Managing Ulcerative Colitis on a RAW food diet

I did the raw food diet for 2.5 years. It brought me to my goal weight, taught me how to eat clean, opened my eyes to a living spiritual world, and most importantly kept my disease, Ulcerative Colitis in check. NO MEDS! Somebody messaged me a question and I thought that others with UC could benefit from the answer.

“Do you have colitis? i noticed you mentioned it in my video. my mom has it, and shes vegetarian.. but claims all raw fruits and veggies give her terrible symptoms. any help with getting her to eat more raw and relieve her symptoms would be greatly appreciate ”

Yes I have Ulcerative Colitis. I was diagnosed when I was 8, pretty severe symptoms since I was 5. I’ve been off meds & steroids for nearly 5 years. I use a clean, healthy, enzyme rich raw food diet and the calming practice of yoga to manage the disease. I don’t like that word - I’m far from dis-eased, in fact I’m extremely healthy, active, happy and at ease! No longer do I have to follow the low fiber, bland diet my doctors wanted me on. No longer do I live in contant flare! In fact, I’ve only had 1 flare since starting raw (2.5 years ago) and I was able heal it RAW & NATURALLY. It took longer than steroids and meds would, but I was patient and it was SOOO worth it. Since then I’ve been very keen with my body and when I notice any symptoms of flare I go back to 100% raw, cut out the trigger foods (like nuts & seeds) and juice like crazy!

My recommendation is to buy a juicer and juice mostly veggies & some fruit daily. My favorite drink when I’m in flare is to nurse a pitcher of: Bok Choy, Cucumber, Celery, Cabbage*, and Carrots. Tell her to start with small amounts, like a small glass, then she can work her way up to larger amounts of juice. (just because juice tends to be very cleansing) As far as juicers go, I recommend the Omega brand (slow rotation) but they all work, Jack LaLanne Juicers is a good brand too!

*The Cabbage is especially great for UC because it is very high in glutamine, an amino acid that has anti inflammatory properties AND it protects the lining of the digestive track! Raw saurkraut is another good source of glutamine.

When I was in flare I did cabbage juice everyday (mixed in with the recipe above). Another raw food she may find more relieving than aggravating is Papaya. If eating it doesn’t work for her she can always juice it.

All of our bodies are different, and Ulcerative Colitis affects people differently. Tell her to experiment, keep a food/mood/BM journal (all in the same book) so she can track how different foods affect her, raw, steamed, cooked etc. For me, during flare, I avoid nuts, seeds, rice & hard workouts (I want my body to spend it’s energy healing) and I do a whole lot of juicing, raw milk, raw smoothies & salads, yoga, & weekly accupunture. Nowadays, if I notice any flare symptoms I’ll do just juice for a couple of days, it gives my colon a chance to rest and heal while my body gets tons of nutrients and enzymes!

Also, tell her to trust her intuition, sometimes doctors can be very helpful in managing UC naturally, and sometimes they can be detrimental to the process, one doctor shamed and tried to scare me back onto meds and regular colonoscopies and I said no, I felt great doing what I was doing and it’s been working for me since. Let me know if you have any questions!

-SB

Remember, this worked for me but it might not be absolutely ideal for you at this very moment. I wasn't in a flare when I started the diet. Be careful, understand your body, and take little steps at a time.