Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of disorders that affect the intestines. The hallmark symptom of the condition is an inflamed gut. The treatment plan to manage an inflamed gut revolves around medications, surgery, and diet. Gut healing foods are particularly helpful as they are natural ways to manage flare-ups, putting the condition into remission. Read through to know more about gut inflammation and foods good for gut health.
Phases of Gut Inflammation
Gut inflammation refers to the inflammation in the intestines. Typical symptoms include pain and swelling in the abdomen, which can lead to diarrhoea, bloating, loss of appetite, and blood in the stool. As the condition impairs the body’s nutrient absorption ability, it aggravates other health problems. The disease goes through episodes of flare-ups and remission.
Flare-Up – A gut inflammation flare-up phase is a period when the symptoms become widely apparent. Diarrhoea, fatigue, abdominal pain and cramping, blood in the stools, reduced appetite, and unintended weight loss; one or more symptoms are predominant.
Remission – This is the phase when the disease is no longer active. The inflammation is settled and the bowel and the colon perform their function well. There are no symptoms of pain, fatigue or diarrhoea.
But gut inflammation follows a cyclical pattern. Between two episodes of a flare-up, there is a remission phase.
While it is not possible to cure the disease, increasing the duration and frequency of remissions can help improve health and quality of life.
Inflamed Gut – Flare-Up
During a gut inflammation flare-up or attack, the intestines are inflamed and swollen. Symptoms like stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhoea, or constipation are at their peak. An episode of a flare-up can last a few hours to a few months. Managing it is therefore crucial as it will help reduce the duration of the flare-up.
What to Eat During a Flare-Up?
A range of food choices and strategies can help manage a flare-up well. These include:
1. Reducing Fibre Intake
Low-fibre foods are easier to digest and cause no irritation to the gut. This helps soothe the symptoms of gut inflammation, pushing towards an early recovery.
- Switch to refined grains instead of whole-grains.
- Pick up foods that have less than 2 gm of fibre per serving.
- Eat well-cooked vegetables that have a low-fibre count.
- Peel off the skin of fruits and vegetables before eating.
- Avoid whole fruits and prefer drinking fresh or canned juice.
2. Ensuring Enough Protein Intake
Inflammation increases the protein needs of the body. So, during a gut inflammation flare-up, make sure you get enough proteins.
- Eat well-cooked, tender lean meat.
- Consider low-sodium and low-fat varieties of deli meats.
- Eat well-cooked eggs and tofu.
- Add smooth nuts and seed butter like peanut, almond, and sunflower seeds to your diet.
3. Drinking Adequate Water
Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. But limit your intake of caffeine, fizzy drinks, and beverages with artificial sugar. Make sure you limit all forms of caffeine – tea, soft drink, coffee, and chocolates.
4. Reducing Fats and Oils
Limiting the intake of fats and oils is important during a flare-up episode. While saturated fatty acids have pro-inflammatory properties, they should be avoided. Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) exerts anti‑inflammatory effects.
5. Adding Probiotics and Prebiotics
Probiotics are live, healthy bacteria and yeast that are good for the gut, whereas prebiotics are foods on which gut bacteria thrive. Prebiotic and probiotic foods are therefore considered gut healing foods.
6. Adding Supplements
Calcium and Vitamin D supplements improve intestinal resistance and strengthen the mucosal barrier. This helps relieve gut inflammation symptoms.
7. Avoiding High-FODMAP foods
The FODMAP category of foods contains small molecules of carbohydrates that irritate the bacteria in the gut, causing them to release gas. This triggers gut inflammation symptoms. Thus, a low-FODMAP food diet can help. Foods to avoid include:
- Fructans – Small carbohydrate molecules found in garlic, onion, wheat, rye, and broccoli
- Oligosaccharides – A type of carbohydrate found in chickpeas, lentils, and beans
- Lactose – A natural sugar found in dairy products like milk, yoghurt, and ice-cream
- Fructose – Natural fruit sugar found in apples, mangoes, watermelon, and honey
- Polyols – Naturally occurring sugar alcohols found in nectarines, peaches, plums, cauliflower, and mushrooms
Inflamed Gut – Remission
Gut inflammation remission is the phase when the gut issues seem to be settled. There are very few or no gut inflammation symptoms during the remission phase. The treatment of gut inflammation during this phase targets prolonging the duration of each remission phase.
What to Eat During Remission?
During the remission phase, it is important to add nutrient-rich foods back to the daily diet. Make sure to incorporate a vast variety of foods. Make sure the incorporation is slow and gradual to avoid a flare-up. Listed below are gut healing foods that can prolong the remission phase.
1. High Fibre Diet
Slowly shift from a low-fibre diet to a high-fibre diet. Reintroduce whole grains, cereals, oat bran, beans, barley, and nuts. But consult your doctor before making the shift.
2. High Protein Intake
During a gut inflammation remission phase, the body’s protein intake returns to normal. Eating adequate and high-quality proteins keeps the gut and body healthy. Consider eating lean meats and plant-based proteins like soy products.
3. Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids help heal the gut. As the inflamed gut gets back to normal, it decreases the severity and frequency of flare-ups. Fish and or flaxseed oil supplements are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids.
4. Avoid Processed
Avoid eating processed foods and eat food with minimum ingredients. Try eating fruits and vegetables of different colours. Try eating fruits with peel to get adequate nutrition.
5. Reintroduce Dairy Products
The remission phase is a good time to reintroduce dairy products. But make sure you incorporate them slowly. However, avoid dairy products if you are lactose intolerant.
6. Reintroduce Fats and Oils
Increasing the intake of fats and oils is recommended in this phase. Continue eating saturated oils like olive oil or canola oil.
7. Drink Plenty of Water
Keeping your water intake high is important. But do not reintroduce fruit juices, soft drinks, alcohol and caffeinated beverages such as coffee or tea.
8. Eat Probiotics and Prebiotics
Probiotics like yoghurt, kimchi, miso, sauerkraut, and tempeh will add substantial amounts of healthy bacteria into the gut. These help in improving gut health and avoiding a flare-up. Foods with prebiotics further act as food for healthy gut bacteria, promoting gut health.
9. Calcium-Rich Foods
Foods rich in calcium and Vitamin D supplements are important for building intestinal resistance and strengthen the mucosal barrier. This keeps the gut healthy and helps avoid gut inflammation symptoms.
Is Gut Inflammation Disease Preventable?
Gut inflammation diseases are a result of a weak immune system. Genetics also play a crucial role. Therefore, there isn’t much that can be done to prevent the onset of inflammatory bowel disease. However, certain dietary and lifestyle changes can help manage the symptoms and severity of an attack. These include:
- Eating small and frequent meals
- Reducing stress levels
- Getting adequate sleep
- Maintaining a physically active lifestyle
- Maintaining a food diary to list potential flare foods
- Eliminating high-fibre, extra-spicy, and high-fat foods
- Limiting consumption of caffeine drinks
- Quitting smoking
Conclusion
Inflammatory bowel disease or inflamed gut is a lifelong condition. Thankfully, it is not life-threatening. But the frequent shift between flares and remission can affect the quality of life. Therefore, each episode of flare, when the disease symptoms are at the peak, and remission, when the gut issues are settled, must be handled carefully.
Gut inflammation treatment primarily revolves around reducing the severity and duration of a flare-up and prolonging each remission stage. With proper treatment as well as dietary and lifestyle changes, preventing flares and having long periods of remission is possible.
