Are you considering a Ketogenic Diet for Crohn’s and Colitis? Well, if your not you should be. This is an amazing healing diet that can be adapted to anyone’s lifestyle; whether your doing GAPS, SCD, PALEO, VEGAN, and others. The Ketogenic approach is definitely worth some investigation as it’s been successful helping many people overcome their autoimmune diseases. This study* shows how Crohn’s was treated successfully using a ketogenic diet.
Have you tried various diets for Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis with crappy results? Then you’re not alone. I know how hard and frustrating it can be when your stuck suffering from autoimmune disease. It takes everything away from you and makes you feel like half a human.I urge you to read this entire article because the Ketogenic Diet is truly an amazing tool that has the potential to change your life.
WHAT is the KETO Diet?
A ketogenic diet is a low carb diet plan where you train your body to burn fat instead of glucose or carbohydrates for energy. When the body makes this switch altering your metabolism turning your body into a fat burning machine. It creates something called ketones which are produced from the breakdown of fats in the liver. A basic rule of thumb would be to keep your carbohydrate intake from 30-50 (net carb) grams per day. Net-carbs are equivalent to your total carbs minus the fibre intake. These totals can be different for each person depending on the type of work you do or regular daily physical activity. A standard ketogenic diet would look like this 75/20/5 meaning 75% of calories from fat sources, 20% from protein, and 5% from carbs. You will see these macro ranges changing depending on who you listen to, and what you are trying to achieve.
**Remember the metabolic switch is triggered by reducing carbohydrates not eating high fat**
If you were trying to loose weight you would reduce your dietary fat so that the body would utilize stored body fat. For a majority of people with digestive issues we tend to feel skinny and thin so we would utilize higher fat levels 70% and higher.
Humans meant to be HYBRIDS
Our bodies are incredibly adaptive and self regulating machines. Our natural way of living for the most part of our existence has been to eat when food is available. Put gas in the tank and then use it when food was in short supply. This would normally happen during the season changes. So for many people instead of a beach body in the summer you’d be pigging out growing that sexy belly. Consider how a bear gets fat in the summer then uses its body fat to survive the winter. This process would be different depending on what climate zone you lived in. Regardless, you would eat what was available to you, when it was available.
When we eat carbs the body increases a hormone called insulin. When insulin is high and our glycogen tank is full and immediate needs are met, our body says lets store this for later. This is a highly intelligent feature of our body. When carbs are restricted and insulin is low this prompts a hormone called Glucagon. Glucagon provides access stored body fat (fatty acids) for energy. This is an amazing process that has allowed humans to thrive for 1000’s of years. Humans are meant to be like hybrid cars where we multiple forms of fuel. Adapting to situations using both fat and carbs for energy.
FAT NATION
In modern times we have refrigerators and are munching at all hours of the day. No wonder why we’ve become such a fat nation. Everything we do usually involves some form of eating whether it waking up in the morning, feeling bored at work, hanging out with friends, social functions, celebrating everything, or simply to add to that Netflix experience. Initially, I thought this was absurd but as I paid attention to my life I noticed I was eating 10+ times a day. These meals or snacks almost always included carbohydrates. If you never take a break from carbs, your body never gets a chance to tap into this awesome metabolic switch. Instead you stay on the carb/sugar (insulin) roller-coaster. When you’re carb dependent you have frequent energy crashes until you have another carb meal. Keto gives you freedom! Once your fat adapted and you miss a meal no worries because you still have energy.
BENEFITS OF KETO DIET for Crohn’s & Colitis
- Normalizes weight, so if your overweight you loose weight, if your under weight you will gain weight.
- Helps the gut by reducing food that feeds bad pathogenic bacteria
- Evidence showing that people live longer consuming low-carb high fat diets.
- Improves mental cognition
- Reduces inflammation
- Helps reverse insulin resistance
- Fights heart disease, lowers bad cholesterol (LDL), raises good cholesterol (HDL)
- Hormonal balance, your body requires cholesterol to make every hormone in your body this is why low fat diets can be detrimental to your health.
No matter how complicated anyone makes this seem, a Ketogenic diet approach is about making the metabolic shift from carbs to fat for energy. Consider that 1 gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories worth of energy and 1 gram of fat has a whopping 9 calories worth of energy. This is the like of filling your car with premium gas instead, of regular for the same price.
Is Keto Good For Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis
Heck ya! I think the Keto diet is probably near the top of my list for healing IBD’s and other autoimmune diseases. I believe it’s better than GAPS, SCD, PALEO. I’ve spent over a decade talking to people and the main common denominators for people achieving remission from IBD’s is low carb and high fat diets (LCHF). But the great news is that you can make many diets ketogenic. So if you want to stay loyal to SCD Diet, GAPS, or Paleo then you can. The choice is yours. I wish I knew this when I first started my healing journey. Unfortunately I had to fail a lot along the way but I’m glad you can learn from my experience.
Why Keto Works for Crohns and Colitis
- Reduces gut inflammation
- Improves Gut Microbiome as reduction in carbs helps correct dysbiosis by starving some of the pathogenic or opportunistic bacteria, yeast (candida), and fungi.
- Food combining principles* are enforced. (not mixing carbs with protein and fat) No food in nature exists that is naturally high in net carbs and fat.
- Reduces the toxic load (sugar, flour, gluten, processed foods) allows the body to start cleaning house.
- No toxic byproducts that come with sugar and starchy carbohydrate metabolism like Lactate, Acetate, Ethanol, and Acetaldehyde. These toxins give you the feeling of being drunk or experiencing bad brain fog.
- Increase in fat soluble vitamins A, D, and K (eating more animal products) Vitamin D deficiency is linked to autoimmune disease*
- Improves Cholesterol* which is needed for rebuilding cell walls, improving mental clarity, sex hormones, needed to produce vitamin D, immune system function, and acting as a healing agent in the body (via inflammation)
- With hormonal balance body weight is normalized. So if your skinny you will gain some weight via increase in muscle mass and maybe some fat (adipose tissue). On the flip side if your overweight you will loose weigh until you achieve your body’s set weight (ideal weight)
KETO is “worth” a TRY
Using Keto diet can be a great tool in your healing strategy. It will help you heal, reduce inflammation, reduce your anxiety, and enjoy meals that will leave you satisfied. I urge you to spend some time searching “crohn’s colitis reddit keto diet” and you can see for yourself. There are many testimonial and first hand experiences of people who utilized this approach.
I create content to help people because I was diagnosed with 3 life changing autoimmune conditions. I was fortunate enough to change my lifestyle, fail forward, and tweak until I eventually achieved remission. It’s been a decade now and at age 36 I’m feeling better than ever. If your suffering right now I want you to know you can take your health into your own hands. Feel free to reach out to me anytime.
If your looking for help to overcome your autoimmune and gut issues feel free to check out my free guide.
