Ulcerative Colitis Remission: Natural Support

Quick Answer: Remission is best supported by combining medical treatment with an anti-inflammatory, nutrient-dense diet that promotes a healthy gut microbiome, since dysbiosis is a key driver of the inflammation behind flare-ups. Alongside medication, focus on identifying trigger foods, reducing hidden inflammatory additives (like soy lecithin in packaged “healthy” snacks), staying nourished rather than overly restrictive, and managing stress since stress itself is a common flare-up trigger. 

Hello everyone. I hope that you are well. This post comes out on Christmas Day, and I hope everyone is having a stress-free, happy time. It can be challenging when you have health conditions and need to be near a bathroom or somewhere quiet to lie down.

If you have colitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, diverticulitis, or any inflammatory and autoimmune condition that causes this kind of physical, mental, and emotional strain, I know exactly how that feels, because I’ve lived it myself.

I have ulcerative colitis (and hemolytic anemia), and I used to suffer so much with the symptoms, flare-ups, medication, hospital admissions, medical procedures, exhaustion, frustration, stress, juggling family and work life with two young boys, and genuinely worrying whether I would survive.

I am now in remission, feeling fantastic and enjoying life, with the best body composition I’ve ever had, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a flare-up. Ulcerative colitis remission felt impossible to me once; I want you to know it isn’t.

If you, or anyone you know, has colitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, an inflammatory disease, or an autoimmune condition, please read on and share this. It could very well be the lifeline you, or they, need.

Living With Ulcerative Colitis Remission

I took supplements and medication and tried everything suggested to me by nutritionists and doctors. I traveled the world seeking help for my autoimmune conditions, going from specialist to specialist, following their advice to the letter. Nothing helped me get well.

It felt like plaster after plaster was being put on crack after crack, covering the symptoms up, but no real healing was happening. Nothing was addressing the cause of the problem, and in some cases, the treatment was contributing to it.

Strangely, what saved me was that my body stopped responding to medical treatment altogether, and I ended up being kept alive with weekly blood transfusions.

I was so overwhelmed, and there were moments I genuinely wanted to give up. But I had no choice, really, other than to find a solution I could actually apply to my daily life as a busy mother of two young boys.

That’s What Led Me to Start Researching Myself Properly.

Understandably, so many people can’t get their symptoms under control despite following specialist advice for ulcerative colitis, colitis, Crohn’s, and similar conditions. You’re given medication and supplements, told to watch your diet, and asked to keep up with tests and procedures.

You might be given a supplement for this and something else for that, and here’s the problem: if your gut health is already compromised, these can actually make things worse, adding to an already unbalanced gut microbiota, which leads to more inflammation in the body, and ultimately more flare-ups.

Coping with ulcerative colitis can be genuinely exhausting. Physical, social, financial, and emotional complexities often run alongside your inflammatory condition.

Dealing emotionally with ulcerative colitis symptoms is its own challenge, and not everyone around you understands what you’re going through. It can strain relationships in ways people don’t always expect.

You could well be dealing with bone and joint issues too, like arthritis, which tends to flare in the cooler months and adds even more to manage (have you read Prevent Knee Osteoarthritis Progression?). I developed hemolytic anemia myself, alongside everything else.

What Is the Best Management of Ulcerative Colitis?

Here’s the other issue: you may have excellent doctors and care around you, but they can’t think for you, eat for you, exercise for you, or follow you around all day advising you.

Finding resources to help reduce stress, ease ulcerative colitis symptoms, heal your body, get proper nutrition, and genuinely calm your system down is essential, alongside your medication.

I know firsthand how hard it is to find one place that brings education and practical tools together to support healing from ulcerative colitis. That’s exactly why Eat Burn Sleep exists, available to you 24 hours a day, every day. Your own nutritionist advice, recommended by doctors worldwide and Bupa-global-approved, sits right there on your app, following you around and guiding you on what to eat, how to exercise, and everything in between.

I searched everywhere for something like this over the years. I read everything I could get my hands on to try to heal myself, and eventually qualified at a top London naturopathic nutrition school.

There’s a genuine minefield of information about ulcerative colitis out there. Believe me, if there’s a diet recommended for it, I will have tried it myself.

Some things, like certain medications, worked briefly, and I was so relieved when symptoms died down for a while, but sure enough, they came back with a vengeance. It’s disheartening: one step forward, three steps back.

Unfortunately, once you develop one autoimmune or chronic inflammatory disease, the pathways stay open, putting you at higher risk of developing another. That happened to me. The toll on your physical and emotional health is intense.

A Recommended Diet for Ulcerative Colitis

A diet commonly recommended for ulcerative colitis online, according to many medical authorities, is the low-residue diet, designed so your intestines don’t have to work as hard as usual. This restrictive diet doesn’t meet full nutritional needs, so it’s only ever meant as a temporary measure under medical supervision.

It has its place, often recommended after bowel surgery or ahead of a colonoscopy, for example, but only for a minimal amount of time, because it won’t reduce inflammation or treat ulcerative colitis long-term, and can actually cause more inflammation if used beyond that.

It’s no wonder people with ulcerative colitis so often end up seeking out a nutritionist or dietitian, because plenty of the commonly recommended diets will cause more inflammation and malnutrition rather than less.

If you already have weakness, headaches, anemia, and fatigue from ulcerative colitis-related malnutrition, these restrictive diets will only add to gut dysbiosis, weaken your immunity further, and pull you further from optimum health, opening your body up to even more risk of other illnesses and conditions.

Nutrition deficiency shows up as symptoms like mouth ulcers, tingling in your limbs, itchy rashes, feeling drained, unexplained weight loss, and more. And if you also have diabetes, a low-residue diet will affect your blood sugar and bring its own extra set of challenges.

You may be interested in reading: How Do You Get Nutrients With Celiac Disease?

Medical professionals worldwide recommend Eat Burn Sleep, which is grounded in clinical practice and has shown genuinely excellent results.

What Is the Best Natural Remedy for Ulcerative Colitis?

A nutritionist experienced with ulcerative colitis can build you a detailed gut health nutrition plan with a real day-to-day schedule. They can put together weekly menu ideas and give you practical advice on eating out (all of which are available for members).

They’ll help you recognize your personal triggers and reduce flare-ups, while also making sure you’re actually absorbing the nutrition you’re getting.

Your gut microbiota holds trillions of bacteria that shift continually with lifestyle factors, the food and drink you have, stress, what you breathe, medication, and other health conditions.

A change in your intestinal microbiome is a significant factor in the development of chronic inflammatory disease throughout the gastrointestinal tract.

This means that consistently promoting good microbiota, with the right type and quantity of foods, will reduce gut dysbiosis. It supports regular immune activity, reduces inflammation, and helps heal and repair an inflamed, permeable digestive tract, genuinely putting ulcerative colitis into remission.

Optimally supporting gut microbial diversity and stability prevents gut dysbiosis, which in turn helps prevent chronic inflammatory disease. Eating the right balance of good foods is essential for your body to actually absorb that nutrition.

Pairing this ulcerative colitis nutrition protocol with an anti-inflammatory lifestyle will help you turn things around. I promise you, it frees up so much thinking time. When you’re living with any inflammatory or autoimmune condition and flare-ups, you’re constantly thinking about food: what won’t trigger a flare, how hungry you actually are, trying to work out what caused the last flare, how to get through a day without one.

It’s genuinely exhausting, all of it.

Have you read Reduce PCOS & Belly Fat, Why You Have Psoriasis, & Reduce Asthma with an Anti-inflammatory Diet?

Check out what others say on the Testimonials page. There are also video testimonials for most of the chronic inflammatory conditions under our Expert Advice page.

What Should I Eat During an Active Flare-Up?

This is one of the questions I’m asked most often: What should I eat during an active flare-up?

The answer is that eating during a flare-up is often very different from eating when you’re feeling well. When the digestive system is inflamed and symptoms are heightened, the focus should be on supporting your body in the gentlest way possible. However, the best approach can vary depending on your condition, your symptoms, and your individual tolerances.

Rather than relying on generic advice, members have access to detailed guidance specifically designed for flare-ups, including:

• Foods to focus on during an active flare
• Foods and drinks that may be best avoided temporarily
• Practical meal ideas and recipes
• Tips for reintroducing foods as symptoms improve

Having a clear plan can take away much of the uncertainty and help you feel more confident about nourishing your body while it heals.

If you’re a member, you’ll find the complete flare-up food lists and practical guidance in your condition-specific Expert Advice. If you’re not yet a member, joining gives you access to these resources, along with recipes, meal plans, and ongoing support to help you navigate both flare-ups and long-term remission.

Does an Ulcerative Colitis Diet Have to Be Bland?

So often, when you’re trying to avoid the issues that come with colitis, Crohn’s, inflammatory bowel disease, and autoimmune conditions, you end up sticking to a very short list of foods that feel “safe.” That means missing out on real nourishment, even when your bowels are technically under control.

Fearing an attack at unpredictable times can make you distrust what you’re eating entirely. It affects you when you’re out and about, traveling, visiting people, always wondering what you can eat that won’t trigger a flare.

All of that worry only increases the chances of abdominal pain and needing the bathroom in the first place.

There’s also a good chance your body isn’t absorbing enough nutrients because of the attacks, which brings its own dehydration, fatigue, anemia, and headaches.

You can often be genuinely starving, but that’s somehow easier to deal with than the anxiety of navigating public transport, sitting through a meeting, or being social when you might need a bathroom at any moment.

You may know your triggers well and head to a health food store for alternatives, only to end up in pain shortly after eating anyway. The reality is that the food industry relies on clever marketing, and between busy lives and small print, it’s easy to digest foods to be misled.

What Common Thing Can Make Ulcerative Colitis Worse?

Even when you know your triggers, it’s easy to miss inflammatory ingredients hiding in millions of “healthy foods.”

Soy lecithin is a perfect example. It’s practically everywhere. Check the packet on that box of “healthy” crackers or cookies you picked up; it’s linked to gut inflammation, obesity, metabolic disorders, and diabetes.

People get misled here because soy lecithin is also sold as a health supplement in its own right. The reality is that the soy lecithin marketed as a supplement is supposedly different from the soy lecithin processed for use as a food emulsifier.

As a food additive, soy lecithin goes through a multi-step chemical process that strips it of soy protein, involving pesticides, solvents, and processes that aren’t exactly reassuring.

Whether the “purified” supplement version is genuinely healthy is also up for debate, since supplement companies aren’t FDA-regulated. Plenty of supplements contain bulk fillers that cause inflammation in their own right.

There’s more on soy lecithin in this article: Is AG1 Supplement Good for You?

It’s worth keeping in perspective that shielding yourself entirely from chemicals is close to impossible, but limiting the damage and reducing how much you’re exposed to through food absolutely is possible.

An ulcerative colitis diet can be the complete opposite of bland. Every anti-inflammatory recipe on this platform has been devised by me, using carefully selected anti-inflammatory ingredients with real nutritional properties. I test each one on myself and others before it ever goes up on the Eat Burn Sleep platform.

The Expert Advice section includes extra support, guidance, and flare-up protocols for a wide range of symptoms, situations, and conditions, all tried and tested by me, and recommended by me personally.

What Is Good Comfort Food for Ulcerative Colitis?

People are often surprised by the sheer variety of food I eat while keeping my ulcerative colitis in remission. They’re amazed that I have wine and champagne, a steak now and then, and yes, cake. They’re often genuinely shocked to see me with a slice of pizza at a party.

When I built this anti-inflammatory lifestyle to put my own inflammatory conditions into remission, I knew it had to be exciting, and the food had to be delicious and varied. It couldn’t be boring, restrictive, or bland in any way; that’s simply not how I want to live.

Food is life. It’s beautiful. We need it, and the nutrition it provides, to actually enjoy our lives, not just survive them.

No compromises.

This platform has over 450 comfort recipes for ulcerative colitis and every inflammatory condition: sweets, savories, snacks, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

Life is meant to be enjoyed. It isn’t about perfection, which is unattainable and unsustainable anyway. It’s about damage limitation, done well.

Are There Any Negatives to This Approach?

I want to be honest with you rather than oversell this: yes, there are a few things worth knowing upfront. Changing your diet and lifestyle takes real consistency, and the first few weeks of any adjustment can feel like more effort than falling back on old habits. It isn’t an overnight fix, and if you’ve tried multiple approaches before that didn’t stick, it’s completely fair to wonder whether this one will be any different.

What I’d say to that is this: if you’re thinking “this doesn’t help” because of everything you’ve already tried, I genuinely understand that skepticism, because I lived it myself for years. The difference here isn’t another supplement or another restrictive diet layered on top of the last one; it’s addressing the actual mechanism behind the flare-ups, not just managing the symptoms. That’s what finally worked for me, after everything else didn’t.

Reducing Stress With Ulcerative Colitis

If you have ulcerative colitis, there’s no doubt your days will be challenging. The debilitating symptoms and the psychological stress that come with your condition are significant, and everything that entails adds real extra pressure.

Ultimately, extra stress is the last thing you need, because stress itself can trigger a flare-up.

Comfort is what you need, and what genuinely calms your system down.

While there are things you can’t control, there are plenty of things you can, to live your life well with ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory diseases, and those choices really can shape the rest.

Living with a chronic condition every single day is a challenge, holidays included, but I’m here to tell you that you can live life well, if not better, with an inflammatory disease.

How to Put Ulcerative Colitis Into Remission

You may end up feeling even better than before, because, like me, after being so ill for so long, with no light at the end of the tunnel, feeling amazing again can feel genuinely miraculous.

To have a fitter, nourished body without flare-ups, and to plan and enjoy holidays and every ordinary day without compromising time with my boys, family, and friends, that’s what ulcerative colitis remission has given me.

I’m grateful for the things I do now that I didn’t do before. I know they’ve helped me, and so many others, tremendously.

If you have an inflammatory condition, please know you are not alone, and that others genuinely understand. Reach out to me, my team, and our community forum. Being part of a community of people who know exactly what you’re going through is incredibly supportive, and honestly inspirational. Your physical, mental, and emotional health can all improve immensely.

Alternatively, you could book a 15-minute Zoom call with me in the new year. We can work through your ulcerative colitis condition together, in a private consultation or an extended Bespoke Coaching Session.

I hope you have a wonderful, stress-free holiday, one where you can enjoy some genuinely stress-less activities that support your condition rather than work against it.

I wish you all comfort, good health, and joy.

FAQS

1. Can ulcerative colitis go into remission naturally?

Yes, ulcerative colitis can enter remission with the right combination of medical treatment, a healthy diet, stress management, and lifestyle changes. While there is no cure, many people experience long periods with few or no symptoms by following a personalized treatment plan.

2. What foods help keep ulcerative colitis in remission?

Many people find that eating anti-inflammatory, easy-to-digest foods helps manage symptoms during remission. Keeping a food diary and working with a healthcare professional can help identify foods that support your digestive health.

3. How long can ulcerative colitis stay in remission?

Remission can last for months or even years, depending on the individual and how well the condition is managed. Following prescribed treatment, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and attending regular medical checkups can help reduce the risk of flare-ups.