Vegan & Plant-Based Diets for Crohn’s Disease | Pros and Cons – Gut Doctor Explains

vegan plant-based diets for Crohn’s disease do they actually work and what’s the best way to maximize your results in this video we’ll break down everything you need to know about vegan and plant-based diets for Crohn’s disease and how they compared to other diet options we’ll also cover some common mistakes to avoid and foods to focus on and what to eliminate and how to monitor your progress effectively so stick around [Music] hi I’m Dr Chan ooser a surgeon dedicated to reducing inflammation caused by gut microbiome imbalances I myself struggled with digestive dysfunction and autoimmune inflammation in my early 20s and successfully put together a methodology that worked not only in me but also my patients my method is called the Mind gut immunity approach and has resulted in thousands of successes over the years if you or someone you know struggles with crohn’s disease and wants to rid themselves of inflammation for good invite them to our website mgic clinic.com and schedule a discovery call with me I’ll walk them through some practical steps for chrom’s disease recovery and how to achieve long-term results in just 6 weeks on the websites we’ll also have multitudes of free resources on how you can eliminate Chrome’s disease naturally to help get you started so check the link in the description below and get started also before I forget please like and follow to receive more content such as this all right let’s jump in here’s a 2024 study that explores the impact of plant-based diets on Crohn’s disease showing that it improves gut microbiome diversity and reduces intestinal inflammation here’s a 2019 study discussing clinical remission in Crohn’s disease based on a whole food plant-based diet most gastrologists will tell you that diet doesn’t matter for Crohn’s disease so how do we know what truly works as I mentioned in another video called ideal diet for Crohn’s disease I’m a huge advocate for customized phyton nutrient-based diet plans tailored to each individ idual person I use four criteria to determine whether a diet will work for Crohn’s disease or not now this doesn’t mean that diets have to be vegan or entirely plant-based so to recap the four criteria are phytonutrients macronutrient requirements microbiome specificity and food sensitivity if you want a deep dive into what each of these mean check out the other video ideal diet for Cron’s disease but I’ll give you a quick overview here so you don’t have to go back to that video so now let’s talk about plant-based based diets and how they compare to other diets like the phyto diet which I recommend for Crohn’s disease you may remember from some of my other videos this concept of complex proteins there are certain complex proteins that elicit an immune response causing Crohn’s disease to worsen we eat protein in our diets it can come from a variety of sources both plant and animal a protein is basically a bunch of amino acids connected together when the protein enters our digestive system enzymes in our intestine break break up these into individual components called amino acids which then get absorbed these intestinal enzymes are called proteases and the reason this is relevant is sometimes the proteases don’t get the job done and we’re left with large particles of protein that linger in our intestines and bloodstream for long periods of time why does this happen well certain types of protein are hard to break down also there may not be enough proteases to break down the proteins as you already know the gut is just one big giant immune organ so these incompletely digested proteins register as a foreign threat and generate an immune response basically the body thinks it’s under attack by these large undigested proteins so then it secretes a bunch of immune chemicals which cause inflammation and that can be a problem next you also have the arachadonic acid pathway which is directly related to the consumption of animal based cholesterol all animal cells have a membrane wall that contains fat and cholesterol which convert into arachadonic acid and cyto in our bodies and generate inflammation do all animal derived products contain arachadonic acid no just meat and fat containing dairy products you can also have a problem with saturated fat causing inflammation here’s an article that looks at the role of saturated fats in producing inflammatory cyto kindes like tnf Alpha and Inter Lucan 6 taken as a whole this is why vegan diets sometimes work for Cron’s disease they eliminate these problematic Foods reducing the sources of inflammation however as I’ll discuss further in this video vegan and plant-based diets also have significant downsides which need to be carefully planned for to achieve success the vegan diet for Crohn’s disease revolves entirely around plant-based foods and tends to be higher in fiber and carbohydrates compared to fats and proteins there are also variations of vegan diets like lacto or ovo vegetarian approaches but for our purposes we’ll focus on plant-based diets as a whole this diet allows for some substituted items like vegan meats and cheeses as well as alternatives to butter many of these substitutes are cashew based soy based or coconut oilbased created to mimic non-vegan Foods examples can include beyond meat impossible meat di of cheese or plant-based milk options like soy oat or coconut milk the idea here is to avoid the inflammatory properties of meat and dairy products but here’s the catch remember the four criteria I mentioned earlier let’s evaluate how this diet measures up over time the macronutrient balance of carbs fats and proteins play a critical role in determining whether a plant-based diet will work for Crohn’s disease I’ll break that down in just a moment let’s dive into the first criteria phytonutrients phytonutrients are micronutrients found in plant-based superfoods they’re packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds that benefit people with crohn’s disease by reducing inflammation in the gut here’s a study of the gastroprotective effects of polyphenols and its an impact on Crohn’s disease and here’s one from 2018 discussing Prebiotic fiber and resistant plant starch as it relates to microbiome changes in Crohn’s disease phytonutrients fall into several key categories such as polyphenols tpin thiocyanates fiber resistant starches Omega fats and alkaloids these micronutrients play a critical role in reducing inflammation throughout the body beginning in the gut when following a vegan or plant-based diet for Crohn’s disease it’s certainly possible to consume large amounts of phytonutrients but only if you’re intent about your food choices let’s say for example that because you’re vegan you’re eating a lot of processed flour sugar or fake meats and cheeses if these processed foods lack beneficial phytonutrients instead include chemicals that exacerbate gut microbiome related inflammation you’re essentially working against yourself not an ideal strategy however if you follow a more balanced plant-based diet that incorporates resistant starches fiber Omega oils and plenty of herbs and Whole Foods then you more likely to consume enough phytonutrients to help Crohn’s disease now let’s talk about macronutrient requirements the vegan and plant-based diets for Crohn’s disease often struggle to meet macronutrient needs effectively macronutrients include carbs fats and proteins by entering your height and weight and activity into the calculator on my website you can estimate your specific macronutrient requirements in general a diet that gets half of its calories from fat is normally a good thing although I don’t particularly like saturated fats and meats and in certain plant-based Foods because as I said before saturated fats are associated with inflammatory processes I also don’t like the animal-based cholesterol in meat which can lead to an increase in arachadonic acid levels in the body and I describ both of these Pathways of Crohn’s Disease inflammation in my other videos on this channel so if you need a refresher feel free to look at those videos when I design diets for my clients they’re generally lower in carbs for obvious reasons most of the fats come from plant Omega sources so these problems are totally avoided I also ensure that there’s at least 100 grams of protein in the diet which can be challenging if you’re relying solely on plant-based Foods you’ll likely need to incorporate protein shakes made with plant-based protein sources additionally it’s crucial to ensure that some of these proteins don’t cause sensitivities in the gut another issue I’ll mention is that the vegan diets for Crohn’s disease often fail to track carbs fats and proteins accurately they also do a poor job at monitoring fiber intake which can be problematic when optimizing the gut microbiome next let’s look at microbiome specificity let’s go back to this equation you have bad bacteria and fungi that feed on carbs and that leads to inflammation vegan diets are higher in carb anyways and some of these carbs are not helpful so do vegan diets mean that you have healthier bacteria the answer is a clear no and I know this might sound controversial because there’s plenty of people on YouTube who argue that gut microbiome’s diversity is actually good thing in people following a vegan diet even on Reddit people seem to be raving about this but let me give you a practical perspective I’ve reviewed hundreds if not thousands of stool studies over my career and most of the time people following vegan diets for Crohn’s disease do not appropriately select for good bacteria in their intestines through their diets the very nature of Crohn’s disease involves inflammation caused by dysfunctional gut microbiome at the start of our program we use patented probiotics from Japan to recalibrate the gut microbiome and flush out harmful bacteria but how do you carefully promote the good bacteria it’s not by avoiding carbs it’s by selecting the right ratios and quantities of phytonutrients and this is where the Mind gut immunity method truly excels we designed the diets to encourage the growth of specific strains of beneficial bacteria which form a protective bofilm and push out harmful bacteria and fungi over the course of several weeks the body produces fewer pro-inflammatory markers like tnf Alpha and Inter Lucan 6 thanks to these beneficial bacteria taking over the biggest issue with the vegan diet for Crohn’s disease is that it doesn’t address the root problem you tend to feed bad bacteria non-selectively because there are no real requirements regarding resistance starches or Fiber in fact vegan and plant-based diets allow for a lot of plant-based sugars carbs and chemicals all of which trigger flares seen in Crohn’s disease and I’ve seen this pattern where people may get better partially for a short period of time but then they encounter significant issues and fail with vegan diets for Crohn’s disease because the diet itself doesn’t fix the gut microbiome dysfunction now you can certainly make a plant-based diet work for Crohn’s disease but you have to follow certain principles and that’s where the phyto diet comes in it actually tackles the root microbiome problems associated with crohn’s disease this means that longterm you can enjoy more dietary flexibility even incorporating cheat meals without consequences I typically teach my clients how to cheat during the second or third month of the program because by that time they’ve mostly resolved the gut issues in a lasting way and I’m not a fan of temporary fixes while the diet can help during flare-ups it’s not sustainable long-term strategy compared to the customized phyto diets that we create for our clients over the years I’ve spoken to many people during Discovery calls who’ve tried and ultimately struggled with plant-based diets for Crohn’s disease most of them report experiencing temporary relief only for their symptoms to return when they reintroduce normal Foods it’s a pattern that I hear about very often My Hope Is that this honest review of the vegan diet for Crohn’s disease helps give you the clarity to decide if it’s right for you while it can produce short-term benefits the real solution lies in addressing the gut microbiome for lasting relief from medication and symptoms okay let’s dive into the final criteria food sensitivities food sensitivities are a critical topic when it comes to Crohn’s disease in my talks I cover four main types of food sensitivity tests the skin prick test the IG blood test the igg4 blood test and the newer mediator release blood test if you need a refresher on these tests be sure to check out my video that dives into food sensitivity testing for Crohn’s disease now specifically regarding the vegan diet there are tons of foods that are vegan and plant-based that can cause sensitivities the most relevant ones include processed foods sugar sugar alcohols dyes chemicals and even Whole Food proteins like beans lentils and peas I’ve seen all of these test positive for sensitivities over the years this means that the likelihood of being sensitive to one or more or several types of vegetables or vegan foods is quite High that’s why adopting a vegan or plant-based strategy for Crohn’s disease can be risky your food options may be limited and you may develop sensitivities all right that’s my to talk in the comments below share with me your experience with vegan diets what’s worked for you and what didn’t I’d love to hear about your journey as you know I’ve had great success using the Mind gut immunity method in my clients and I strongly advocate for customized phyto diets and focused gut microbiome recalibration to achieve lasting results if you found this video helpful don’t forget to like And subscribe for more content such as this as always this is Dr Chon ostry with the mind go imunity clinic and I’ll see you next time [Music]