Breaking The Cycle

There are three steps to breaking the cycle. The first is to stop feeding the microbes that are creating the problem. The second step is to increase the digestion so that there is less of the food undigested for the bacteria to ferment. Third is to help reestablish the natural balance of living organisms in the intestinal tract.

Step 1. Starving the little pests:

Crohn's disease research has yielded some dramatic results relating to carbohydrates in the diet. In the 1980's two reports appeared in the medical literature. The first reported the results of Drs. Von Brandes and Lorenz-Meyer of Marburg, West Germany who brought about remissions in twenty patients with Crohn's disease by forbidding foods and beverages containing refined carbohydrates, mainly sucrose and starch. In the second study involving twenty patients with Crohn's disease, dietary changes involving the elimination of specific foods, particularly cereals and dairy products, resulted in sustained remissions. The physicians conducting the research concluded that "dietary manipulation might be an effective long term therapeutic strategy for Crohn's disease."

In research laboratories throughout the world, investigators have been studying intestinal problems. Physicians and researchers have found that a special type of synthetic diet (chemical nutrients assembled in the laboratory) called an Elemental Diet shows great promise in the treatment of digestive and intestinal problems of all types. When used for patients with Crohn's disease, not only did symptoms disappear but children who had not grown properly for years showed dramatic weight and height gains while on the diet. Over six hundred scientific publications have appeared in medical journals in the 1970's and early 1980's testifying to the fact that this Elemental Diet is effective in correcting malabsorption and reversing the course of many intestinal disorders. However since the Elemental Diet is an artificial diet, it cannot be continued indefinitely. When it is discontinued, usually after six to eight weeks, improvement gradually decreases and symptoms usually return.

The effectiveness of the Elemental Diet is caused by the type of carbohydrate which predominates. In the synthetic Elemental diet, the principal carbohydrate is the simple sugar, glucose, which in biochemical circles, is called a monosaccharide (meaning one sugar) as contrasted with a two sugar disaccharide such as sucrose (table sugar) or a many-sugar polysaccharide such as starch.

Two people have come up with diets that closely resembles the effect of the Elemental Diet. I will describe them and then talk about my experiences with them.

 

Dr. DeLamar Gibbons created a diet that sharply limits the amount of the poorly assimilated sugars that may ferment in the bowel and cause gas, diarrhea and irritation. These sugars are fructose, lactose mannitol and sorbitol.

Dr. DeLamar Gibbons
FOODS TO BE AVOIDED:

LACTOSE-(the natural sugar found in milk) containing foods: Milk, chocolate milk, ice cream and whey. (Butter and cheese are permitted, as the lactose has been removed in their production. Cottage cheese and yogurt are permitted, as most of the lactose has been removed from them by the fermentation involved in their production.)

FRUCTOSE-CONTAINING FOODS: Orange juice and any sweet fruits: oranges, apples, pears grapes, bananas, etc.; honey; waffle syrup made with corn sweetener; corn sweetener (in soda pop, pastry, candy, cereals, coffee creamers, salad dressing, sweet pickles, ice cream, ham, etc.) READ THE LABELS!

SORBITOL AND MANNITOL CONTAINING FOODS: Sugarless chewing gum, sugarless candy, toothpaste, and breath mints.

 

FOODS PERMITTED:

All cereals (rice and corn preferred), breads (white preferred), cheese, butter, meat, fish and poultry. All vegetables with the exception of sweet corn and dried beans. Tomatoes and avocados are recommended. 

 

 

Elaine Gottschall, M.Sc. spent four years investigating the effects of various sugars on the digestive tract working mainly on the cellular level. Her diet called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet is as follows:

 

Elaine Gottschall, M.Sc.
FOODS TO BE AVOIDED:

PROCESSED FOODS CONTAINING CORN SWEETENER.

MILK OR MILK PRODUCTS (excluding plain yogurt)

GRAINS: Wheat, barley, corn, rye, oats, etc. or cereals made from these.

FOODS PERMITTED:

PROTEINS: All fresh or frozen meat, fish and poultry. Eggs, hard cheeses and plain yogurt.

VEGETABLES: Fresh or frozen. (no canned vegetables). Raw vegetables providing diarrhea is not active.

FRUITS- Fresh, raw or cooked, frozen (with no added sugar), and dried.

 

For a more complete list read the books by these two authors found in the bibliography.

*The best results I have witnessed was from the people who totally avoided carbohydrates. These included: pastas, breads and all sugars (corn sweetener, sucrose, lactose, which is in milk and soft cheeses, and all others). You have to look at  labels for their ingredients.

 

Step 2. Better Digestion of food

While not feeding the bacteria (the most important step) will eventually reverse the cycle happening within the digestive tract and naturally start a better digestive process. There are other things that we can do to speed up the process.

Food passes through the bodies of some individuals without being digested giving the bacteria additional food on which to ferment. By adding enzymes that will help to digest food it gives the bacteria less to act upon and also increases the available nutrients to nourish the body.

Happily, the beauty of enzyme replacement is their safety. There are no ill effects. You can try any that you like or you can try the ones that others have had success with. 
These are: 
(1) Enzyme SuperCaps by TwinLab or 
(2) Super Enzymall by Schiff or 
(3) Mega-Zyme by Enzymatic Therapy. 

These are available through your local health food store. Take them as recommended with every meal.

 

Step 3. Restoration of the flora balance

The great Russian bacteriologist Elie Metchnikoff succeeded Louis Pasteur as the director of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. This 1908 Nobel Laureate believed that yogurt was the elixir of life. He found every indication that the basic human mechanism was capable of lasting far longer than it does. One way to last longer, he was convinced, is to eat yogurt containing lactobacilli.

Writing in the Dec. 1985 Townsend Letter for Doctors, Carl S. Hangee-Bauer, M.A., N.D., a naturopathic doctor and teacher at the John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine in Seattle, Wash., explained that Professor Metchnikoff's trailblazing yogurt concept is now proving to be correct. Dr. Hangee-Bauer wrote:

 

His theory was that putrefactive bacteria in the large intestine produce toxins which invite disease and shorten life. He believed that the eating of yogurt would cause the lactobacilli to become dominant in the colon and displace the putrefactive bacteria. For years these claims of healthful effects from fermented foods were considered unscientific folklore. However, a substantial and growing body of scientific evidence has demonstrated that lactobacilli and fermented foods play a significant role in human health...Foods fermented with lactobacilli have been, and still are, of great importance to the diets of most of the world's people. Most cultures use some form of fermented foods in their diet, ranging from cheese and yogurt to miso and other fermented products. The symbiotic relationship between human kind and this genius of bacteria has a long history of important nutritional benefits for humans.

 

Lactobacillus bifidus is first introduced to the sterile intestines of the infant as a result of breast feeding. Large numbers can soon be observed in the baby's feces. As an adult half of our stool consists of bacteria.

Other beneficial lactobacillus strains include L. acidophilus, L. fermentum, L. casea, L. casea, L. salivores, L. brevis, and L. plantarum. Approximately 200 strains of lactobacilli exist.

There are a couple of products on the market that I think work well in addition to using plain yogurt and the food items mentioned above. Take your pick of any one on the list. These are:

(1) Pro-Biotics Acidophilus by Nutrition Now Inc.
(2) Acidophilus SuperCaps by TwinLab
(3) Multi-Billion Dophilus with FOS by Solgar
(4) Power-Dophilus II Caps by Country Life

Take these on an empty stomach before bed or first thing in the morning or both.

Also take a multiple vitamin like KAL Soft Multiple with your meal. It is liquid and will be easy to digest.

Get one of the digestive aid products, one of the acidophilus products, and if possible soft liquid multiple vitamin.
All these can be bought at your local health food store.

  New and important information about coconut oil and IBD!! Have you heard the stories about coconut macaroons alleviating the symptoms of  IBD?

The anti-inflammatory and healing effects of coconut oil apparently play a role in soothing inflammation and healing injury in the digestive tract which are characteristic of Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Its antimicrobial properties also affects intestinal health by killing troublesome microorganisms that may cause chronic inflammation.
Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid which is abundant in coconut oil, and considered responsible for many of its health benefits. Coconut oil is about 50% lauric acid. The only other abundant source found in nature is in human breast milk. Dr. Jon J. Kabara, PhD and Professor Emeritus of Michigan State University says, "Never before in the history of man is it so important to emphasize the value of Lauric Oils. The medium-chain fats in coconut oil are similar to fats in mother's milk and have similar nutriceutical effects."
The saturated fat in coconut oil is unlike the fat found in meat or other vegetable fats.  It is identical to a special group of fats found in human breast milk that have been shown to improve digestion, strengthen the immune system, and protect against bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. This is where we get our initial immune support as infants that gets disrupted as adults because of the introduction of various medicines etc. that we discussed earlier.
More information is available at:

http://www.coconut-info.com/crohnsibs.htm

 

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