Posted by Maddie Huwe on October 22, 2019
My name is Maddie. I am a member of the Patient Advisory Council (PAC) and a contributor to the PAC’s latest IBD Resource – Patient Perspectives: Nutrition & IBD. This booklet is very important to me and the other contributors who have used nutritional interventions to treat and manage their IBD.
Nutrition is an important part of life and for IBD patients it can play an essential role in overall health. Nutrition can be used as a primary treatment, as well as secondary or complimentary treatment, which can support overall well-being. Sharing our experiences with nutritional interventions helps us raise awareness of how nutrition fits into real-life IBD treatment and management. It allows us to offer support and reassurance to other patients who are making decisions about or coping with nutritional interventions – that they are not alone.
Patient Perspectives: Nutrition & IBD brings together not only patient experiences, but also includes a section with comments from nutrition experts. Some of the questions answered include: “What do you enjoy about being an IBD nutritionist?”, “What are some of the benefits of nutritional therapy for IBD?”, and “What is the relationship between IBD health and nutrition?” We are grateful for their willingness to share their experiences as providers with our community!
The bulk of the resource is a compilation of real-life experiences from PAC members who have used a variety of nutritional interventions, including Dietary Interventions (Special or Therapeutic Diets), Nutritional Drinks, Tube Feeding, and TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition). We asked members of the PAC questions about the types of nutritional therapies they used, how long they used these therapies, and how various therapies impacted their IBD. We also inquired about the social/emotional impact of being on a nutritional therapy. We were thrilled to receive many helpful comments from PAC members, which can be valuable for those considering or embarking on using a nutritional therapy, or those seeking for new strategies to stay motivated!
We believe Patient Perspectives: Nutrition & IBD will prove to be a valuable resource for the IBD community. It brings together professional perspectives about nutritional therapies from IBD nutrition providers, as well as real-life experiences of IBD patients who have used them. Whether you are starting a nutritional therapy, currently using one or more, or simply enjoy reading inspirational stories from the IBD community we hope you will take the time to check out Patient Perspectives: Nutrition & IBD – and share it with others who you think may benefit from it as well.
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