What can I do to feel better if I have ulcerative colitis?

If you have ulcerative colitis, it's key to focus on diet and remove anything that can trigger symptoms. Watch integrative gastroenterologist Robynne Chutkan, MD, explain how food journaling and lightening up your diet can make you feel better.

Transcript

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In general, when the colon's inflamed, the less food that's going through, the better it will feel. [MELLOW MUSIC]

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If you have ulcerative colitis, it's important to take a careful look at your diet to see if there may be things in there that are making you feel worse.

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Some of the common things that can trigger symptoms for people would be things like highly processed foods, fried foods,

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foods that are high in sugar. And for some people, eating large amounts of vegetables, of raw vegetables, can also trigger symptoms.

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But every patient with ulcerative colitis is different. I recommend doing a food journal with what you're eating on one side and symptoms on the other.

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And over the period of a few weeks, you can usually figure out if there's a dietary component to your symptoms. So taking a careful look at your diet

00:50

is an important part of it. When you're having a flare-up of symptoms, that might be the time to eat a little less.

00:56

In general, when the colon's inflamed, the less food that's going through, the better it will feel. So sometimes, we put patients in the hospital

01:04

for complete bowel rest, and we feed them intravenously. What you can do at home might just be to lighten up your diet, to do a day or two of smoothies

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and blended soups and things like that that are a little bit easier for your colon to digest.