#AskAshleyKoffRD Question: Ashley, any advice for someone working to transition to a vegan diet who has Crohn’s Disease? Thx! - Rebecca via Facebook Answer: My first advice for anyone with a disease looking to transition their diet in any form would be to work with a healthcare practitioner – a dietitian (like me!) or a health coach if that coach is working with their physician or their physician if that person has a nutrition background as it’s critical to make sure you create a nutrition plan that optimizes your individual health. Specific to Crohn’s I would not make any major nutrition changes during a flare-up or immediately preceding (unless those changes are approved by your healthcare practitioner). Okay, all that said, there are awesome benefits of plants for us all and certainly for a Crohn’s patient. The keys are as follows: 1) Quality of ingredients: keep it easiest on your body, especially your digestive tract by giving your body what it recognizes not chemistry lab project creations. So just because a product says “vegan” doesn’t mean it’s good quality. Look for minimally processed, chemical additive-free, and in my opinion, choose USDA organic which means non-GMO. 2) Nutrient balance: you need all your macronutrients (carbs, proteins, fats) and non-starchy vegetables (see AshleyKoffApproved/nutritionplan ) but the key is you need them in balance – so look to choose foods that deliver a serving of each of these at each eating occasion or nutrition pit-stop. Plant complete proteins are often carb sources too – really the only exception are hemp seeds (like Manitoba Harvest hemp hearts – which are protein, fat, fiber but provide no other carbs – so pay attention to avoid overdoing it on carbohydrates as you transition. Quality fats and proteins are key to help direct appropriate inflammation so make sure to include sources of your essential fats and proteins. Some favorites are walnuts, hemp hearts and hempseed oil, organic unrefined coconut oil, organic soybeans, and chia seed oil. 3) Quantity: keep your system underwhelmed, it already has too much to do. Best to control quantity at most eating occasions as well as consider liquid (soups, stew, congee, smoothies etc) which requires less digestive work for the body to get nutrients broken down and ready to be absorbed. I have recipes in my cookbook Recipes for IBS (despite its title many of the recipes are great for Crohn’s and are plant-based or can be easily modified). 4) Frequency: This ties into point #3 and really it’s about making sure your body gets what it needs without feeling like it has too much to process. Thus, when you observe the right quantity per eating occasion (and nutrient balance for that matter) your body will want and need something in a few hours (about every three hours) 5) Supplemental food: this should be worked on with your healthcare practitioner, yes there are nutrients that a vegan diet may benefit from supplementally especially if you don’t like or tolerate the food sources or don’t have access to them frequently enough. A greater concern is both how they mesh with your medications as well as your current nutrient status. 6) Gluten, Intolerances, and Carageenan: I get this question the most and I do have my Crohn’s patients following a gluten-free diet (to varying degrees depending on the individual) and I do work with them to identify other intolerances (typically dairy is not part of their nutrition plan which wouldn’t be a factor in your vegan diet) specific to them. The bigger issue is that a Crohn’s patient likely has had years of impaired nutrient absorption and by definition an inflammed bowel which means a lot of “intolerances” may be temporary and resolve as the digestive system heals. What about food additives like carageenan? While the jury is still out scientifically, I do advise my patients to limit exposure to additives such as carageenan. That said, that typically happens by way of improving the quality of the food choices. Hope this helps! Keep us posted. Ashley
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 15:00:00 +0000
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