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I was diagnosed with Crohn's a couple of months ago.   Lost a ton of weight, etc, and was hospitalized for several days to get diarrhea under control, as well as addressing malnutrition. After that, I was able to eat again - still working thru which foods are "ok" and which ones are not for me.

I see the benefit of eating several small "meals" thruout the day, but I'm having a hard time with that. My habit has always been breakfast - lunch - dinner (and I've not always been smart with portion size).  How did you transition from breakfast-lunch-dinner to smaller meals 4-6 times per day?  If anyone can share a "typical" day of smaller meals, that would be really helpful.

Also, when eating a food, do you find you know right away if it was a bad choice? Or can it take a couple of days to show symptons?  Wondering how long it takes to get to the colon, i guess.  I've been in pain for  a few days, and I'm not sure if it's something I ate a few days ago.  I hope that makes sense.

Thanks for your help and support!

Reply posted for sloancat.

PT 3

Dinner: I try to include 1) a meat, 2) one or two cooked vegetables, 3) a carb; but any meal can be Crohns friendly just might need some modifications. Veg ideas include: potatos, sweet potatoes, cooked and/or skinless vegetables such as asparagus, zucchini, squash, green beans, chickpeas, carrots, peas, 

After dinner snacks: protein bars, cereal, yogurts (can add fruits or honey etc), really whatever you're into but try to kep it light
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Things I avoid/cant handle well: popcorn, rich/cream-based dishes like alfredo sauces, oatmeal, alcohol (one or two drinks here or there isn't too bad; wine hurts, light beers are okay, etc, carbonated drinks are okay typically), carbonated soda drinks (its hit or miss for this), fried foods, corn, kale, lettuce is hit or miss, nuts, spicy foods, overly acidic foods (theyre my favorites though so I still eat some and suffer the consequences of my own actions). 

Things they say to avoid that doesn't bother me (unless I'm already flaring): caffeine, dairy, chocolate,

Honestly its just really paying attention to your body and if you have a really good day, think about the foods you ate the day before. I usually feel it the next day if I've eaten somethign I should ahve avoided. My recommendation is to lock intoa set meal plan for a week or two thats really restricted and see how you feel and then change one or two things. Some people do it by elimation diet. Others its just kind of a guess and check. I got stomach aches after eating popcorn, so I ate some again fter a few days and repeated this until I was like, yep I hurt the next day. Sometimes I sneak foods I know I should avoid and just deal with the pain the next day, but none of my avoided foods will trigger a flare all on their own. 

I did those meal delivery kits like Hello Fresh for a while as well although their portions are v small for the vegetables so I typically added a second kinda or just got extra of whatever the meal was. That helped me come up with meal ideas because I tend to get stuck in the same meals and it gets boring. This is absolutely one of my favorites that I didn't expect to like: https://www.hellofresh.com/recipes/chickpea-powered-mediterranean-couscous-61f98581e84b797e037a6616

If I start to have really bad pain/diarrhea, I'll cut to a clean restricted diet for a few days and then ease back into a more "normal" diet. I've gotten to the point where I will crave the food that helps and my body has realized I feel SO much better when I'm not overfull and weighed down w heavy foods. I also take anti-inflammatory supplements which I've found help. Things like digestive enzyme capsules, DGL, mastic gum, probitics help. 

Another option is to look into a registered dietician who specializes in IBD. A lot of them do teletherapy type meetings so you wouldn't have to go to an office. Some insurance plans cover it as well. Let me know if you have questions as I typed a lot but still cut a bunch out for brevity. 

Reply posted for sloancat.

PT 2

A lot of my active disease is in my small intestine with some in my colon. Because mines in my small intestine, I can usually feel it hurting within a half hr to an hour after eating as food generally sits in the stomach for less than an hour. If its in the colon, usually its a few hours later unless I'm having a lot of diarrhea with a fast transit time, but some people it can take longer or shorter. I had a capsule endoscopy once and it measured the transit time so I do have a pretty good idea of my GI timeline. Some people who arent in a flare will eat a food like corn that doesn't break down easily and use it as a marker food to see the time from eating to passing it in the toilet. Kinda gross, but poop is full of information lol and it will tell you a lot about if foods work well for your or are not tolerated well. 

Breakfast: I'm not a big breakfast eater in general, so I'll usually have coffee when I first get up and a protein bar like the Kind Protein Cocoa ones and eat it with my coffee. I typically will have a yogurt or glass of Kefir as well, because both make my tummy feel better when it hurts and reintroduces healthy gut bacteria for when there is a lot of diarrhea going on. Other options include things like banana bread, cereal, etc but I just make sure anything is low fiber and I avoid foods with oats and nuts. 

Morning Snack: At work in the mid morning, I'll have something like Ensure Clear and Ensure Max Protein to get some nutrients in me that wont hurt to digest. Some people cant tolerate the liquid ensure but can tolerate the powdered kind mixed with milk or water (or in a smoothie to get more nutrients in), I like the Ensure Clear way more than the Protein Max, but I need the protein and the Clears are high in sugar (but in a flare I personally could not care less about my sugar intake). Ensure is a go-to grab snack for me.

Lunch: Typically a soup or a simple sandwich (no lettuce, etc), maybe another yogurt or kefir, 

Afternoon snack: Something with proteins such as a nut butter (smooth not crunchy) or little protein power balls; hummus with pretzels/crackers work well for too. Apples w no skins. Melon. 

Dinner: I eat chicken (rotisserie, baked but not breaded, grilled, etc) with simple seasonings, cooked vegetable (usually green beans or sweet potato), and sometimes a basic carb like rice or potatoes. 

Late snack: I use medical marijuana at night and it makes me hungry so I'll usually eat a second meal later at night (around 10-11pm). Usually that's cereal, toast, whatever I'm feeling snacky for I just avoid high fiber foods. 

In remission I can pretty much eat whatever I want within reason but still spread out. 

Breakfast/morning snack ideas: Yogurt, Kefir, Protein bars, Eggs/omlettes, Meal replacement like Ensure, pancakes with protein powder in them (can make and freeze so they can just be heated up), bananas, melon, smoothies (with greens and protein like whey or nuts for extra protein/nutrients), overnight oats (I cant handle oats if I were to eat them often but some people can), cereals, 

Lunch/Midday/Afternoon snacks: Sandwiches (avoid har to break down food), cheese and crackers, charcuterie, meat and cheese roll ups, cheese sticks, hummus w/ pretzels/crackers/wheat thins, soups+grilled cheese, yogurt, protein balls, protein bars, grilled sandwiches w cooked veggies, fish, guacamole + chips/etc, avocado toast, 

Dinner: I try to include 1) a meat, 2) one or two cooked vegetables, 3) a carb; but any meal can be Crohns friendly just might n

Reply posted for sloancat.

Usually I can tell within 24 hrs if my GI can't handle something. Most of mine are the obvious ones like roughage foods like lettuce/kale, etc. I can handle some here and there or in small amounts such as lettuce on a sandwich vs lettuce in a salad.

In the beginning took detailed notes on what I ate and how I felt--I used My Fitness Pal to track the foods and I use Bearable to track my symptoms (great app, super useful for looking for patterns or at least noticing correlations and very customizable so you can track whatever you want). I took data on how I felt for like a month or so to get a baseline and then I did a partial elimination diet for the "big" groups such as dairy (all forms) and caffeine, where I switched to nondairy for 2 months and collected the same data to see if it caused any problems. If I ended up feeling better, I was planning to reintroduce by types of dairy (first hard cheeses, then soft cheese, then yogurt, then milk, etc) one by one for a few weeks and wating in between before adding the next to see if there were any particular offenders. I didn't notice any changes when I cut out dairy or caffeine, but I can't tolerate really rich/creamy dairy very well such as alfredo sauces. 

I've always eaten small portions across the day, but I would think things like meal planning/prepping would help as well, or increasing the servings of foods you handle well or lighter foods so your GI doesnt have to work as hard to digest (smooth foods, cooked veg, etc). Meal replacements like Ensure or Boost can be really helpful when getting used to smaller portions. 

Something important that I didnt notice for a while was that some foods make me feel better and knowing what those are help to keep my health stable. So much emphasis is placed on avoiding certain foods but its important to find the foods that help as well-- mine are chicken/white meat (I tried to go vegetarian for a while and it was horrible and I immediately started feeling better when I started eating white meat again). I also struggle with getting enough protein, so you'll notice I try to have proteins often; they also "stay with you" longer so you get hungry less often and will help w staying full longer. One time I read something that said your body wont recognize beign full for a half hour to so eat slowly or little mini meals helps w portion control because your body has more time to recognize and send signals that its full. I also noticed my GI hurts if I over eat. 

How I eat in a flare is different than how I eat in remission, so I'll go through them separately. 

In a flare: I cut down to a very simple diet of meals that I know don't bother me and that I know help make me feel better. I have almost no appetite in a flare as well. I get severe, severe nausea as a symptom and if I can't get anything down, I've pureed my meals and drank them because chewing made me immediately vomit. In a flare my focus is usually to get as much nutrition in the least painful way possible; I try to do softer foods which are easy to break down so that my GI can rest a little as it tries to heal.

A lot of my active disease is in my small intestine with some in my colon. Because mines in my small intestine, I can usually feel it hurting within a half hr to an hour after eating as food generally sits in the stomach for less than an hour. If its in the colon, usually its a few hours later unless I'm having a lot of diarrhea with a fast transit time, but some people it can take longer or shorter. I had a capsule endoscopy once and it measured the transit time so I do have a pretty good idea of my GI timeline. Some people who arent in a flare will eat a food like corn that doesn't break down easily and use it as a marker food to see the time from ea

Reply posted for sloancat.

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Reply posted for sloancat.

I'm in the same boat.  Always been a 3 meal a day person, also not necessarily good portions or balanced.  I  keep seeing references to "small meals" but, sorry to sound stupid, I don't really know what they mean.  I've searching for a clear definintion and examples, but no luck so far.

Reply posted for sloancat.

I'm trying to figure out the same thing. Most foods go thru me in a half hour or less. Maria.

Reply posted for sloancat.

Thanks a lot for information