[lightning95]

Okay, this is like my third topic in dietary this week, because I'm really getting desperate. I really need to gain weight because right now my weight is very dangerous, but I can't tolerate a thing. I tried the specific carb diet, but it just made things worse because it meant more fat. I'm doing a 3-food-only elimination diet right now, but the diarrhea and pain continue, though it's gotten a little better just because I've eliminated all sources of fat too. In the past I've had bad experience with high calorie meal replacement drinks. I think all that fat (my worst trigger) really set me off. The only ones I can sort of tolerate are the clear juice supplements, which can't give full nutrition. I came across Absorb Plus on the internet. It was clearly designed to be very digestible, with high calories but no fat, which is exactly what I need. And it actually targeted not just people with IBD, but also people with IBS. It's very expensive though - $60 a tub - so I want to know before I try it if anyone had any luck with these drinks? Or was anyone able to create their own easily digested, high calorie complete meal replacer (w/o unbroken down dairy or soy)? I was thinking maybe rice milk with rice protein and a banana or something like that might work...

 

[Moises]

I believe that Jini Patel, the creator of the product, used to have directions to make your own. Maybe if you buy her book, the instructions are in there. I don't know, since I never read her book. The macronutrients are readily available: maltodextrin, protein powder, and whatever oil you can tolerate in whatever quantities you can tolerate. If you want to stay on this for a long time, you'll need to add vitamins and minerals and maybe some l-glutamine. I tried Vivonex Plus, an elemental diet, a few times, and it didn't help me at all. But I can't tolerate a lot of carbs, and both Absorb Plus and Vivonex are very high in carbs. Absorb Plus was developed as a "natural" alternative to elemental diets like Vivonex. By the way, I never tried Absorb Plus. But as far as I am concerned, there is nothing particularly natural about whey protein, maltodextrin, or free-form amino acids. Nonetheless, I give Patel a lot of credit for creating her own Elemental Diet. It's something I have tried to do. Nothing's worked so far, for me. Gottschall's diet is also purported to be a kind of do-it-yourself Elemental Diet. But I found that the carbs she did allow did not agree with me.

 

[Patman75]

I have been using Absorb plus for a little over 2 weeks now to get a IBD UC flare under control. I will be on it for 3 weeks total before I start adding solid food back into my diet.The Aborb Plus + supplements I was able to stop the severe part of flare in just about 6 days. Bleeding stoppped in 3. D & cramping stopped in 6. Energy came back after day 6. IF you really want to do it I would recommend buying the book Listen to your Gut. There are other protocals that are less drastic than an Elemental diet you can try first. There is also diet plans for different digestive issues. Overall there is a ton of info in it. You will also get discounts for buying the supplements and products to reduce cost.It can be a little pricey at $60 a tub which lasts 2 days but cleaning the Kitchen and grocery shopping has never been easier.

Let me know if you have any more questions about it.Pat

 

[Patman75]

I forgot there was a member named Karoe who went on the elemental diet for IBS. She did it for 2 weeks and wrote about it on the OLD Jini Patel thompson Forum. I believe you can still access it. Is memory serves me right....it helped and her IBS went away but slowly returned (months) after back on regualr foods. And if memory serves me right again....she ended up doing a stool analysis and found she was dealing with parasites. I have not read or heard how the rest went.