Whole foods rich in fiber are important for gut health in inflammatory bowel disease. Here are some dietitian-approved ways to increase your tolerance and reap the benefits. Fiber. Roughage. Bulk. Residue. Sounds more like a raw material for making burlap sacks than something you’d want to put into a painful gut.  As an IBD dietitian, I hear that a lot, and I get it! Fiber intake and tolerance is one of the main topics I discuss with my clients. First off, many people with inflammatory bowel disease have trouble tolerating fiber at various points in their journey, so they’re right to be ..read more

Dairy is a hotly debated topic, and more so if you have Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Should you eat it? And what should healthcare professionals recommend? I have had many passionate debates with dear colleagues about dairy. Ask five gastroenterologists for their thoughts on dairy products and you will likely get five different answers (I’ve tried!). Ask a pediatrician and a cardiologist and you’ll get two new answers. Needless to say, dairy is controversial for people inside and outside of healthcare. Even the expert body charged with dietary recommendations for IBD was unable to reach a cons ..read more

Even if you’re not a nutritionist, you’ve probably scratched your head at social posts promising miracles if you just eat this food, cut this food, do this cleanse, or drink your meal through a straw while upside down at 1:01 pm. While some of these recommendations are easy to spot because they fly in the face of science and common sense, many still trip people up. We are all attracted to the promise of feeling better and finding shortcuts. We can all be influenced by peers and people we admire. Part of my work as an IBD dietitian is to help people learn about IBD nutrition and implement scie ..read more

Almost daily in my work with IBD patients, I get to see the power of nutrition therapy for reducing inflammation and alleviating symptoms. Nutrition therapies like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Crohn’s Disease Exclusion Diet, and more are backed by a growing body of research and are increasingly becoming a mainline treatment. This is such a game changer for people with Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis! But patients and even practitioners are sometimes puzzled by a missing piece. Where does gluten fit in, if at all? My IBD patients often ask me if they should trial a gluten-free diet. Here are ..read more

Diet, Immunity and the Microbiome: What you need to know about IBD and Gut Health. Have you heard of the gut microbiome? It continues to be a hot topic amongst researchers and the public. This term is used to describe the community of microorganisms living in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.  The gut microbiota have many jobs including development of one’s immune system, digestion, nutrition,  metabolism, and protecting against invaders that can cause disease. About 70% of our immune system is located in the gut.  So, it makes sense that when gut health is compromised, immunity ..read more