This week, Kylie & Meg sit down with Ashley Hurst, who is a Registered Dietitian & Inflammatory Bowel Disease Specialist. She is also owner of Crohn's & Colitis Dietitians, a team of 4 Dietitians who are specialists in nutrition therapy for IBD and who also have IBD themselves. Together they help hundreds of patients with IBD find symptom relief, improve energy and find peace with food again. She also has an effective and trustworthy line of supplements to help those with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
You can connect with Ashley and her team on social @crohns_and_colitis_dietitian on IG, Crohns.and.colitis.nutrition on Facebook , IBD_Dietitians on Twitter or on LinkedIn. Or you can check out her website at www.crohnsandcolitisdietitians.com .
TLDL action steps/takeaways:
1. Irritation is NOT inflammation. A person can be irritated (or experiencing symptoms) by certain foods or triggers but these may not necessarily mean they are causing inflammation. Similarly, a food or trigger can cause inflammation that a person might not necessarily be able to feel.
2. 1 in 4 IBD patients has an eating disorder; 80% of IBD patients have disordered eating patterns.
3. Eating PATTERNS make more of a difference for those with IBD vs including/omitting individual foods alone.
4. Research shows that, contrary to popular belief, fiber should NOT be restricted in the diet if you have IBD (of course this part takes a lot of personalization and should be decided between you and your dietitian, but fiber can be super helpful in helping IBD patients remain in remission)
5. Basic rules of an IBD diet: 1) high antioxidant diet (berries, leafy greens, smoothies, squash, fish, nut butters); 2) high fiber & 3) anti-inflammatory foods (curcumin, etc)
6. There is considerable research to suggest a gluten free trial period (at least) may be beneficial for IBD patients
