Introduction(A little about myself, and personal advice)

I may not be a certified nutritionist or health professional, but I have spoken to several people suffering from IBD (Inflatable bowel disease), not to be confused with IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome), after being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis back in October of 2009. I learnt a lot from my own experience, as well as the experiences of others in the last seven years.

When I was first diagnosed with the serious digestive illness, I had no clue what it was. I had never even heard of it; only Crohn's, although I knew very little about it. I soon found out that the two illnesses were very similar to one another.

I wasn't given much guidance at first. Right after my very first colonoscopy which determined the cause of my abdominal pain and scary bloody stools, the GI simply gave me a prescription of pills and enemas to treat my illness. To be honest, I didn't realize at the time that I was going to have to deal with this illness forever. I had seen a colour picture of my swollen intestines along with its ulcers, but I thought that after taking my medication everything would be back to normal. (In all fairness, I was given a sedative before the procedure so may not have processed everything I was told shortly after I woke up.)

Although the intestinal swelling and ulcers did go away, my suffering was far from being over. Once I realized there was no cure, I wanted to do everything I possibly could to avoid another flare-up.

When I asked my initial GI during a follow up appointment if I should avoid certain foods, he said no. He wasn't wrong in a way because it's not food that cause the illness or a flare-up, but certain food items can aggravate the symptoms. The same can be said about anxiety, stress, and depression.

I know it's an easier thing to say than to do, but trying to reduce your stress and anxiety levels can help you manage your symptoms. Yoga personally helped me do that.

Certain positions, such as lying down flat on your back or on your left side with your right leg bent up to your abdomen, can help with digestion too. I often lie down in one of those two positions when I have a bad cramp, and the pain eventually goes away.

If you wish to do the same, concentrate on your breathing while lying down; take deep breaths through your nose, hold for about five seconds, and slowly exhale through your mouth. As odd as this may sound, visualize the pain exiting your body.

Soaking in a warm bath, or placing a microwavable magic bag or an electrical heat pad on the lowest setting where it hurts may help as well. Heat waves however, aggravate IBD symptoms, so try to remain cool and hydrated during days of intense heat.

Exercising is also good for you, but you need to take it easy when you are flared-up. As much as I personally love doing Zumba, being too active during a flare-up or when I am just getting over one will only make me embarrassingly release gas or have to urgently go to the bathroom.

Talking walks outside to get some fresh air at the same time is ideal, but I know it can sometimes be difficult to do so because of your lack of energy and the fact that you never know when you will suddenly need a bathroom. It's hard not to be paranoid. While on sick leave, I used to wait a few minutes after a wave of diarrhea was over to take a simple walk around the block.

Walking from one end of a hallway and back if you don't feel comfortable going outside is good too.

It's necessary to keep the circulation going rather than staying in bed without moving for extended periods of time even though you need your rest and feel weak when you are flared-up.

As for the depression, the sicker you become the harder it is not to feel depressed. It is important to try staying positive. I remember a few times thinking I would be better off dead because I was in so much pain and felt like nobody understood me. People comprehended nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, and fatigue, but having Crohn's and Colitis is much more than that.

I started describing how I felt by saying that I was living as though I had a prolonged gastro/stomach flu, like I was continuously taking laxatives, that my intestines felt like they were on fire and being twisted inside of me, and that I was experiencing something as bad as labour pain. I told whoever would listen that I was a slave to my intestines. Most people were compassionate, but I could tell they still didn't really understand my suffering. Others just didn't get it at all.

One of my old co-workers kept questioning my boring food choices during our lunch breaks, asking me why I didn't put this or that in my sandwiches or how I could eat plain rice or soup... At first I politely gave her my reasons, but her lack of comprehension eventually made me want to yell out that I wanted to eat what everyone else was having. It was torturous for me to see everyone eating grand meals as well as smell their delicious looking food, and tempting to give up on my personal strict diet even though it was for my own good. The more careful I was about what I ate, the less symptoms I experienced.

I won't lie, I did cheat on occasion. Actually, I still do; mainly on weekends. Otherwise, it would drive me completely mad. When I feel okay, I treat myself to something special, always staying near a bathroom and being careful not to overdo it.

When I plan on eating any of my trigger foods though, I make sure to eat what I call my safe foods before and afterwards. I don't abuse it either, knowing there will be consequences.

For example, although I don't digest dairy very well, I can permit myself to eat a slice of pizza or a cheeseburger once in a while. I would not have them both on the same day though. I can also have a piece of chocolate, but not a whole bar.

My son loves tacos, and I still make them for dinner sometimes when I feel good even though the usual ingredients are a recipe for disaster for me. I still laugh at the memory of myself eating tacos with spicy meat, diced tomatoes and onions, salsa, plus grated cheese the night before going to the ER the first time. I am surprised that I didn't burn a hole right through my intestines! The rare times that I eat tacos now, I use soft shells to make it easier to digest, don't put any spices in my portion of meat, nor salsa or onions. I still add cheese but pay for it later on; not as bad as if I had made my tacos the same way as my son though!

When I choose to indulge in something I shouldn't, I usually do so in the comfort of my own home. But, I do go out to the restaurant from time to time. I try to find something on the menu that will agree with me, and always advise the waiters or waitresses of the ingredients I have trouble digesting. Sometimes I have to say I have severe food intolerances for them to take me seriously, in order to minimize the risks of me running to the bathroom or having other problems.

Some waiters or waitresses might be completely ignorant, thinking that you are just being picky and not really pay attention to what you are saying. (I told a waitress once that I could not digest garlic and asked if I could substitute the garlic potatoes for a different side dish. She said yes, but my chicken brochette was clearly cooked in garlic, the salad dressing which was poured for me had garlic in it, plus there was a side of tzatziki sauce on my plate.) If you specified not to use certain ingredients and they do anyways, don't be afraid to return the food and explain that you will be sick if you eat what was given to you.

Understand that not all restaurants can be accommodating because some of their side dishes or sauces etc are prepared ahead of time, so it is recommended to advise them of your visit in advance if you can. If you are being more spontaneous, look at the menu and let the hostess know about your illness so she can make sure there is food you can eat before you sit down to order. For example, I've walked into steakhouses and made sure that not all their beef cuts were pre-marinated before being seated.

I was incredibly impressed by one particular restaurant; "Le Rok" located in Esterel, a small town in the province of Quebec (Canada). The chef of the restaurant within a lovely popular resort, took special care to prepare something I could eat and enjoy. Since I had made a reservation in advance, he took the time to think about what appetizers, entrees, meals and desserts from the menu he could modify for me so I could have choices. In addition, the waitress was extra careful to double check the ingredients before serving me a dish. On top of that, I didn't feel like I was a burden to anyone. It was greatly appreciated.

On a side note, the restaurant I mentioned cooked their beef on a volcanic rock and it tasted amazing, even without any seasoning. You can purchase similar rocks at kitchen stores. My husband and I ended up purchasing granite stones after our wonderful dining experience in the Laurentians, and I highly recommend getting one for winter cooking.

For the summer, I am a big fan of barbecuing. It's a nice way to bring friends and family together. Adding maple wood charcoal to the regular hot charcoal in your BBQ adds a bit of flavour to your meat and it definitely won't make you sick.

When you are experiencing IBD symptoms, you might have a tendency to become a bit antisocial. I personally don't look forward to gatherings when I don't feel well because I find it difficult to watch people stuff their mouths with food when I can't necessarily eat what is available. I also don't want to risk something embarrassing happening in front of anyone. I often found myself avoiding social events when I could, including eating in the office kitchen with my coworkers.

Shortly after I chose to start eating alone at my desk where I used to work, the coworker I mentioned earlier told a few other colleagues behind my back that she thought I was anorexic since I was so skinny, and that she believed I was going to the bathroom after eating to throw-up. Luckily, somebody defended me and explained to her about my illness even though I had personally told her many times.

It is very frustrating to have to deal with people who don't want to understand and make personal judgements. As much as I find educating people important in order to create more awareness, I learnt to just ignore those that have a closed mind. The only way these people would have any understanding is if they had the illness themselves, and I don't wish it on anyone.

I found that it wasn't just a physical illness, but an emotional one as well since my intestines react to how I am feeling.

Thinking about my son when I felt horrible helped me fight the illness. I felt the need to get better so that I could take proper care of him. Sometimes he took care of me and it felt wrong. He was so young when I first became sick; Aidan was only seven years old, not an independent age at all. But, since I was a single mom dealing with my illness, my son had to grow up fast. Luckily, a close friend of mine helped me in many ways, including taking care of my son when I could not. Now I have a great husband who helps me get through the bad days.

Telling myself "everything is going to be alright" over and over again when I wasn't well convinced me that it eventually would be. I had to take one day at a time, sometimes even an hour at a time, to get through the rough patches.

It wasn't an easy battle for me and I still find myself crying from time to time. I love food and often crave things I should not be eating, especially when I am flared-up which happened quite often during the first four years of being diagnosed; nine times to be exact.

To help with the symptoms, I took prescribed Mezavant pills every day at first, along with Salofalk enemas every night. They both eventually stopped working. My doctor then suggested Immuran. Once those pills stopped working as well, we briefly discussed surgery as well as two other possible medications; Humira and Remicade.

My GI also sent me to see another specialist to get a second opinion because he was just as discouraged as I was about the downfall of my illness.

In addition, I consulted a referred surgeon to discuss a possible operation.

I had heard both positive and negative testimonials about the surgery in question and was seriously considering it. After my discussion with the surgeon though, I decided I wasn't ready for surgery, mainly because I understood that it was not a cure and that with the partial removal of my intestines I would be going to the bathroom 5-6 times a day when I felt well. I didn't want to think about how often I would be going if I flared-up again which could have happened. To be honest, I also didn't like the idea of needing a colostomy bag, even though it probably would have been temporary. Since it wasn't a matter of life or death, I decided to try out another medication instead.

I started taking painful Humira shots while remaining on Immuran. After I was shown how, I self-injected the liquid medication into one of my legs or abdomen every two weeks like the norm, and then every week.

After that failed, I gave surgery some thought again, but decided to continue trying medication. I mentally prepared myself to have surgery if the next drug I tried failed.

I soon started getting Remicade treatments at an infusion clinic, still having to continue taking Immuran. Being on Remicade shut down my immune system. I was constantly getting colds, but in general I had a much better quality of life.

Although Remicade is a form of chemotherapy, I did not loose my hair or throw up during my infusions. I actually started feeling and looking much better. I gained the weight I lost, and more, plus the hair I did loose from not absorbing nutrients prior to taking Remicade grew healthily which pleased me.

I had lost about half of my long beautiful strawberry blond hair, and had become afraid to brush it or even run my fingers through it. I found myself crying about it, and after hearing my son telling me it was only hair I tried to find comfort in the fact that although it looked like I might go bald I was still alive.

Everyone saw a significant change in my physical appearance and well-being once I started taking Remicade.

I still had to manage my stress etc, as well as be careful of what I ate, but could treat myself more often... If I indulged in too many things I would pay the price, so I learnt to really control myself.

Life was good! I felt like I was on a miracle drug. Although I was conscious of the damage Remicade might eventually do to the rest of me over time, I was super happy about the good the anti-inflammatory drug did to my intestines.

At first, my supervised Remicade infusions were given to me every eight weeks like the norm. I soon had to start getting them every six weeks because I would start experiencing symptoms by the sixth week. That kept me stable for a long while, and my GI talked about trying to stop my Immuran use. But, since we were unsure if it was the Remicade alone that kept me in remission or the combination of the infused medication along with the Immuran pills, I chose not to change anything. I didn't want to risk flaring-up, but soon I started having problems again anyways.

I eventually ended up having to temporarily get my Remicade treatment every four weeks.

In the summer of 2016, an antibiotic I had to take to treat a throat infection not only made me experience side effects similar to my digestive illness, it also interfered with my regular Remicade treatment. I ended up flaring-up after being in remission for almost three years. On top of that, I got the C. Difficile bacteria which is another form of Colitis but highly contagious, and it did not go away after the first antibiotic treatment. I fell into the minimal percentage of patients whose symptoms come back. Mine came back a total of four times so far! (When my last treatment ended, I was told to taper off the antibiotics so am still on them. If I get another positive test, I will have to consult a specialist for infectious diseases and perhaps undergo a fecal transplant; something fairly new that is also done to treat Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's sometimes. I know, it sounds weird.)

After the cocktail of drugs I had to take one after another for my health issues, my immune system became even weaker.

My IBD symptoms weren't as bad as the previous times I flared-up though, and I truly believe it was partially due to my careful eating habits. I won't lie and say that I was in no pain at all, but on a scale of 1 to 10 it was close to a 2 rather than an 8 or 9 like most of the other times. I did have a few accidents because the urges to go to the bathroom still came out of nowhere, and I had my usual moments of paranoia when it came to leaving the house, but again the pain wasn't as bad.

Although I woke up in the middle of the night to use the toilet, my trips were not so frequent for me to keep a folding table and pillow in the bathroom for me to rest like I have done in the past. I am not joking when I say that I used to try getting some sleep while sitting on the toilet. Between my unpleasant waves of diarrhea, I sometimes slept on a mattress right in front of the bathroom to avoid having to go too far - from the bedroom to the bathroom and back. I knew a woman who kept a baby seat in her bathroom so that she could keep an eye on her infant when she had to go in a hurry.

Shortly after I started working again following my rough patch, the bleeding started once more along with some of the pain. I suffered in silence at the office like I had often done in the past. I didn't see the point in complaining since there was nothing my coworkers could do for me. Besides, I thought the pain wasn't that bad. They felt like minor menstruation cramps. Perhaps I had just gotten so used to the discomfort.

I had to run some medical tests to determine if Remicade was failing me like all the other drugs I tried in the past, or if I had another problem that needed to be dealt with.

Before even getting any of the results, I started thinking about surgery again, making a list of pros and cons in my head. By then I knew that two new drugs were being given to Crohn's and Colitis patients; Entyvio and Stelara. However, I was tired of continuously introducing new drugs into my system, mainly because of their side-effects. I was also getting frustrated at having to deal with my unpleasant IBD symptoms on and off despite the medication.

(I actually didn't end up having to change medication or getting surgery, but the future is uncertain and anything can happen.)

My last colonoscopy showed that I had severe intestinal inflammation which had never happened to me before. In the past, it has always been minor or intermediate. I was actually surprised that they were that swollen considering the fact that I wasn't in too much pain or that my trips to the bathroom were controlled for the most part. I felt okay to go to work. I think it's in part because I learnt to live with my illness which implied adopting new eating habits.

Avoiding certain foods doesn't keep a person from flaring- up, it just minimizes the symptoms, so I had to deal with the severity of my illness once more.

I was given prednisone every single time I flared-up, including in the summer of 2016 and again that fall. It does wonders for IBD patients since it makes the swelling go down, but has several side effects. On the drug, I was tired but had insomnia, became very irritable, developed eyesight problems and knee pain, my bones became very fragile, and I felt as weak as a rag doll. I walked as slow as an old granny while trying to be speedy, and could not run. It was like I was trapped in somebody else's body. My son told me I reminded him of a zombie. On top of all that, I had the appetite of an elephant! No matter how often I ate, I always felt hungry. That part always drove me crazy for the first couple of weeks. I wanted to devour everything, but had to be extra careful of what I ate until the internal bleeding went away which usually took about two weeks. After that, I still couldn't eat everything I wanted but had more options and ate like there was no tomorrow; almost like I was compensating for the days I could not enjoy food.

Whenever I would end up in the ER, I often had to fight in order not to get hospitalized since the times I remained in a hospital for more than one night I only got sicker because of the food I was given. I ate because I was hungry, but everything went right through me and I lost a lot of weight in short periods of time.

When I was first hospitalized, I spoke to a knowledgable nutritionist before being allowed to go back home. The most helpful tip she gave me was to keep a low fibre diet. She said to try and eat less then 9g of fibre per day.

Understanding the difference between soluble fibre and insoluble fibre is important. Soluble fibre which is found in beans, lentils, seeds, barley, nuts, oat, bran, as well as certain fruits and veggies, slows down the digestion and make your stools watery. Insoluble fibre however, helps the food pass quickly though the stomach and intestines but bulks up your stools. So, eating wheat, whole grains, brans, and certain veggies, can actually help with the diarrhea.

During the times that you are often running to the bathroom, wearing adult diapers can bring a bit of comfort at home and make it less stressful to be out in public. I personally find them bulky and awkward to change out of in the stalls of public washrooms, so I wear thick and long sanitary pads with wings instead.

I know that pads were designed for women, but men can wear them too; and just like the diapers nobody needs to know. A man with Crohn's once confessed to wearing them because he had developed anal fissures. I am lucky not to have experienced this; only hemorrhoids which are not fun either.

In any case, wiping can become painful so I started being more picky with my selection of toilet paper. I often buy baby wipes when I am flared-up too.

I sometimes double up on my underwear; one regular, and one "shorts" or legging. I also got into the habit of carrying extra underwear and pads in my purse, within a plastic bag so it's more discrete. I used to keep an extra pair of pants with me too.

There are several apps now that actually indicate where the nearest public bathrooms are which can be useful when you are out. I find it best to study them before visiting an unfamiliar area rather then wait until you suddenly have to go. Knowing exactly where a bathroom is can relieve stress. Whenever I walk into a new building, the first thing I do is locate the bathroom.

Also, when I feel the need to go and I am not near a bathroom, I rub my abdomen and concentrate on my breathing. It often helps to delay a bowel movement for a few minutes. Of course, sometimes you just have absolutely no control.

I find that trying to run only makes me have to go more urgently, so even if I have to get to a bathroom fast, I actually walk. While taking careful strides, I try to calm my nerves and mentally tell myself that I will be able to use a bathroom soon, all the while trying to hold it in even though it's really uncomfortable.

I have learnt to listen to my body in order to lessen my symptoms and avoid eating certain foods when I am not well or when I travel.

Although I tend to avoid venturing in big cities now, I still like to get away every so often and make efforts to do so despite my illness. It gives me something pleasant to look forward to. I personally find that hiking in the woods is a great way to leave stress behind while getting exercise and fresh air.

I wish to help others with IBD, and found that talking to others who are dealing with the same illness and could fully relate to me was extremely helpful.

My first experience was after contacting Crohn's and Colitis Canada. It was called the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada back then. They provided me with a lot of useful information about my illness as well as support. I was eventually well enough to become a regular volunteer for their yearly fundraising event called the Gutsy Walk, as well as a couple of information sessions. I've been a proud volunteer since 2013.

The goal of this book is to provide advice to those with IBD based on my own experience and the stories I've heard from others living with Crohn's or Colitis, as well as to share my personal recipes in hopes that you will be able to enjoy food. Since every person with Crohn's and Colitis are different, I obviously can't guarantee that each and every recipe will be good for you specifically, but I do provide alternatives which you can also try.

You will notice that I cook a lot with parsley which is good for the digestion (ginger and garlic are supposed to be good for the digestion too, but I personally can't digest them. If you realize that eating parsley is causing you major problems, just omit the ingredient. It's only there for flavour. The same applies for salt and pepper.) I also like to cook with oregano, but if you prefer other herbs and can digest them, feel free to add the same quantity of those herbs in the dishes you prepare from this book.

I eat a lot of carrots too since they have become one of my safe foods, but if you can't tolerate them or get sick of them, you can always use a different vegetable.

Last but not least, my recipes are for 4 servings since I am used to cooking for a whole family now, but if you live alone or as a couple, leftovers are always good. Plus, most of my recipes can be frozen. I personally like to heat up already prepared meals when I want a break from cooking which is usually when I have less energy.