I love my dietician!!!

Praise the Lord for my dietician!

I just had an amazing appointment with a dietician. I've been diagnosed since 2000 and NEVER been to a dietician. All my docs dismissed them, saying that food doesn't affect Crohn's. Well, it might not change the trajectory of the disease, but it does affect my stress and pain levels, which DO affect my Crohn's!

So, we talked, and I learned about so many things, and had all my questions answered (my husband and I wrote down all our questions beforehand for me to bring in). She was amazing, very kind and a great listener, and not at all pushy or like a know-it-all. More like a knowledgable aunt. I was able to voice all my questions, and all my doubts. I just brought something up everytime I was unsure or unclear, and she addressed it!

I don't know where to begin with all I learned! This will be the longest post ever. I'll just jump in.

She wants me to get 76 g of protein a day. She said that my weight indicates that I should get at least 65 g/day, but because I'm in a rebuilding phase (after the hospital, etc.), I should be getting around 76 (and more is great, too). She went through my food diary that I had brought and counted out all the protein and calcium in my diet. (She gave me a copy of the chart she used that had all the amounts of protein for food servings.) The first day she checked--Saturday--I got exactly 76 g of protein! And the next day, Monday, I got 75! She said she isn't worried about my protein levels. ;)

I do need more calcium, though. The average adult should get 1,000 a day, but I should get 1200 because of my Crohn's and steroids and everything, and I'm getting around 700-800. She taught me about Lactose and how lactose is a carbo, so if a food product (even a cheese) has no carbs, then it has no lactose! So cool!

She taught me about the chemical make up of foods and why they might not work for my Crohn's. I told her about avoiding aspertame, and she said that aspertame is made of two amino acids also found in meat and milk, so it probably isn't the problem. She mentioned, though, that I have a lot of juice and juice has a lot of sugar, which can cause gas as it drags extra water into intestines. She said to keep an eye on whether or not I feel gassy after having juice. If I do, I could change to Splenda Light juices (you're right about the wonders of splenda, my mom- and sister-in-law!), because Splenda is made of sugar. She did say that it's important, though, to avoid things that don't work for me, but it was SO helpful to know what these things are (i.e., she said that Splenda is made from sugar, with an oxygen molecule (or something) replaced by a hydrogen (or something, I can't remember). Knowledge is definitely power for me, as so much of this food battle is my mind's worrying about it all.

She said that with my food diary, I should keep track of amounts of everything, as well as my stress levels, because they sound important for my health ;). She said that I should know within several hours if a food doesn't agree with me.

She said one of the most important things I can do is to chew really well, because when you chew, the act of chewing along with the saliva actually start digestion well along, and help relieve my body of having to do more digestion. People don't realize how much it helps.

She said my Flintstones chewable vitamin is fine, but there is a new liquid multivitamin from Centrum which may be better (more calcium for adults and better for digestion).

Here are the things I'm going to try:
--Liquid Centrum multivitamin
--More calcium
--Less sugar, maybe add Splenda
--Caffeine in small amounts (not a problem, really, in small amounts, with low acid, like in tea)
--Take Windmill-brand Omega III (another thing you thought of, mom-in-law!), starting with 1,000mg a day, because Crohn's patients often have low levels of Omega III in comparison to the general population (and I would give you the specifics but I grabbed a wrong page from the nutritionist). But don't take Omega III before the dentist or surgery, because it thins the blood.
--Start with a probiotic (she said, 'have you thought about probiotics?' I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!! I said I had but didn't know which one to take. She said, here's one they give to babies when they're born, so it should be gentle enough and she asked a gastroenterologist on staff about it). It's called Florastor.
--Gradually increase my fiber intake one more serving a day, increasing to 25g/day if I can. She explained that fiber is good not only to prevent both diarrhea and constipation, but also to build muscle tone in the intestinal walls. I thought it was just for constipation and diarrhea. She also gave me a chart that lists soluble and insoluble fiber amounts in foods.

There's more, I'm sure, but I'll stop. I feel like I was doing well with nutrition, mainly based to my mom's teaching me about getting food groups while I was little and ate weird. Thanks, Mom! But now I feel like I'll be completely healthy, and maybe even get better! I still have to watch what I eat, but I feel like I have so much more control over it now. I feel so encouraged, so empowered, so freed of many worries about food!

Praise the Lord for His taking care of me!