Living with Crohn’s disease is not easy and there are certain aspects of your life that will be impacted by the condition, such as watching what you eat.

In terms of managing the associated pain and discomfort when you have the disease, cannabinoids are rapidly establishing themselves as a treatment option for various ongoing medical issues and as a pain-relief option.

But what about your diet? Here’s a look at whether you should consider changes to improve how you manage your symptoms.

Avoiding the trigger

If you have Crohn’s disease you will almost certainly have already established that there are certain foods that are best avoided if you want to avoid what you are eating has a detrimental impact on your intestine.

Foods that have the capacity to trigger a flare-up are definitely to be avoided as Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes an immune reaction in your intestinal tract.

Armed with that knowledge, the question is what foods should be in your diet?

Getting your key nutrients

A major problem that you have to contend with is that you can experience issues absorbing key nutrients because your colon can become inflamed, leading to the specter of suffering from malnutrition.

You could find that you have low levels of vitamin B12 and iron, which is why you need to try and find foods that replenish these levels but are not so-called trigger foods that exacerbate your condition.

Identify foods that aggravate your symptoms

A good starting point would be to identify foods that you know will cause your symptoms to flare.

Typical sufferers of Crohn’s disease may find they have an intolerance to alcohol, spicy foods, tea or coffee, red meat, and pork, to name a few.

A good source of protein would be low-fat poultry and fish, and if you find that raw vegetables are a problem you could steam them to soften them up.

Basically, it is difficult to suggest a specific group of foods to have in your diet as people with Crohn’s disease can experience different reactions so you have to build up your knowledge through a bit of trial and error.

Low-fiber might be an option

Although it is still being investigated for its efficiency, it has been suggested that a low-residue and low-fiber diet could reduce abdominal pain and diarrhea.

When you take this diet route you should find that it helps to decrease the frequency of your bowel movements, which should help you to cope better and reduce the number of flare-ups you experience.

Vitamin supplements

A good tip would be to keep a food diary and then build up your regular diet around the information you gather so that you manage your condition with a greater level of efficiency.

A common denominator amongst Crohn’s disease sufferers is vitamin deficiency and a lack of vitamin D, in particular, is a common issue.

Vitamin supplements may be required and you should consult your doctor about this.

Regularly review your diet and avoid trigger foods so that you can learn to cope with Crohn’s disease in the best way possible.