In this video, I discuss some diets which my readers and I have found helpful with IBD:
I talk about:
- FODMAPS
- SCD Diet
- Low Residue Diet
- Raw Milk Diet
- Raw Vegetable Juice
- Bone Broths
- Semi-elemental (or half-elemental) Diet
- IBD Remission Diet
- What is an elemental diet?
And don’t forget to download my FREE Gut Guide!
Jini Patel Thompson is an internationally recognized expert on natural healing for digestive diseases. She healed herself from widespread Crohn’s Disease and has remained drug and surgery-free for over 25 years. Jini has appeared on numerous podcast, TV, and radio shows throughout the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, giving people hope and vision for how they can heal their Colitis, Crohn’s, Diverticulitis and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), using entirely natural methods. Her books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold worldwide in over 80 countries.
Hi Jini,
I have Crohn’s and have been on a semi-elemental diet for about two months now (absorb with banana and blueberries for breakfast and dinner, and salmon with potatoes and carrots for lunch, and bone broth as a snack). I’ve also been taking a number of supplements including mucosaHeal, a digestive enzyme, GI revive, vitamin d, and immunoModA for designs for health.
My main symptoms before beginning this healing journey were diarrhea, nausea, and bloating. My diarrhea was extremely liquid but never super frequent, at its worse I was going to the bathroom 3 or 4 times a day. Since starting the diet and supplement, my nausea and bloating has been much much better. I am still having diarrhea but I feel that it’s less liquid and usually 1 to 3 times a day.
In order to combat the diarrhea, I have started taking wild oregano and probiotics about a week ago. I’m doing 7ish drops of oregano 3 times a day and starting with the natren b. infantis probiotic at night and slowly increasing the dose.
My question is whether you think I could move off of the semi-elemental diet at this point or if I should stay on it until the diarrhea goes away? I’m scared to start adding new foods while I’m just starting with the oregano and probiotics but I’m also getting really sick of the smoothies.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Margot
Hi Margot!
Thank you for sharing your experience. It looks like you have a very good protocol going. From my experience, if you are starting a new protocol it’s best not to start a new diet at the same time. When implementing new things it’s always best to do one at a time so you can get a clear diagnosis of what is working and not working, especially if you are still having symptoms (the diarrhea).
This video may be really helpful for you if you decide to stick with the elemental diet a bit longer, as I understand iy can be hard to be on long term: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mib9VA-S6Q
Make sure to check out Jini’s home remedy for diarrhea and see if there’s anything additional you can add to firm the stools: https://listentoyourgut.com/diarrhea/
Often when the WOO and probiotics are increased, inflammation goes down as the toxins are leaving the body, so the hope is that the diarrhea would calm down too as the pathogens are being killed.
I hope this helps!
Hi again,
Thank you for your reply! I’ve been taking the b. Infantis for over 2 weeks now and got up to the full dose a few days ago. I haven’t really been feeling better and if anything feel like I’ve had more gas and bloating. I’ve been having less BM per day but they are more urgent (I’ve woken up in the morning many times in the past 2 weeks with the need to go, and once in the middle of the night) and still mainly diarrhea. My overall energy has stayed the same. I thought maybe this is a herxheimer reaction but im not sure.
I also just started to see a hypnotherapist who has helped many people with gut issues and she said she felt that it was too soon for me to be starting probiotics. She said to wait a month or so because your gut has to be in a good enough place before it can handle probiotics. Im just wondering if it’s possible for it to be too soon for probiotics? And if my reaction is a herx or just a negative reaction?
Thank you so much for your help LTYG Team!!
Ps. I have been keeping my diet the same the past two weeks, per my last comment
Hi Margot! I’ve totally been there! I had a flare once that lasted 6 weeks, and I slept no more than 2 hours a night! It was BAD.
In regards to the probiotics and what your hypnotherapist said, there can be times when your body needs time to adjust, so a “break” is needed.
However, you never want to discontinue probiotics WHILE you are taking anti-pathogens (like wild oregano oil) because this can actually leave you open to potential infections etc… The anti-pathogens kill everything, so you MUST re-establish beneficial bacteria simultaneously or that clean slate can ironically leave the gut open to contract some un-friendly critters.
So with that being said, if you think you need a break from the probiotics then I would stop the WOO protocol as well. Anytime you take WOO you have to take probiotics (separated by 90 mins) just to avoid the above scenario.
A few thoughts I have on your situation – have you tried a binder? Taking a binder after you take the WOO may grab all the toxins properly and perhaps help relieve diarrhea a bit.
Here is a blog all on binders:
https://blog.listentoyourgut.com/the-benefits-of-binders/
Just a thought. Also if you feel the need to lower doses because of your symptoms then absolutely do so – then slowly increase when things calm down.
Jini is coming out with a product called Colonease Firm that helps naturally firm the stools, so stay tuned for that! When it comes out, perhaps you can try that while you are treating the root issue with all your other modalities.
For now, here is Jini’s home remedy page on diarrhea as well: https://listentoyourgut.com/diarrhea/
I hope this helps!