“LCHF has set me free”
Before and after
Can you eat yourself free from a severe inflammatory bowel disease, that could otherwise lead to the need for a bowel resection, resulting in a life with a colostomy?
Nobody knows for sure yet – there are no studies. But more and more stories point in the same direction as Bella’s.
Here’s an email I received recently:
Hi!
You may call me Bella, and I’m 24 happy years young!
During the winter, in my third high-school year, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, which makes the body “reject” the colon. One could liken it to having a relapsing cold sore on the inside of parts, or the entire, intestinal wall. In the beginning there wasn’t much in the way of symptoms. Two years later I suffered a relapse that ended in a week at the hospital, where doctors were just hours from removing the entire colon and replacing it with an ostomy pouch.
After years of Remicade and Humira, I met a co-worker at my summer job, who told me about the stone age, gluten and an low-carb/paleo diet. I’ve experimented with changing my diet in the past and I had no faith that this would help me, but after allergic reactions from Humiran they wanted to put me on Imurel (a chemotherapy drug), so I thought that “I had nothing to lose except my bowel and you can do without it”. I compared a life without a colon to a life where I had to undergo testing at the hospital every week, endure a lot of side effects and being banned from sun bathing.
I asked to go off Humira and instead wait before starting taking Remicade and Imurel until I started to experience symptoms. My doctor was an angel and agreed to let me go without for a while, as long as I had blood and stool testing done every four weeks.
Changing eating habits is difficult and takes time, but I embraced LCHF with all my heart (and my gut). After 6 months, when it was assumed that all pharmaceutical effect from the drugs had run out, I went in for a check-up with my doctor, who was surprised. He thought that I should “continue whatever I was doing” and continue to get tested regularly. After another 6 months I didn’t have to test as often and three weeks ago I had another follow-up visit. My doctor just wanted to inform me that I now didn’t have to do any more testing as long as I promised to let him know if I feel sick. I’ve now been free as a bird for 1 year and 9 months.
Others claim that diet has no impact and that the disease goes into relapse, making it quite possible to get sick again at any time. But if I cheat every day for four days with gluten in particular, I come down with symptoms right away! LCHF makes me free!
Commentary
Bowel diseases as ulcerative colitis may come and go in relapses, and the story above could be a coincidence. But I hear similar stories – particularly regarding ulcerative colitis and sometimes even Chron’s disease – so often that I’m convinced that this is not a coincidence.
Something in the modern diet – perhaps gluten, perhaps something else (an overload of omega-6?) – has caused the enormous increase in similar diseases we have seen in recent decades. And those who stop eating modern food may often get well, like Bella.
More
New Study: Is Today’s Wheat Bad for You?
LCHF and Common Digestive Issues (“IBS”)
Share your story
Do you have a success story you want to share? Send your information, plus before and after photos, to success@dietdoctor.com. It would also be greatly appreciated if you shared what you eat in a typical day, whether you fast etc. More information:
Share your story!