow patients. You don’t need to look up complicated taboo lists. You can just keep a small book (or a mobile phone memo) to keep a food diary for two weeks. What you ate on that day, and whether you had diarrhea, abdominal pain, or mucus in the stool that day. After two weeks of recording, you can basically find your own trigger foods, which is more accurate than all the general lists on the Internet. For example, a little girl I know eats mangoes that no one else dares to touch, but nothing happens to her. Instead, she gets flatulence and diarrhea when she eats boiled eggs. Eggs are her exclusive taboo, and other people's reference is of little significance.

One last thing to say, taboos are to make you more comfortable, not to make you an ascetic. If you are not sure whether you can eat something, just try a small amount and continue eating if you feel no discomfort after eating. After all, you still have to live a good life, right?