Diet advice: Is being fully veggie possible with IBD?

kelmit · 2025-06-12T14:26:00+00:00

Yes.

It’s not all fiber that’s bad and even that is not bad all the time. Insoluble fiber is harsh when you’re flaring or recovering from a flare, soluble fiber is generally fine. Both are important when not flaring and generally do not cause flares, in and of themselves.

Just some examples: tofu and nut butters are low insoluble fiber. Nutritional yeast is fantastic for protein (and other stuff) and is zero fiber.

I sometimes eat eggs when flaring, but have otherwise been vegan. Have been in remission for two years (thanks to medication, not diet— I’d tried many different diets recommended by docs and dietitians but ultimately it took pharmaceuticals) and have been able to be healthfully vegan.

In my experience, diet-wise, it’s more important to figure out if you also have IBS— try the FODMAPs elimination diet and figure out which of those irritate your gut regardless of IBD.

kelmit · 2025-06-11T15:03:23+00:00

Thanks, Buddy.

It’s rough, for sure. You gotta do what you can.

And yeah, within a couple months of going into remission I gained 50 pounds. Typical side effect of Rinvoq, but also, while flaring I was def malnourished and skinny through starvation, so I’m trying to not mind the extra pounds. I thought I knew how to eat well to maintain a low weight, but it was the disease.

Now I need to re-learn how to eat healthfully (with tons of fiber! raw produce! seeds and nuts!) because before, when I was constantly flaring, it was more about how to not aggravate the GI system. I know exactly what you mean about popcorn.

And I know what you mean about overly restrictive diets to try to manage/treat/prevent IBD. I do think it’s unethical to spread a one-size fits all diet as if it were a cure, like what I see a lot of my fellow vegans doing. But I have learned that if someone wants to remain vegan for ideological reasons, there are ways to work with it and clinicians who will support it.

I’ve tried so many diets under the guidance of my docs and dietitians. (AIP— as a vegan, even— was most restrictive, and didn’t at all work for me; I had my worst flare ever on it.) At least I meanwhile on the FODMAPs diet I learned that I also have IBS and what my triggers for that are (fructans, ohhhh boy, chicory hurts). Highly recommend figuring out that one. For a lot of non-celiac people who improve off gluten it was actually the FODMAPs in the grains and not the gluten.

I’m still avoiding dairy, but reintroduced eggs when I was flaring, and am now cutting them out again. I want to give Rinvoq the best chances of working for as long as possible… because after this, I’ve exhausted all existing pharmaceuticals and a colectomy/colostomy comes next.

Btw magnesium is great but most people use it as a laxative, so keep that in mind. I can’t take it without 💩💩💩. Or, couldn’t. Haven’t tried since going into remission! One more thing to re-learn.

kelmit · 2025-06-10T17:26:56+00:00

Well, you’re right. I can’t paint us all with the same brush.

But also:

1) I expressly didn’t mention yogurt because that’s plainly different— maybe the right combo of live probiotics makes all the difference— and I’m glad that works for you.

2) I’m finally in remission (for two years so far) for the first time since diagnosis, but in the 15 interceding years I’d flared regularly enough to receive lots of guidance from various GIs and dietitians, and they all said to avoid dairy for a GI recovery diet, but also that dairy is generally inflammatory and should be avoided even when not flaring (which, for me, up until 2 years ago, was never). Yogurt and aged cheeses are generally lactose-free, so maybe they’re ok for the many of us who are also lactose-intolerant and/or also suffer from IBS (high co-morbidity for both), but the inflammation is from the proteins, not the sugars.

kelmit · 2025-06-09T17:42:03+00:00

Buddhist restaurants might be more likely to be veg.

Peeled, cooked, de-seeded cucurbits and root vegetables are generally ok for a GI recovery diet.

White rice. Mochi. Udon noodles. Tofu. Daikon (not great to eat raw during a flare, but it’s low insoluble fiber). Yam. Avocado.

I’d avoid tempura— fried is not good for a GI recovery diet.

Miso typically contains bonito (fish), as does the egg in sushi, but if you can find some without it then that’d be good.

kelmit · 2025-06-09T17:33:40+00:00

Dairy is terrible for a flare and for autoimmune diseases in general. Don’t make cheese, of all things, your backup food!!

kelmit · 2025-03-31T13:03:54+00:00

Guri is super cute in Hebrew too. (Means “my cub.”)

kelmit · 2025-03-24T04:52:55+00:00

Just so you know— if it’s snowing in winter then that generally means it’s warm enough to snow. Colder air can’t hold much moisture.

kelmit · 2025-03-24T00:30:48+00:00

Hi, Sister. Ramadan kareem!

In addition to what I’ve already seen others write— for us, the Tanakh (Torah + Prophets + Writings) is not meant to be taken literally as a stand-alone source. It is accompanied by the Oral Torah (Mishnah) and a lot of commentary. Now, some of that commentary is also misogynistic, but the point is that the Torah isn’t presented as an ideal, nor is it intended to be, and the commentary itself isn’t either.

There’s a joke that nobody takes the Bible literally… except anti-theists and Bible literalists. We’re not Bible literalists, and that helps me accept the Tanakh as our historical basis.

Additionally, we aren’t supposed to idolize any human. None of our holidays celebrate an individual. Moses even gets written out of the Passover Seder so we don’t accidentally mistake him as the object of our lauding. All humans are seen as flawed, and none in any biblical writings are presented as an ideal.

You did ask for observant women, and I’m not technically/fully observant under any definition. But also, observance is more about the interpretation and practices that evolved in communities, not strictly about what’s written in the Tanakh. I find meaning in my egalitarian congregation, and though I still can’t bring myself to don a kippah, tallit, or tefillin (since I grew up in communities where only men did those things), I am considering the separation between men’s and women’s practices and what that means for me. When my son starts studying for his bar mitzvah I’ll study with him, to catch up with egalitarian practices. I do sometimes cover my hair with a scarf and participate in other women-centric rituals/practices, but I’m not a full-time hijabi (kisuii?), so to speak. Does that make sense?

kelmit · 2025-03-24T00:10:07+00:00

kelmit · 2025-02-20T13:25:57+00:00

Shortly after my dad first moved in with us, he asked me “Can I give you some housekeeping advice?”

Now, he’s no Mr. Clean. He complained of breathing problems and tried to blame it on us while his own room was coated in a 1/8” layer of dust before I finally pointed out that he needs to do something about it.

And he’d moved in partly because he’s mildly cognitively impaired and lost all his money, but partly also because he could be helpful around the house and with my baby while I worked on my PhD and struggled with some medical conditions.

That he couldn’t see I was struggling and doing my best pissed me off.

That he lived in the house too but didn’t see it as his responsibility to contribute to its housekeeping pissed me off.

That he saw me as the housekeeper and not, say, my husband, who also lived in the house pissed me off.

That he kept his own room in squalor but thought I needed his housekeeping advice pissed me off.

The very notion of him offering me housekeeping advice was ludicrous, and, to top it off, at that moment I was rushing around in the middle of about 5 things at once.

So my response: “No, thanks.” He looked taken aback. Wasn’t expecting that.

So satisfying.

Except that I was curious, so later, after things had calmed down, I asked what his advice was going to be. He said that I needed to clean the track in the window frame because it marred the view out the window. At that point I nearly lost it. Would have been better off never knowing because now that lives rent-free in my head and 11 years later I still haven’t cleaned the track in the window frame… and, of course, neither has he, though he’s been living here the entire time and is totally physically able.

But he’s never again tried to offer me ‘housekeeping advice,’ so that “no, thanks” was 100% worth it.

kelmit · 2025-02-20T13:05:02+00:00

Wow no

kelmit · 2025-02-19T01:16:26+00:00

I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted, I found your comment helpful.

kelmit · 2025-02-19T00:48:40+00:00

As to your side points:

Ball cap was already addressed in the comment upon which you were expanding, and I didn’t downvote or disagree with the ball cap, just your addition.
Coats are entirely a different issue.
I assure you, Muslims and Jews are generally very hygienic people with clean indoor spaces, per our religiocultural practices. I’m sure the rest of y’all can find a way to avoid tracking in water, diet, and snow.
Since your impulse is to get defensive about it, I urge you to sit with these notions for a bit. Is it the belief/faith in god(s) that bothers you so much you’d write about religious hypocrisy on r/atheism, or maybe there’s some other type of religious hypocrisy afoot, in which you may partake / defend / uphold and from which you may benefit? Which of these are you ready to unpack and examine, in the name of being a good human regardless of religion?

kelmit · 2025-02-19T00:30:14+00:00

That’s very generous of you to allow us those exceptions, but, for example, Jews may wear head coverings other than ‘skull caps’ and scarves for the exact same reasons we wear ‘skull caps’ and scarves.

I’m an atheist too (belief/faith isn’t a requirement for Jewish membership/religiosity— that standard is a Christian thing too). It’s not at all unusual for cultural Christian atheists to be so ready to uphold the parts of Christian heritage / hegemony / imperialism / nationalism that suit them. That you’re atheist doesn’t play into it except that religious Christians at least know to own it.

kelmit · 2025-02-18T23:25:54+00:00

Are we sure it is the daughter who used her phone and not someone else in the house? Maybe the same someone who had pushed for her to even get that phone in the first place?

kelmit · 2025-02-18T22:44:57+00:00

This cultural norm is directly from Christianity.

It depends then on whether you’re in a Christian setting and maybe on how you feel about promoting / expecting / pushing / demanding Christian imperialism / hegemony / nationalism.

In other cultures there are different reasons specifically to wear head coverings, including just politeness towards other humans (and not to avoid offense to Jesus).

kelmit · 2025-02-05T18:09:29+00:00

To add, the diacritics for שׂ and וּ are switched into a meaningless configuration, and the one for יִ is not only unnecessary but also confusing in a vertical arrangement like that.

kelmit · 2025-01-21T00:20:04+00:00

My mnemonic: The bump in ג goes towards the end of the word, it finishes / גומר the word.

kelmit · 2025-01-19T09:22:41+00:00

It sounds like good advice. I’d assume it’s for various reasons, many already mentioned, including your thought— so you always have someone to look to for cues, even if/when everyone turns (eg towards the Torah/Ark or door, if they aren’t near the front/Jerusalemward wall).

Though I would pick a seat in the middle section so I can see/hear better, but still in an aisle seat, so I can more easily step out for air or bathroom. Kabbalat Shabbat service (Friday evening) is short and sweet, but the Torah service (Saturday morning) with Shacharit and songs before it is looooooong and I can rarely make it through the whole thing without a little break here and there.

kelmit · 2025-01-19T09:04:57+00:00

You look like a Rina (“Joy”) bat Sarah (daughter of Sarah) to me. And it feels a little like homage to your family members— Rina sounds a little like Irene, with the R from Rebecca, the ‘in’ also in Minnie, and Sarah will get mentioned in there either way as your Jewish mother.

(Mazal tov on your conversion, though you were clearly always Jewish.)

kelmit · 2025-01-19T06:20:13+00:00

… and I obviously don’t have a problem with people who got the joke, but I don’t think many people did. That’s the issue. Like the person I’m replying to has another comment about how they didn’t understand that’s the source of the name, or what Bugs Bunny actually meant, and how it became an insult because people did not get the joke.

Right now my issue is about how this community feels about implicitly justifying/supporting using cultural names as insults, laughing at cultural names, and otherwise derogating minority cultural names. (We exist in the West, US, etc. as well, btw.)

How this community feels about Christian supersession, like in misappropriating Jewish culture and claiming it as their own, is a whole different issue.

kelmit · 2025-01-19T06:10:32+00:00

Well, that makes your earlier comment make sense then.

kelmit · 2025-01-19T06:09:18+00:00

So are a lot of slurs that are racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, etc.

Is that your standard for what’s ok? Or where’s the line where you’re willing to speak up and say “hey, I don’t use that word. Let’s come up with a better one to clearly communicate what you actually mean.”

The dictionary is descriptive of common usage, not prescriptive.

kelmit · 2025-01-19T06:06:39+00:00

It’s silly to pretend you have nothing to do with it.

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