Sunday, August 11, 2013

Why Do Doctors Give You Nutrition Through an IV?

How many of us with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis have found ourselves in the hospital, getting our nutrition through an IV because your GI tract doesn't absorb or digest properly?

It is a regular occurrence that when things get really bad, doctors do this so that we get the proper nutrients while giving our digestive system a rest. When things are this bad, we don't care that we don't get to eat our favorite foods. The only objective is to get the nutrients we need so that all of the cells of the body can be nourished, without having our digestive tract have to do any work so it can heal.

Well... with that in mind, doesn't it make sense that you can avoid a flare up the same way? If you got all of your nutrients through an IV you wouldn't have to ever worry about a flare up because your digestive system would have nothing to digest and nothing to irritate it, and therefore you don't get inflammation or ulcers. Right?

Sure, that makes sense! But...

It's not like you can be on an IV all your life. And you can't just stop eating and expect to be healthy. You have to have nutrients and good luck self administering an IV;)


So what do you do?


You can come close to accomplishing the same benefits by juicing.

There are two things juicing does that helps dramatically. First, raw fruits and vegetables are enzymatically alive, which means these foods have live enzymes within them to help digest 40-60% of that particular food.


Cooked and processed foods are enzymatically dead or denatured, which means there are no live enzymes within that food to help with digestion of that food. Your digestive system has to do all the work on its own. These dead foods will stress the entire body including the digestive system, the pancreas, the immune system, the body’s energy and the body’s enzyme reserves.

Easing our digestive functions by consuming enzymatically alive foods will help significantly.

Second, juice without fiber or pulp is the easiest way to get the nutrients we need. Fresh juice is not only full of enzymes, but it is already broken down and ready for absorption. Juicing gives us the nutrients without having our digestive system have to do much work. Removing the pulp from the juice helps reduce the amount of wast that the colon has to process. Your entire GI tract gets a rest.


There are only two basic rules to follow when juicing: the body needs to be slightly alkaline, so the fruits and vegetables juiced need to be alkaline forming, and you should not include foods that are irritants to the GI tract.

I use juice like medicine, but also as half my meals each day. Here's some things I suggest you include in your juice daily:
  • Apples
  • Carrots
  • Watermelon
  • Any other melon
Avoid adding any of these to your juice:
  • Garlic
  • Spinach
  • Kale
  • Collard Greens