If you have followed my diet tips you will know that over the last few years I went vegetarian and then dairy free.

I have to say I had to really think about how the foods I was eating were affecting me and whether they were making me healthy.

In actual fact it wasn’t the foods that I was eating it was the foods that I wasn’t eating that were causing me issues.

Exactly 12 months ago my weight was 48.3kg being 5ft 5 and in my late 40’s my BMI was low and showing me as under weight.

It got to the stage that I was struggling with high stoma out put, my pouch was leaking and my stoma was becoming flush, I was suffering with stomach pains and generally not feeling 100%, in conjunction with this my menopause symptoms began to get worse.

It was time to re assess my diet, eating very little taking supplements and being unable to get enough protein as I cannot eat nuts or seeds was causing lots of problems. I know eggs carry lot’s of proteins but no Ostomate wants to eat loads of eggs a week. The after affects of lots of egg in your diet can be a wind nightmare.

I always tried to eat fish and really enjoy fish but when I first had my surgeries Fish was always an irritant. My body was telling me that I needed to change my diet just like the stoma nurse had indicated years ago.

So I gradually introduced dairy and meat back into my diet but as I had always done thirty years ago when I had my total colectomy I cut out fish. To be honest it didn’t cause me any issues no stomach aches or sickness. I am still having stoma issues but that is more related to the shape of my stoma it has altered over the years.

I am now 59kg which is a perfect weight and a healthy BMI that is pretty good for a woman who will be 50 next year. I also started HRT it has taken about 6 months for my hormones to settle and my body to get back to health. I am not saying that Ostomates should eat meat or dairy. Plenty of Ostomates are extremely healthy following these diets but for me my 34 year old Crohn’s was saying Lisa it’s time to change.

The only downside to my altered diet is that I was not to happy about having to get rid of all my clothes that were small. There are many upsides to my diet now I am not the fussy one, I am not the skinny one, I have more energy, no pain, hardly any reactions to food but most of all I can finally have a cream tea and a Cornish pasty.

The moral of the story is to listen to your body, we get older our bodies change our IBD changes through time. If you are struggling to get your diet right introduce foods gradually keep a diary. It’s all trial and error but it’s all about balance.

Lisa Xx😀