Colitis and the Typical Bodybuilding Diet - Some Thoughts
With my new (kinda) goal of ‘ripping up’ physically while still developing my athletic potential, I am having to re-think my diet. Unfortunately, a lot of truths about fitness/bodybuilding dieting are contraindicated by colitis - that is, stuff that is ordinarily good for people is often bad for people with colitis. Here are my observations:
1. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables
Personally, I handle fruit reasonably well, but leafy vegetables are another matter. Due to their texture and harsh fibrous make-up, they do not settle very well in a digestive tract afflicted with colitis. In February, I really upped my vegetable intake to see if it would have a positive effect on my colitis. The result was quite the opposite- I felt terrible - and so I tend to avoid leafy vegetables (and tomatoes / onions).
2. Brown bread and rice is better than white bread/rice.
Again, the non-soluble fibre of brown bread and rice mean that a colitis-ridden digestive tract, at best, struggles to process the food and, at worst, is actively agitated by such food. White bread/rice on the other hand, being softer, is easier to digest. I should point out, I tend not to eat any bread, except on rare occasions.
3. Squats and Milk!
Hey, I’m not here to argue with squats! But milk, or rather dairy, is a different matter. I’ve always thought that I’ve handled milk fairly well, but I tend to drink less nowadays so as not to risk agitated my condition. Cheese, except if very mild and in very small amounts, is a big no-no.
4. Don’t eat sweets, chocolates or fried / greasy food.
The problem with coli…wait. This is actually very good advice for colitis. I’ve never had a sweet tooth, but now I hardly ever touch any desserts, fast food or, indeed, any food that is rich, spicy, or strong.
My girlfriend describes my diet as ‘baby food’ - bland and sloppy, so as to place minimum stress on my body. But I do what I need to do to keep getting better. These are just a few of my thoughts on the subject (I have more, but I don’t like to make my posts too long!), and I keep exploring, researching and experimenting with different approaches in the hope that I’ll find the right combination - for me - to control my condition in the long run, and thereby allow my body to fully propel towards my athletic goals.
Any ideas are most welcome.
In other news, I’ve been doing a lot of pullups/chinups these last couple of days. Big stretch, slow and controlled. Greasing the groove throughout the day. Throwing in pushups to balance them out. Bodyweight training really is refreshing - anytime, anywhere!
July 11, 2009 at 7:34 pm
If I were you I would eat mainly fruit, healthy fats, and lots of protein. I’d eat slightly above maintenance to build muscle. I would think this would also help you drop what little body fat you have. I would avoid any foods that you know will flare the colitis. There’s no sense in eating stuff you know will aggravate you…you will just lose what weight you gained and get frustrated again.
Can you handle soy, almond, or rice milks? They may help you raise your calories. What fat sources can you tolerate. It would seem that healthy fats might help??
July 12, 2009 at 6:49 am
Thanks for the thoughts. I have been slowly moving toward this approach since looking over my diet. Grazing on fruit, lean meat and a few nuts/seeds throughout the day. Carb-specific sources limited to breakfast and a tiny bit of pasta midday.
Soya is a no-no for me (I’ve found it doesn’t sit well), but Rice Milk is good, and I am phasing out ‘real’ milk as replacing it with this.
Also, adding vegetable juice - figure I can get around the problematic digestive texture of vegetables by consuming them in liquid form!
July 13, 2009 at 7:42 am
If you have colitis, definitely DO NOT consume brown rice, white rice, milk, any grains, any sugars or sweeteners other than honey, any food containing chemicals and additives.
I was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis back in 2004 and put on meds by my doctor. I did tons of research and came across a book called "Breaking The Vicious Cycle" which explains how the Specific Carbohydrate Diet can heal and cure colitis, crohn’s, celiac, ibd, etc. Within months of being on the diet i was symptom free and med free. have been ever since. feel free to visit my blog at www.comfytummy.com to learn more about the diet and my journey on it.