Bruce’s Challenges With Ulcerative Colitis
A big thank you to Joe Rogan for having Shawn Baker on this podcast. This was a massive on my decision to change my diet and hopefully my life.
I have tried all kinds of diets and treatments and I wish I knew then what I know now and I might have avoided surgery.
I’ve had Ulcerative Colitis since 18 years old in 2005, and after medications all failed, that caused me to lose my colon.
I now have an ileostomy and I was told to avoid meat and fat throughout my entire life of this disease. Even after the ileostomy, I was told to avoid too much meat and eat a balanced diet, but the interesting part of this, was I also should avoid roughage due to its difficulty to pass through the small intestines and out the ostomy (This should have been a red flag right away).
If it’s so difficult to digest, why are we eating it at all? Especially in my case with an inflamed colon which brought me here to this ileostomy.
After eating poorly with an ileostomy, I decided to take control of my weight and diet. I attempted the keto diet and lost 70 lbs or so, but that diet consists of a lot of dairy, and allows for some nuts and insoluble fiber.
This fiber tends to be a problem for people with an ileostomy due to the fact that it doesn’t really break down at all. I now only animal fat and meat and it’s a delight. The output of the ileostomy is simple to manage. It’s all liquid with little to no by products from the food I’ve eaten.
I do not eat any dairy either. This is mostly due to the excess cravings that dairy tends to cause in me. Anyone that wishes to debate how red meat doesn’t digest well, can come with me to the restroom and I’ll show them that the only output I have is bile and water. The meat and fat are fully absorbed by the time it reaches the end of my small intestines.
Finding Freedom with the Carnivore Diet
The biggest change I’ve experienced on a diet of this restrictive nature, is the freedom, not the shackles. I control my appetite, I have no cravings for poor food choices, and I don’t find myself yearning for the next snack or meat.
I also think that this diet has revealed that I am a food addict, and I was chained to the drug of sugar. With most studies on addiction complete removal is usually the best medicine.
I plan to keep this up for the foreseeable future, and I hope to see how low I can go in terms of body fat, waist size, and weight. I’d like to maintain strength, but I want to know my limits.
The numbers:
- 5 months (Starting on Dec 31)
- Lost 14% body fat (56% to 42%)
- Lost 100lbs (385lbs to 285lbs)
- Lost 6-8 inches in my waist (48-50 pants to 40)
