I went camping for a few days and came home to discover that this blog has now had more than 2000 hits! Who’d have thought that people were actually interested in my witterings about having Crohn’s Disease and my adventures in sorting out a low-residue/low-fibre diet. It is likely that a good chunk of the hits have come from various “bots” trawling the internet automatically, but maybe there are people reading this because they want to learn more about IBD.
And on the subject of learning more about IBD, it was certainly in the media last week. Crohn’s and Colitis UK have recently done a study on the affects of fatigue on IBD (and vice versa) -
http://meandibd.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/new-crohns-and-colitis-uk-study-offers.html and were on the BBC last week to talk about it. Of course, that discussion got usurped by the comments of a gastro in the BBC Breakfast bit about the increase in the rate of Crohn's Disease amongst children and young people where she effectively said that Crohn's is caused by the overuse of antibiotics and eating too much junk food. Here is the full segment here, including the retort from both reps from Crohn's and Colitis UK -
The claim that Crohn's Disease is caused by junk food is, well, bullshit. Despite my love of chocolate, prior to this whole Crohn’s mess starting last year, I ate way healthier than most people. I rarely had takeaways or ready-meals. I only drank alcohol in moderation (and usually with food). Despite disliking veg, I found many creative ways to force it into me make it part of my diet. My daily dose of chocolate did not cause me to get Crohn’s Disease. In fact, the implication that I, and everyone else with IBD, somehow brought this upon ourselves due to our “lifestyle choices” is, to be frank, rather insulting. The rep from Crohn's and Colitis UK in the above interview wrote a fantastic retort to the implication that Crohn's is caused by "lifestyle factors" - http://adventuresofthebaglady.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/crohns-and-ileostomy-go-viral-after-unfounded-junk-food-claims-your-amazing-reaction-to-bbc-appearance/
Other than knowing that there is a strong genetic tendency involved in IBD, the cause is otherwise not understood. At all. Like most auto-immune disorders. In fact, in all of the controversy about the comments of this one gastro (who, by the way, very quickly published an apology after this all hit the media -http://meandibd.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/apology-from-dr-mitton-over-junk-food.html), everyone seems to have forgotten that IBD is an auto-immune disease. Yes, the symptoms are mostly gastro related (fatigue aside), but ultimately, the problem starts with the immune system.
And who has advised me to eat more ice cream, put sugar on my cereal in the morning, keep cans of Alphabetti (shudder) in the cupboard because it is “safe food”, and to stay away from nuts, seeds and most fruit and veg? MY HOSPITAL DIETITIAN!!!!!
And the other irony of the junk food controversy? Five days away camping does not preclude one to a super healthy diet. Cooking on a one burner camp stove makes cooking veg to a pulp a bit of a pain. So with very rare barbecue weather for camping, meals consisted of lots of barbecued beasts (chicken, venison and beef, to be precise), side dishes easily cooked on a one burner stove (like rice and couscous), the requisite marshmallow roasts and banana boats on the barbecue, Pringles (it was hot and sunny, I needed the salt), the odd cheeky half-pint of ale at the pub next to the campsite and being a National Trust member, copious amounts of cake from various National Trust tea-rooms. And you know what? My tummy was pretty happy the whole trip. Go figure.
Clearly, veg is just bad for me. Maybe the Arrogant Worms were right about eating vegetables all along.
And on the subject of learning more about IBD, it was certainly in the media last week. Crohn’s and Colitis UK have recently done a study on the affects of fatigue on IBD (and vice versa) -
http://meandibd.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/new-crohns-and-colitis-uk-study-offers.html and were on the BBC last week to talk about it. Of course, that discussion got usurped by the comments of a gastro in the BBC Breakfast bit about the increase in the rate of Crohn's Disease amongst children and young people where she effectively said that Crohn's is caused by the overuse of antibiotics and eating too much junk food. Here is the full segment here, including the retort from both reps from Crohn's and Colitis UK -
The claim that Crohn's Disease is caused by junk food is, well, bullshit. Despite my love of chocolate, prior to this whole Crohn’s mess starting last year, I ate way healthier than most people. I rarely had takeaways or ready-meals. I only drank alcohol in moderation (and usually with food). Despite disliking veg, I found many creative ways to force it into me make it part of my diet. My daily dose of chocolate did not cause me to get Crohn’s Disease. In fact, the implication that I, and everyone else with IBD, somehow brought this upon ourselves due to our “lifestyle choices” is, to be frank, rather insulting. The rep from Crohn's and Colitis UK in the above interview wrote a fantastic retort to the implication that Crohn's is caused by "lifestyle factors" - http://adventuresofthebaglady.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/crohns-and-ileostomy-go-viral-after-unfounded-junk-food-claims-your-amazing-reaction-to-bbc-appearance/
Other than knowing that there is a strong genetic tendency involved in IBD, the cause is otherwise not understood. At all. Like most auto-immune disorders. In fact, in all of the controversy about the comments of this one gastro (who, by the way, very quickly published an apology after this all hit the media -http://meandibd.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/apology-from-dr-mitton-over-junk-food.html), everyone seems to have forgotten that IBD is an auto-immune disease. Yes, the symptoms are mostly gastro related (fatigue aside), but ultimately, the problem starts with the immune system.
And who has advised me to eat more ice cream, put sugar on my cereal in the morning, keep cans of Alphabetti (shudder) in the cupboard because it is “safe food”, and to stay away from nuts, seeds and most fruit and veg? MY HOSPITAL DIETITIAN!!!!!
And the other irony of the junk food controversy? Five days away camping does not preclude one to a super healthy diet. Cooking on a one burner camp stove makes cooking veg to a pulp a bit of a pain. So with very rare barbecue weather for camping, meals consisted of lots of barbecued beasts (chicken, venison and beef, to be precise), side dishes easily cooked on a one burner stove (like rice and couscous), the requisite marshmallow roasts and banana boats on the barbecue, Pringles (it was hot and sunny, I needed the salt), the odd cheeky half-pint of ale at the pub next to the campsite and being a National Trust member, copious amounts of cake from various National Trust tea-rooms. And you know what? My tummy was pretty happy the whole trip. Go figure.
Clearly, veg is just bad for me. Maybe the Arrogant Worms were right about eating vegetables all along.
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