Could paleo principles be used as an effective Crohn’s treatment diet?
What is Crohn’s disease?
Crohns disease is an inflammatory bowel disease which can affect any or all parts of the gastrointestinal tract. The disease essentially causes the body to attack its own intestinal wall cells because of a chronic state of inflammation. This action may result in a multitude of symptoms, including abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea and weight loss. Sufferers of the disease have also reported feeling exhausted constantly, being only able to stand for short periods, and having low strength.
Existing Crohn’s medications
Crohn’s disease is generally treated as an autoimmune disease, although recently it has been regarded as an immunodeficient state. Treatment usually consists of a combination of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. Corticosteroids can also be administered depending on severity of inflammation. Due to the nature of steroid medications, they are not used to treat Crohn’s disease for the long term as they cause some severe side-effects.
Lifestyle changes are also prescribed to sufferers, such as the cessation of smoking, decrease in fiber intake and portion control. With regards to fatigue and exhaustion, exercise can help to maintain muscle strength and promote higher energy levels.
How paleo can help: A Crohn’s disease treatment that is natural
Because the paleo diet is focused on removing and recovering from diet-induced inflammation, it is particularly suited at providing an avenue of relief for Crohn’s disease sufferers. For starters, grains are highly inflammatory, and should be removed from the diet immediately. The aim of any Crohn’s disease sufferer should be to decrease the amount of inflammation they suffer from, and by removing inflammation-inducing foods from the diet this can be achieved relatively quickly. Because the paleo diet can be applied as a natural Crohn’s disease treatment with no side effects, it has great long term prospects and requires no taking of medication to be effective.
The paleo diet focuses on proving the body with foods it evolved to eat. Grains, legumes, sugar and large amounts of carbohydrates are not good foods for the body. The largest offender in terms of causing inflammation here is without a doubt gluten and its partner in crime lectins. Gluten is a dangerous protein found in grains, and can cause inflammation of the intestines due to it globbing up and binding to the intestinal walls. This then promotes an immune system response, which basically causes the body to attack the infected tissue. As a Crohn’s disease sufferer, you are already predisposed to suffering from a similar state of the immune system attacking its own body, so eating gluten and lectin rich foods is like throwing napalm in a fire.
Unfortunately, many Crohn’s disease patients are advised by their doctors to continue eating grains and foods which contain gluten and lectins. This advice is terrible, and sufferers who manage to beat the initial bout of symptoms have these very same symptoms return once they are weaned off of medication.
For an example of how the paleo diet helps Crohn’s disease sufferers, click here to read a story about a women who regained health after battling inflammation for four years.
Here is another article about how the paleo diet helps Crohn’s disease sufferers.
Take aways and what you can do right now
This article has covered how most people’s diets are not consistent and inflammatory free as they should be. We have spoken about the evils of glutens and lectins and have discussed how some people have managed to treat and ultimately rid themselves of the symptoms of Crohn’s disease.
If you would like to learn more about how the paleo diet and a paleo lifestyle could benefit you and your quest to rid yourself of Crohn’s disease, or if you would just like to get healthy in general, why not subscribe and receive the free 7 step paleo fast track guide.