Sometimes a liquid diet is a great way to detox our whole body’s system, especially for people with Crohn’s disease. However, you have to be careful with what you consume in a liquid diet. Below are a few tips for conducting a liquid diet.
- Get The Right Insights From An Expert
When people with Crohn’s disease have difficulty digesting food and their symptoms flare up, it is normally recommended to them to go on a liquid diet. Most dietitians recommend that if someone is having a difficult time keeping their weight stable while consuming regular food or if they have a meager appetite or even loose motions – they will suggest you add a liquid diet with your regular intake of food. However, it is always wise to consult a dietitian, nutritionist, or a doctor before you decide to go on a completely liquid diet.
- Consume Energy Drinks
There are times you may have trouble stabilizing your weight (you may weight much less than you are supposed to). Adding an energy drink to a meal can add up to 200-300 calories. These drinks are easily accessible in drugstores and relatively inexpensive.
- Liquids Can Help Soothe A Flare-Up
Sometimes when your system gets flared up symptoms like, diarrhea, cramping, and constipation – liquid diet meals help soothe them. Most dietitians also recommend that you go on one if you have a flare up, and take in as many calories (with either liquids or solids) as your stomach can allow during a flare-up.
- It Is Convenient
When you make liquid meals, it can be pretty handy. Not only do you save money, but it also helps you save time. You can make smoothies and save a batch in the fridge or you can buy liquid meal replacers instead.
- Avoid The Milk
Unfortunately, if someone has Crohn’s disease, there is a high chance that their stomach gets agitated by dairy products, which then causes the system to flare.
People with such symptoms should avoid milkshakes or any liquid diet that contains nonfat milk. However, Ensure or Boost, don’t have lactose but have milk protein in them. You use soy products to make your smoothies, or with dairy that is lactose-free.
After the flare-up has died down, you can try and reinstate certain dairy products such as yogurt, to see if your system can hold it in.
- Watch Out The Sugar Intake
The problem with sugar is that, when your system flares up, it pulls in water into your intestines and helps stimulate diarrhea. This, in particular, will be painful with people who have Crohn’s disease. Try and look for liquid meals that have calories that come from fat and protein, and not just sugar. Coconut water is a great source for low-sugar and electrolytes and vitamin source.
However, be careful about using artificial sweeteners, because sugar-free products usually contain sorbitol and xylitol, which are sugar alcohols that agitate diarrhea even more.
- Vitamin Is Essential For Your Health
People normally don’t know it, but sometimes vitamin deficiencies can occur when their intake on them is low or if they have a very severe flare-up. Normally vitamin B12 or Vitamin D deficiencies occur, especially if their small intestine has been affected.
If the small intestine has been damaged, then deficiencies in zinc, iron, and B vitamins are normally developed.
Author Bio
Bella Steve is a Nutritionist at Writing Service UK with over 10 years of experience. When she isn’t in her clinic, she turns to blogging to educate people about the various diet plans, nutritional values of different meals, and diet patterns.