Has Anyone Tried Cutting Out Sugar As A Cure for UC. It's Working For Me.

I have tried a bunch of medications and many recommended remedies from various websites to try to cure my UC: Asacol, Lialda, Colozal, 6-MP, Azathioprine, probiotics of every strength, Tapioca flour, Amalaki, Creatine, Charcoal, Sunflower Lecithin, I've even tried cutting out Gluten but the only thing that has worked so far was Prednisone (Ug!) and now cutting out SUGAR!

I am a total skeptic when it comes to trying to find a cure for this evil disease as I have had my heart broken many times thinking this was the one, only to have a flair 2 days later.

I'm not a doctor, nor do I know what causes UC or any inflammatory disease but I thought that I might be able to help myself by getting rid of the fuel that feeds the inflammation. So I finally tried cutting out sugar. Now, it has crossed my mind on several occasions to cut out sugar but it's SUGAR! It tastes good and things made with sugar taste good but constant flairs (blood & diarrhea) and the fear of an accident was finally too much to take.

I have been off sugar for around 5 months and in the first 2 months I noticed little to no benefits and the cravings for sugar are really strong. I had to buy tiny Werther's candy just to keep me from going on an all out binge and eating everything in site. I should say that I never really had a sweet tooth so it might be more difficult for those to truly love sweets but not having stomach problems was so worth the sacrifice. I should also say that I am not fanatical meaning I eat BBQ sauce and ketchup and things that have some added sugar but you will never see me eat a donut or cakes or pies, ice cream, cookies or soda. Fruits are OK in moderation and no fruit juices of any kind (It just consecrated sugar) Also take it easy on bread and carbs. Now I understand that cutting out sugar is a huge sacrifice so a spoon of ice cream can be OK on occasion but I thought it's better not to tempt myself and just try to steer clear of the temptation.

Now, after writing all of this I'm still waiting for that flair to rise up and hit me any day now. And I have actually had the start of a flair a few weeks ago but what has never happened before was, without any medication the flair simply went away after only one day. This spurred me on to continue to boycott sugar hoping that I had finally found some relief to my symptoms.

I'm writing this because I am at the point that I need to share this information and find out if anyone else has tried this or is willing to try this and post their results. This is a horrible disease and I have found comfort on this site reading people post that I hope someone else will benefit from this information.

It helps me to think/say that I'm simply allergic to sugar, like all those people who can't eat gluten or allergic to peanut butter, because then I know that it's simply bad for me and I can't have it. (Which in some way may very well be true.)

Hope this helps someone. Post your thoughts good or bad and any result you might have.

Best of luck!

Steve

It would be interesting if you got a food allergy blood test. You might be allergic and that contributes to symptoms. But if you found you were only allergic to one kind of sugar (e.g., fructose, sucrose, glucose) it might allow you more freedom in your diet.

The "doctor within" has a 60-day program to sell, massive surprise.

Yes, I did try it, and nothing improved. I wouldn't say I regret trying it, as it didn't hurt, and it eliminated the idea that it was the culprit, but it was a waste of time for me personally.

Yes eliminating sugar in my diet is usually the first factor in me gaining remission.
Personally I know my UC was caused primarily by Candida and chronic dehydration from consuming excessive amounts of sugar, bread, coffee and alcohol (coupled w/many other lifestyle factors) which led to the acidosis of my body and eventual inflammation of the gut.

Carbohydrates/sugars are still in the process of being digested when they enter your colon and if candida is continually being fed, it grows. Enter mitochondrial dysfunction (your colonic cells running on empty calories, expelling toxins). Enter leaky gut syndrome. Prolonged inflammation develops ulceration and so on.

Scientific literature showing an immunological link b/w candida and crohn's patients.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163673/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19439813
http://mbio.asm.org/content/7/5/e01250-16.abstract
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/1040841X.2013.810587?journalCode=imby20

Post Edited (Natof9) : 5/10/2017 5:29:47 PM (GMT-6)

beave said...
Question: How can intake of simple sugars "feed" microbes in the colon when the simple sugars are all absorbed by the small bowel long before they ever get to the colon?

I'll give this question a shot.

Firstly there are different kinds of simple sugars and not all are digested in the small intestine. This could happen for several reasons, one being fructose malabsorption when the enzymes that usually break down these sugars are not working.
The simple sugars then pass into the large intestine and have to be broken down by the millions of bacteria living there. Some of these bacteria (for ex:Candida) produce toxic by-products as a result. These toxic by-products are responsible for instigating inflammation.

This may be why the SCD Diet works for many with UC---no sugar aside from fruit overall.

On a side note: I don't trust the medical industry. They aren't interested in finding a cure, they simply want to manage diseases to keep you on drugs forever. My GI wanted me to take Lialda forever and I said forget that! But how come none of my GI's said give up sugar? They all simply wanted me to take a pill and have met pay a bunch of money forever and nothing worked.

NiceCupOfTea - I'm sure Lialda is a fine drug. But GI's, well at least the ones I gone to only want to prescribe drugs. Not one of them gave me any alternatives or suggestions besides, don't smoke or drink which I don't do already.

I guess if you'd like to choose to mask the "possible" toxicity of sugar by taking a drug like Lialda, pound down that sugar like there's no tomorrow. But how do you know that "most people with UC, giving up sugar wouldn't make the blindest bit of difference". Do you know for a fact that "most people" have tried giving up sugar but have still have symptoms? Probably not. So you are really just speaking for yourself. And it sounds like you haven't tried it either, so really that statement is totally untrue.

I guess it's a matter of personal choice but my post is merely here to help anyone looking for an alternative spending tons of money and/or taking a hand full of drugs for the rest of your life that may or may not have side effects that are still unknown. Quitting refined sugars is something that has help me and will hopefully help others. And the price of this information is it's FREE! And hopefully it will help with many other problems that are associated with an over consumption of sugar like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, etc.

Good Luck!

i prefer to stay away from dr's, hospitals, procedures, and anything else having to do with medical stuff - if i can tweak my diet to obtain the same results, well that's what they call a no-brainer in my book -

Not enough is known avout diet modifications in rigorous scientific studies to proce what changes help. If you read foljs signatures you will see what works is very individual. I see no common thread.

I've cut 90% of my sugar intake about 6 years ago. Meaning no cookies, sugary snacks, cake, brownies etc. The other 10% of my diet is found in most foods so to eliminate 100% is kind of unrealistic. But since eliminating most sugars overall, I have felt better. Did it have an impact on my UC? Yes and no. It stopped some of my bathroom trips but I never could achieve remission until I tried Remicade.

We are all so indivualistic that not one thing will help all because after all, there still is really no known cause for UC. But I think if you can find works for you than great! Keep at it

I've had UC for a long time, have read of many remedies, have tried everything under the book. Uc'ers don't respond the same as the next but I'm glad you shared what works for you.