I was delighted to be invited to write an article for Sally Cronin’s Health Column at the Smorgasbord Blog Magazine. Sally is not only a brilliant writer with entertaining stories, she is a certified nutritionist and therapist. I’ve always done thorough research on on any ailments I encountered and in this article I’ll inform you why that’s important for everyone to do before taking prescribed medications and the importance of listening to what your body is telling you.
Smorgasbord Health Column – Guest D. G. Kaye – Dietary Restrictions, Consequences and the Eye-Rollers
My guest today writing for the health column is D.G. Kaye… Debby Gies.Debby has suffered from chronic intestinal disease for many years and has researched and devised a way to keep herself healthy without medication. It is all about the diet….
Dietary Restrictions, Consequences and the Eye-Rollers by D.G. Kaye
Thanks for inviting me here today Sally to share my own experience with dietary restrictions and the symptoms I experience when not paying heed to my body’s warnings.
There are so many of us who suffer with digestive issues. Some of us take preventative measures to avoid having to endure unpleasant symptoms, some don’t pay any mind, while others may have no idea, thinking that many symptoms they live with on a daily basis are just part of the aging process. But listening to our bodies is essential to better health and avoiding worse complications down the road.
I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease twenty years ago. I can certainly speak from experience about what straying from my gluten-free, and dairy-free diet entails. It took me a few years to find healthy and tasty substitutions for my diet while in the process of eliminating the foods I knew were aggravating my symptoms, despite my then doctor telling me that there was no special diet for Crohn’s, Colitis, and other forms of IBS.
Many people who are blessed enough not to have to suffer from these diseases, often don’t understand the connection with foods and intolerances that so many others deal with on a daily basis. Whether these are intolerances or allergies, eating culprit foods can exasperate symptoms from feeling discomfort to possible life- threatening situations if one ingests what doesn’t agree with their systems.
When I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s, it took several months and a few ambulance trips to the hospital and several experimental drugs and tests before they figured out what was wrong with me. A few decades ago there weren’t as many drugs available for my disease, and the ones I was on had left me with terrible side-effects – some worse than the initial ones I was taking the medication for. One of the prescriptions I was on began eating away at my muscles in a short time and had me taking a few tumbles down the staircase. That was when I knew I had to seek my own information on the disease and search for something better to help me live better with the disease.
It was the late 90’s, just before computers were becoming household necessities, so I had my brother’s secretary at the time do some computer research for me and I visited my local bookstore to read up on it. I learned about other people who had suffered the disease and what worked and didn’t work for them. I learned a lot from Dr. Jordan Rubin’s book – Patient Heal Thyself, how the disease worked and how the body attacks itself when it no longer recognizes enzymes and natural functions within and how the body sees them as foreign invaders wreaking havoc on the intestines. And I learned how wrong my doctor was – diet absolutely was a factor in controlling my disease. Even though there is still no cure for Crohn’s and Colitis, there are quite a few things I found helpful in bringing myself back to better health. . . Continue reading.
DGKayewriter.com 
Great article and deserves to be shared far and wide.. thanks for putting it together so informatively Debby. ♥
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Thanks so much Sally for inviting me to share my experience and thoughts. 🙂 ❤
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Hi Debby – how true your post is … I’m lucky I don’t suffer – but know that if I don’t treat my body as I should re food – then I will suffer. I cannot eat breakfast, and preferably have to have a very small lunch … with lots of fruit and veg … and a decent supper – probably without potatoes, bread, starch etc – I eat everything … but within my own guidelines I’m a happy foodie. I’m odd that I don’t eat breakfast or have much lunch – but as that is what suits me … I’ll follow my own regimen.
Interesting to read about you struggling with Crohn’s – so I’m now on my way over to Sally’s to see how you cope – cheers Hilary
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Hi Hilary. Thanks for sharing some of your regimen here. Sounds healthy and sounds as though you know your body too. That’s a good thing!!! ❤
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Great article, Debby! Thanks for all the information. 😀 xx
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Thank you Vashti ❤
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Crohn’s is such a mean disease. You look so healthy. You must manage well. This is a good article.
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Hi Linda. Thanks for dropping by. We are what we choose ourselves to be (mostly). A lot of persistence and trial and error, I figured out what works best for me. 🙂
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Oh the eye rolls, I never understood how they can help anyone… You know your body and that’s worth respecting – as is good health xxoo Great guest post, Debby!
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Thanks so much Christy. We can’t buy our health, there’s no dress rehearsals ❤
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Funny, the links won’t take me to the post, just to the comments. I’ll try later from my computer. Looking forward to reading this, although I don’t suffer from Crohns’ it’s good to know about it.
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Thank you Terri. Now that is strange about the links? 🙂
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Eyerollers… love it…I worked with someone who suffered and still ate what they wanted…Did themselves no favours in the end…Well done for accepting and dealing with acceptance 🙂 x
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Thanks Carol. 🙂 xx
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This is a great post, Debby. I have responded over at Sally’s.
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Thanks so much Norah. ❤
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I’m one of the lucky ones – so far – when it comes to eating. Hopping over to Sally now. 🙂
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That would make you very lucky Liesbet. Thanks for dropping by to Sally’s. 🙂 x
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I’m dairy intolerant and that’s bad enough. I used to work for a doctor who suffered from Crohn’s disease. She didn’t watch her diet very well, and ended up having a large part of her intestine taken away. You’d think doctors would have more sense, but after her op she did get better at managing it.
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They say doctors are the worst for taking care of themselves! 😦
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