From desperation to discovery: My journey to health following a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease
In 2016, I was happily married with two young children and was enjoying being back in my job as a viticulturist in the wine industry. Life was good. However, one day everything changed when I developed uncomfortable digestive symptoms.
I was experiencing horrible constipation, and it felt like food was scraping through my digestive tract every time I ate.
In January 2017, just after my 41st Birthday, a colonoscopy revealed I had mild Crohn's disease, a type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Crohn’s disease is a chronic, relapsing disease of the gastrointestinal tract and is considered medically incurable. I didn't know what to do. I thought I was healthy! I loved cooking, and my diet didn’t include much junk food. I wondered how I’d become so sick.
Given my interest in food, one of the first questions I asked my doctor was, “What should I eat?” His response was that I should continue to “eat a normal healthy diet”. Given that I thought that’s what I was doing, this was incredibly unhelpful and disheartening. He also indicated that drinking alcohol in moderate amounts was acceptable, so I continued to drink wine on weekends and at work where required.
In the absence of useful evidence-based dietary recommendations, I turned to Dr Google and for three years I researched and implemented multiple dietary approaches to “heal my gut”, in addition to taking a huge range of medications - from Mesalamine, Budesonide and Azathioprine to Humira, Vedolizumab and Stelara. Nothing seemed to work, and I experienced alarming side effects from the medication.
After three years of multiple failed attempts to regain my health, I was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. My medical expenses were mounting, and I had also spent thousands of dollars on allied health, alternative practitioners, and supplements. Something had to give.
In 2019, feeling alone and frustrated, I created a social media account to connect with people who were successfully overcoming IBD. I discovered a health coaching business supporting clients to adopt a Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) diet so they can regain their health.
In March 2020, I became a client. A WFPB diet was the only dietary approach I hadn’t tried, and unlike most other popular diets, it is supported by a large body of nutritional research. It was also the first time I had invested in the support of a health coach, spending three years desperately trying to find the answers alone.
Under the guidance of my coach, I immediately removed all alcohol, caffeine, animal products, oils, and highly processed foods. Previously, avoiding many plant foods to reduce symptoms, I added a variety of whole plant foods in the form of fruit smoothies for breakfast, vegetable soups for lunch and cooked starchy vegetables for dinner.
Within one month, I was starting to feel a little better. By December 2020, I no longer required medication, and my inflammatory markers were normal. I returned to a healthy weight, my digestive symptoms resolved, and I was bursting with energy.
I continue to remain medication-free and enjoy eating an abundance of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds every day. I no longer need to restrict dietary fibre to manage symptoms, I have overcome “food fear” and I have a healthy relationship with food.
I also continue to abstain from alcohol due to its negative effects on the body and gut microbiome. During my health journey, my love for the wine industry faded, and I resigned from my job, taking a year off to reassess. After engaging in moderate-heavy drinking throughout my 20s and 30s, my body was obviously saying enough was enough, and I realised that my job no longer aligned with my new healthy lifestyle.
Although my non-drinking was socially challenging in the beginning, I now love being sober and enjoy being free of previous addictions. For many years, I literally couldn’t get through the day without a morning coffee followed by a couple of (large) glasses of wine at night!
I have now embarked on a new career as a Nutritionist and Health Coach, recently studying Human Nutrition at Deakin University and becoming a certified Health Coach through Wellness Coaches Australia. I get to live my passion – helping others to consistently consume more whole plant foods at every meal, every day, so they too can live free of chronic preventable disease.
I am living proof that what we eat and drink can have a huge influence on our health. A WFPB diet and lifestyle have been lifesaving and life-changing for me. I highly encourage anyone who is open to making changes to simply start by adding more plants to their plate, one carrot, apple or serve of hummus at a time.
Author: Sarah Radford
Image: Sarah Radford
