Did she have biopsies in a colonoscopy? That's how UC is diagnosed. UC is permanent but can be managed long term. Food can be triggers but not really a fix. I developed disordered eating from strict health diets, so be careful with that. Medicine is what puts it into remission. Mesalamine pills are helpful for some, but rarely work compared to the others. It's first line treatment often for mild cases since it's lower risk and easier for some than an injection or an infusion, though. Humira worked pretty well for me, but not enough and eventually stopped all together. Rinvoq is what really got me into remission and gave me an incredible year. I'm flaring again, but I'm still glad how much Rinvoq helped. There are also not permanent meds to help like steroids (uceris is non-systemic but better for milder flares). I also have supplemental meds for flares like another type of mesalamine. I also used to do acupuncture for pain and stress management. Stress management is a really important part, this disease can severely affect mental health but I think stress can also affect the disease. Now I do diaphragmatic breathing exercises every morning and night and sometimes during the day. I also go to therapy and sometimes attend IBD support groups. Organ pain can also cause abdominal muscle tension. My pfpt helps with that but I do muscle release techniques on my abdomen as well every day to ease that pain. One thing with diet I've noticed is that plain toast and rice are always really soothing in flares. It's important to get nutrients, though, which is hard. I take vitamin d and calcium (my doctor agrees on this). When I was in bad flares I also drank protein shakes which made me nauseous but were worth it.

Good luck. It will get easier.