907,000 Americans are suffering from Ulcerative Colitis.
It is a severe condition that affects your daily life and causes a lot of suffering. It is an inflammatory bowel disease, and this autoimmune condition is typically chronic and recurring. There isn’t really a cure for it, but there are ways to treat it. Most of the time people take prescription drugs – and some people undergo surgery to have parts of their intestines removed.
There’s no surprise that a lot of these drugs come with horrifying side effects such as nausea, vomiting, headaches, fever, and inflammation. Many medications also lower immune function and fertility.
According to Nutritionfacts.org, studies are suggesting that babies fed with formula rather than breast milk may have a higher risk of developing this condition. Furthermore, they are writing that a diet high in animal protein (such as meat, dairy, egg) may also increase the risk. The reason for it could be due to chemicals in processed meat, harmful bacteria causing inflammation and the antibiotics in meat – to mention just a few. [1]
Luckily, research shows that you can potentially control or at least reduce the symptoms of your Ulcerative Colitis through diet. Here are a few things you can do:
Avoid sulfur-rich food
There’s food that’s richer in sulfur than others. Studies are showing that it could play an essential part in how bad your symptoms are, and eating as little as possible of it seems to have a positive effect on people suffering from the disease.[2] These are some of the most sulfur-rich foods:
Seafood. A wide variety of seafood contains high levels of protein. These include lobster, crab, scallops, mussels, prawns, oysters, and fish like sardines, salmon, haddock, and cod.
- Eggs
- Organ meat such as liver, heart, and kidneys
- Veal, beef, chicken, and pork
- Nuts such as peanuts, brazil nuts, almonds, and walnuts
- Cheddar and parmesan cheese
- Cow’s milk; especially from grass-fed cows
- Peaches and apricots
- Onion and garlic
Avoid processed foods
According to nutritionfacts.org, processed foods can possibly trigger an attack as it contains ingredients that may be bad for the bacteria in your gut. Sucralose, for example, has been shown to increase the symptoms up to twelvefold. The positive thing is that if you stay off junk-food for only a few weeks, the bacteria may be restored to normal and potentially make you better.
Try wheatgrass
You can try treating your Ulcerative Colitis with wheatgrass. Studies have shown that drinking wheatgrass has a very positive effect and makes the symptoms decrease substantially.
Try going plant-based
Studies are suggesting that a whole food plant-based diet may actually prevent relapse and also decrease symptoms. Cruciferous vegetables have an outstanding impact on your intestinal health, curcumin seems to even have a good effect.
Source: nutritionfacts.org