Ulcerative Colitis Diet: All You Need To Know

 

As you can imagine, living with ulcerative colitis can be challenging and exhausting. It can even lead to complications that can be life-threatening. While there is no cure for this disorder, managing it means utilizing treatments that can reduce signs and symptoms of this disease. Since ulcerative colitis is a disease that affects the digestive tract, eating a diet that avoids triggers for ulcerative colitis can be your first line of defense. Let me give you some tips for finding the right ulcerative colitis diet that might help.

What Are the Symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis?

Ulcerative colitis presents itself with a wide range of symptoms. Often, these symptoms depend on the severity and location of inflammation/ulcers. Signs and symptoms that you might have ulcerative colitis include:

• Diarrhea accompanied by blood or pus
• Rectal bleeding
• Weight loss
• Abdominal pain
• Urgency to defecate
• Rectal pain

These signs and symptoms of ulcerative colitis can vary from person to person and in severity. Most people suffering from ulcerative colitis have symptoms that range from mild to moderate, and there may even be periods of time when symptoms disappear. This is known as remission.

Ulcerative Colitis Diet Plan

While there is no cure for ulcerative colitis, finding the right foods can help minimize any trigger that may cause symptoms for you. Diet does not actually play a direct role in ulcerative colitis, but controlling this condition can benefit from a healthy lifestyle. Quick tips for dealing with UC include:

• Plenty of fluids: Frequent diarrhea can lead to dehydration, and drinking plenty of fluids can help replenish lost fluids.
• Small, frequent meals: Eating more often and smaller amounts of food can help regulate digestion.
• Supplements: Taking supplements can replace vitamins and/or minerals necessary for a healthy lifestyle.

Foods To Eat With Ulcerative Colitis

There’s no single, one-size-fits-all diet for everybody suffering from ulcerative colitis. Also, your ulcerative colitis may change over time just to add frustration to treating this disorder!! Finding the right foods that work for you may require keeping a food diary to determine what foods or drinks irritate you or make you feel good. Finding the right ulcerative colitis diet may need a little trial and error. A diet low in fiber (10-15 g per day) can reduce symptoms of ulcerative colitis, and foods you might want to try are:

• Refined grains such as dry cereals and white bread
• Dairy but try to limit dairy intake to avoid any lactose intolerance potentially
• Ripe fruits low in fiber, such as honeydew, cantaloupes, peaches, and watermelons
• Cooked vegetables like eggplant, skinless potatoes, green beans, and squash without seeds
• Protein from sources such as creamy peanut butter (not crunchy), bacon, eggs, and chicken is great, but it must be thoroughly cooked. Nothing chewy and tender!

What Are The Worst Foods For Ulcerative Colitis

As equally important as finding the right food for your ulcerative colitis diet, avoiding foods that might cause a flare-up or further irritation of symptoms is a good idea. Some of these foods can make your ulcerative colitis worse. As with many things, what might be a trigger food for someone may not be for somebody else, but you must know about the foods to avoid with ulcerative colitis. The list includes:

• Foods high in fiber
• Added sugars
• Spicy foods
• Foods high in insoluble fiber
• Caffeinated beverages
• Foods containing high lactose

When to Seek Medical Attention

Before beginning with any diet program, you should consult your physician. If, during your diet, your symptoms of ulcerative colitis should become worse, be sure to immediately consult your doctor or physician if you experience ongoing diarrhea, unexplained fever, or blood in your stool accompanied by abdominal pain. You can also consult a licensed dietitian to point you in the right direction for an ulcerative colitis meal plan.

References:

• What is ulcerative colitis? A Mayo Clinic expert explains
• What Should I Eat With UC - Crohn's & Colitis Foundation
• Make an Ulcerative Colitis Diet Plan - WebMD

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