I am now able to eat a wide variety of foods, and am not limited to a vegan diet. My diet now is a semi-vegetarian diet, with cheese and egg, and occasional meat. I started eating chicken since I can’t tolerate tofu, and found that it provided satiety and energy my body appreciated. I added cheese and egg, because, quiche.
I went back to work at 30 hours a week in the school building in August. I also was doing grad school 20 hours a week which was insane. As such, I went back on medical meal replacement shakes (Kate Farms nutritional shakes) for my breakfasts. On average I would have 2-3 shakes a day, and some snacks at work, and then a larger meal when I got off work. This was basically a stand in for the lack of self-care, rest and sleep and low stress, that I could no longer practice because of my work and school situation.
I have experienced pain flares since returning to work (after a 12 hour work day/ parent teacher conferences) but I have not had a full blown Crohn’s flare. I am pretty convinced, from my case study n=1 on myself, that PEN and EEN are what have made it possible for me to return to real life after my last flare. With no side effects! And no prescription!!
Things I still omit from my diet and don’t tolerate: tofu, animal milk, animal yogurt, excessive oil.
That’s about it!
I also feel pretty confident from my experience that I have a game plan for my next eventual flare and how to handle it.
Going forward, I am interested in investigating the links between Crohn’s disease and disordered eating. It is REALLY HARD to have a healthy relationship with food while your body is rejecting food, and while certain foods are causing you excruciating pain. Restriction is super triggering for people who are raised in a toxic diet culture that actively shames fatness and is dripping with anti-fat bias. I have been working on my own relationship with food and fatness and diet culture over the past year, and in reviewing my past posts, would take a slightly different approach to diet and Crohn’s.
Namely, I want to lift up that certain medications and illnesses cause weight gain, and that weight gain itself does not cause illness. Weight gain is not a sign of personal weakness or lack of health. For me, steroids, antidepressants and thyroid issues have caused significant weight gain since I was diagnosed with Crohn’s. Also, rapidly losing 10% of my body weight when I was incredibly sick with my first flare led to a rapid weight rebound once I was able to tolerate food again. This was my body literally trying to keep me alive, to reach equilibrium, and to store some extra energy in case the illness and weight loss / famine happened again.
The societal narrative that being fat causes disease is total trash. Bodies are all different weights, and for a lot of different reasons. When you are recovering from a serious illness, you need to focus on eating ENOUGH, as I’ve said before: eating enough calories for certain, but especially eating enough nutrients to help your body heal and repair itself.
This means providing loving and nourishing food to your body, and not restricting and depriving your body. It also requires giving your body lots of rest and being very mindful of stress. I still sleep 12 hours a day when I can, this is my body’s default. I also work to have strict time and energy boundaries with work, grad school, family and social time, and time for rest.
Eating Vegan with Crohn's Disease 