|
|
| IBD REMISSION DIET |
| Chapter I - The story and the vision |
| THE IBD REMISSION DIET is a very specific natural diet and supplementation plan devised to induce disease remission; by completely healing the gastrointestinal tract, starving off all the bacteria in your intestine and replacing them with good bacteria, and restoring health and balance from the cellular level on up throughout the immune system. Although it is specifically formulated to address inflammatory bowel conditions like Crohn's, Ulcerative Colitis and Diverticulitis, you will probably find other health problems will also be resolved as the program facilitates extensive whole body healing. |
| My previous book, LISTEN TO YOUR GUT: Natural Healing & Dealing With Inflammatory Bowel Disease & Irritable Bowel Syndrome, (available at www.caramal.com) contains a section on using an elemental diet to induce disease remission or test for food allergies. However, feedback from readers told me they wanted more. Following an elemental diet is a difficult undertaking requiring a lot of self-discipline and they wanted more information on the basis and reasoning behind the diet and also more detailed instructions on implementation. This book provides both and I have also extended the elemental diet to include my whole-body-healing supplementation plan. If you're going to undertake something as difficult and restrictive as an elemental diet, then you might as well fully commit to it and use this period to facilitate a complete overhaul and root-level healing of your body and immune system. And who knows, many of you may even experience the C-word (cure!) as a result. |
| Recent clinical trials involving children with active Crohn's disease in England and Italy have demonstrated that "elemental diet therapy is as effective as steroids in inducing remission, whilst avoiding steroid side effects" (Dr. Bhupinder Sandhu). In the English study, 44 children with Crohn's were put on an elemental diet and 40 of them (90%) achieved clinical remission in an average of 6 weeks (individual times on the elemental diet ranged from 2 - 12 weeks). In the Italian study, 37 children were assigned to an elemental diet and 10 children were assigned methylprednisone (steroids). Thirty-two (86%) of the children on the elemental diet achieved clinical remission in an average of 2.5 weeks and 9 of the children on steroids achieved clinical remission in an average of 3.7 weeks. However, 7 of the children on the elemental diet showed complete healing of the mucosal lining of the intestine, while none of the children on steroids showed healing of the mucosal lining. As Dr. Robert Canani summarized: "In children with active Crohn's disease, exclusive nutritional therapy shows a more rapid effect than steroids in inducing clinical remission and is markedly more effective than steroids in producing healing of mucosal inflammation." (DDW Annual Meeting: Abstracts 103976, 107178. May 19 & 21, 2002). |
| I have gone on an elemental diet twice in my life. The first time was due to intestinal haemorrhaging that left me at 99 lbs (I'm 5'7") and required a transfusion of 6 pints of blood. I had two objectives; stop the bleeding and gain weight. Continuing to eat regular food simply re-opened the wounds and started the bleeding again. Therefore, my nutrition needed to come from a completely pre-digested (elemental) liquid source, which my gastroenterologist told me resulted in disease remission as often as Prednisone (steroids). I sampled each of the elemental (pre-digested) products provided by the hospital, but found the taste and ingredient list unacceptable. All of the products contained artificial flavors and sweeteners, large amounts of sugar (in relation to maltodextrin) and high levels of low quality oils - which resulted in painful intestinal spasming. Rather than drinking these, or, undergoing a surgical procedure to have a tube inserted in my stomach and the commercial elemental products pumped in, I set out to find a natural, healthy alternative. |
| After an extensive search of health stores and the Internet, I devised my own elemental formula by mixing together 6 different products. I did this 8-9 times a day to give my body the nutrients it needed in elemental (pre-digested for maximum absorption) form. Because all the food I ate (or more accurately, drank) was pre-digested, the elemental diet also gave my bowel a complete rest, which allowed my wounds time and space to heal. In addition, I added numerous supplements to each shake to further facilitate my healing and recovery. Using this formula, I gained 36 pounds of solid weight (not fat) in six weeks and my albumin (blood protein) levels were restored to normal. I went from being so weak I could barely move around my apartment, to cycling and lifting weights at the gym at a solid weight of 135 lbs. One month later I got pregnant, had an excellent pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Oscar. |
| As with most illness, it was a confluence of events and stressors that led to my second time on an elemental diet. Until I weaned him from night nursing at 18 months, Oscar did not sleep more than three hours in a row, so neither did I. We also went to Singapore when Oscar was eight weeks old, for six months. However, when we came back to Vancouver, the new condo we had bought was far behind its construction schedule. So we then spent the next five and a half months travelling around England, Hawaii and Arizona, living out of suitcases. In addition, Oscar has a voracious appetite (and high metabolism) so he breastfed full feeds about ten times a day. Combined together, the stress of transatlantic flights, no home, no routines for the baby, all the varied adjustments involved for new parents, and the severe extended sleep deprivation eventually became too much for me. |
| I gradually lost weight until I was 115 lbs and then I took a new calcium/magnesium supplement I'd bought that also contained something called Betaine HCL (Hydrochloride). About eight hours later, my colon started bleeding. After wracking my brain to try and figure out what could have triggered the bleeding, I finally remembered the mystery ingredient and looked it up in one of my encyclopaedias. There I discovered that Betaine is something that stimulates the production of stomach acid. It should never be used by someone with ulcers and even people with normal digestive systems should start at a very low dose and stop if they experience any discomfort. Obviously, in a digestive system as sensitive as mine, that's all it took to trigger the bleeding and as I was so run down I knew the situation could deteriorate quite quickly. |
| I've found that you can use all kinds of herbal supplements to prop yourself up and keep going, but when your body becomes too run down and malnourished it loses the ability to heal itself. So even though you give it the tools, your body has no energy or resources left to utilize those tools. Although the bleeding wasn't anywhere near the haemorrhaging I experienced prior to the first time I went on an elemental diet, I didn't want to risk it escalating to that point, so I immediately went on an elemental diet after three days of passing blood, ranging from about 3 tbsp. - 1/4 cup per bowel movement, with small blood clots the second and third day. |
| The good news is that I was also nowhere near as ill and run down as I was the first time round, so although my bleeding had completely stopped by day four, I remained on the diet exclusively for two weeks. I then continued drinking a few shakes a day for an additional ten days as I gradually reintroduced normal food. I also didn't feel the need to gain weight as quickly as I did the first time, so I only consumed six shakes per day. At the end of two weeks I'd gained seven pounds and by the time I was fully back on regular food, I'd gained a total of 14 pounds. When I feel I need it, I have a shake in the morning as it's a great nutritional boost and an excellent way to take all my supplements in an easily digestible form. During my first pregnancy, I had a shake every morning with all the supplements and flax oil added as it's a wonderful way to ensure excellent health for both yourself and the baby. |
| However, a word of caution to women: The IBD Remission Diet is such a great rejuvenator of health that your fertility will also become very healthy and robust, so be very careful if you don't want to get pregnant! I got pregnant again, with my second child, two months after my second time on the IBD Remission Diet - in spite of using birth control! However, if you want to have kids, whether you're male or female, this diet will take your body (and hence your genetic material) to a new level of health, giving you the best chance of producing a healthy fetus. Studies have shown that the mother's nutritional status while the baby is in utero determines the health of the child up to 17 years later. I drank a shake containing all the supplements and flax oil 2-3 times/week throughout my second pregnancy as well. I am sure (along with a healthy, mostly organic diet and regular exercise) it's one of the principle reasons my children are so healthy. Oh yes, and I also don't degrade their immune systems with vaccinations. For more information on this, go to www.caramal.com (click on Articles by Jini) for my article on the short and long-term consequences of vaccination. |
I haven't included any specific instructions in this book regarding when to consult your doctor and/or how to integrate drug therapy with the IBD Remission Diet, as I leave each of you free to do what you feel is best for your body. I included an entire chapter on my opinion on medical/pharmaceutical protocols in my first book,
LISTEN TO YOUR GUT (www.caramal.com), so I won't repeat any of that here. If you wish, you can mix drugs (like Asacol, Prednisone, Salazopyrin, etc.) with the IBD Remission Diet; just give your doctor a full list of the supplements you're adding to the shakes so he/she is informed. In my opinion though, it's much better to wean yourself off your drugs before starting the Diet and give your body the full chance to restore its natural balance. If you're simultaneously taking immune suppressant drugs (like Prednisone, Imuran, etc.) whilst on the program I really don't know what results you'll have and how much you'll benefit. But again, you must do what you feel is safe and comfortable for yourself. |
| Both times I went on an elemental diet I consumed a variety of specifically chosen supplements as well as the nutritional shakes, and followed this with full-spectrum probiotics (good bacteria for both the small and large intestine). Therefore, I didn't just restore my weight but restored myself to great health as well. For me, health equals freedom. The freedom to eat what I want, to travel and have adventures, and to have enough energy to share joy and good times with my family and friends - the freedom to enjoy all the wonderful things that life and relationships have to offer. From the bottom of my heart, I wish for you this same joy and freedom. |
 |
|
|
