Becoming vegan with Crohn's disease (Care about what goes in your body)

by Angelica
(All over the place)

Now, I know I'm of a rare breed as I am a young female artist who is vegan with Chron's Disease. However, I didn't always care about what foods I put inside me or what it might do. After loads of research, I've found I was doing many things to benefit Crohn's disease (i.e. terrible diet, tobacco useage, etc.)
I was diagnosed 3 years ago after a long hard battle of 'what-is-going-on-with-me?!'. I lost a drastic amount of weight (well over 90 pounds) and for a few months I vomited every single day multiple times. I couldn't hold anything down. I got so used to it in fact, I'd eat half a meal and then vomit and then pick right up where I left off as if nothing happened. I had all the glamorous frequent bathroom experiences as well as frequent excruciating intestinal pain.
I had to take an early leave from 11th grade because of all the messed up things going on with my body. 3 months later in the early morning before a vacation, I went to the emergency room because of mysterious blockage. This happened twice more over the course of that summer and I was put on steroids that made me gain back a large amount of weight. I went back to a careless diet and pretended that my disease didn't exist and only paid attention to it when I went in for remicade infusions. I eventually gave up red meat because of moral reasons and only ate chicken and fish.
In April of last year I met the love of my life and we decided to take a roadtrip to California. I decided around that time that I didn't want remicade any longer because of how the effects impacted me. It did it's job for the most part in keeping me somewhat healthy but I always felt weak and I suffered from strange unique abdominal pain that I ONLY ever felt while on remicade. I wanted the medication completely out of my system which takes around 3 months. Anyway, we went on the road trip and decided in the end to move there, so I didn't get a chance to catch up with my previous doctors. After moving there, I wanted to try and see how life would be without medication. It went fine for a few months with the treatment of cannabis until the disease eventually caught up with me causing me to be bed ridden and barely moving due to severe arthritis and vomiting. I decided to finally see a doctor and completely stop eating meat and dairy and drastically improving my diet(my boyfriend was vegan so it was a rather easy transition).

I've done research and found a linkage with dairy products and crohn's disease. There is a very similar disease that is in cows that the mother can give to her offspring through a bacteria in her milk. The study showed that a large percentage of crohn's disease patients involved in the experiment tested positive for this said bacteria. I am more than convinced that throughout my poor diet I contracted that bacteria whether it was through milk or cheese.
Becoming vegan has impacted my life in such a positive manner. Cutting both meat and dairy out of my diet has given me almost normal stools without being on any medication (currently). I feel great, look great, and honestly am a lot less stressed.
I didn't know until I became vegan how lactose intolerant I was and how much it effected my disease on a daily basis.
Becoming vegan might seem like an impossible task (trust me I know, I fell in love with someone vegan without even being vegetarian) but it's a lot simpler than you'd imagine, granted of course you don't have a soy or wheat allergy. I drink soy milk and almond milk which, in my opinion, is much tastier than regular cow's milk. I eat soy cheeses and lots of mock meats such as tofu, tempeh and seitan. I take b12 vitamin supplements and iron for anemia. A great store with vegan options is both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's (check if they're around your area).
Another option for those not willing to give up meat is eating for health benefits and what benefits you. Perhaps cutting out dairy and continuing to eat meat would be beneficial as well (you could always experiment! Give it a couple weeks.)
If you have any questions for me or would like opinions on great vegan food, please leave them here.
Also, be sure to consult your doctor if you take on a vegan lifestyle as it is a rarity.
If you're not willing to go cold turkey, then fine! Try having a few vegan meals every week. Who knows? Maybe it'd benefit you more than you'd think.
Please take a few minutes out of your day to read more about it online and learn how it can prolong your life and maybe get you to start feeling better with this incurable disease.

read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism