Diverticular disease…any current info?

#1

Hi everyone.
I had a colonoscopy yesterday which showed “extensive diverticular disease”.
I have been keto for a few years, more recently carnivore.

Anyone have any current info on anything that may be helpful to heal this? I searched the site and found a few interesting posts.

Wondering if any current research has turned up new info?

Am I better being carnivore than keto in relation to diverticular disease healing?
Currently I eat no wheat or grains at all and no veggies since January or so…cause I thought I was lectin sensitive (due to pain after eating them). Turns out it may not be lectins, may be diverticular disease…but the surgeon I saw wasn’t diet focussed at all…and it is awhile before I can get an appointment with my keto dietician, hence trying to get info from the brains trust here!

I had a gastroscopy yesterday too.
Previous one a few years ago showed grade A oesophagitis, which wasn’t evident all yesterday, so keto diet has healed it!

:grinning::grinning:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Everyone has some diverticula. Don’t go overboard worrying about them. But avoiding nuts and seeds can’t hurt, and fibre seems to be more of a problem than it’s worth, where bowel health is concerned.

A diet that keeps us mostly in ketosis is good for the bowel, since β-hydroxybutyrate helps promote healing of the intestinal lining. So a low-carb ketogenic diet is very helpful. Carnivore even more so, since meat is a low-residue fuel, meaning it stresses the bowel the least.

As Dr. Anthony Chaffee points out, “constipation” doesn’t refer to the length of time between bowel movements, but rather that the stools are hard and difficult to pass. His belief is that getting plenty of fat on a carnivore diet keeps stools soft and lubricated. His contention is that the liver makes a certain amount of bile daily, which is calculated according to how much fat the body wants to absorb. This means we want to eat a bit more fat than that, so that the excess fat will be excreted and keep stools soft. Too much fat can cause diarrhoea, of course.

For myself, I find that on keto, it’s my salt intake that determines my bowel situation. Too little salt, and I’m constipated; too much, and I have diarrhoea. But the less carbohydrate I eat, the less salt I want, and then the fat content of what I’m eating becomes more important.

(Robin) #3

I’ve had diverticulitis flares for years. Terribly painful and in a very specific spot… must be where the main “pocket” is. When I gave up veggies, especially stringy ones like celery and green beans, it went away. Also nuts.

But I have recently added a few of each. I have found that if I thoroughly chew them (and chew them and chew them) I avoid a flair.

(Bob M) #4

The problem with diverticulitis is the same as it always was (isn’t there a song with this line?), which is that people who eat higher fiber have less diverticulitis. Doesn’t mean that fiber prevents this, or is useful for its treatment, but that’s what doctors think.

@PaulL Interesting theory by Dr. Chaffee.

I just got a colonoscopy, and although both my mother and brother have diverticulitis, I don’t or at least they didn’t say anything about it.

I’ve often wondered if the lower fiber diets we keto/carnivore folk tend to eat is beneficial for diverticulitis?

#5

Assuming “extensive” means it’s hit Diverticulosis? Whether it’s that bad or it’s Diverticulitus small things like nuts and seeds can just stuck and cause all types of hell.

I created mine from my years of doing standard keto having no fiber in my diet, not going enough, and trying hard most of the time to get it all out.

All that crap (pun intended) could have been avoided, years of struglling to go minus OD’ing on magnesium, stool softeners or laxitives, Doc ripped me apart for the no Fiber thing, I started supplementing the Fiber in and withing a couple days I was going normally again. so much for not needed it!

If while on Carnivore (Or Keto) you’re going regularly, without struggling, the whole longer smooth look (there’s a chart) then I wouldn’t worry. But that whole you go fine… once a week, I’d rethink your plan.

(Bob M) #6

Do people really go once a week? (Speaking as a person who goes…multiple times… per DAY…every day…like clockwork. The only time that doesn’t happen is if I increase my fiber through things like salads, then I can get constipated.)

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

I notice a distinctly lower frequency of bowel movements on keto, probably every other or every third day. I don’t really keep track. During my more carnivore periods, that stretches out even longer. I also notice that on carnivore there is a markedly smaller amount of waste than on keto. I never bother to take fibre separately from what might happen to be in the foods I eat, and of course, meat contains none at all.

(Geoffrey) #8

I have diverticulosis but I’m lucky in that it’s never flared into diverticulitis. It was found when I had my first colonoscopy at the age of 45. I was told to not eats seeds or popcorn and get plenty of fiber.
I continued to eat seeds and popcorn and never had an issue.
I have since learned that fiber is what causes one to develop diverticulosis and that eating seeds and popcorn do not cause any problems.
Now that I’m carnivore my BM’s are very limited since my body now uses most of what I eat so there is little waste. I was experiencing only one movement a week but since I upped my fat intake along with my sodium and started taking magnesium citrate it’s become more frequent.

#9

I have diahorea badly, all the time and a lot of pain, hence the colonoscopy to find what is causing it. Never had constipation.

I had intermittent extreme pain a few years ago on a keto diet with vegetables included.
I was in emergency room about 1x weekly due to very extreme pain. It was suggested I may be lectin sensitive and I stopped most veggies. Still have pain but no emergency trips to hospital since no veg.

Having a consult with my excellent keto informed dietician asap and waiting for the info from the various biopsies that were done.

I was very pleased to no longer have oesophagitis, cause that apparently leads to cancer and it has completely gone since my 3 years previous scopes.

Thanks everyone for the info and feedback. Will post when I have more information.

I am tending towards fasting for autophagy but looking for the okay from my dietician

I will know more when I see my GP at the end f the month, then my keto informed doc next.
I intend to get well!!!

(Myth Buster ) #10

That is very interesting

I was asking my self does carnivore diet has less waste because I go much less frequently and smaller amount.

I had several attempts at carnivore diet. The very first attempt was very helpful to my diverticulosis. But later attempts were not helpful. I was not able to explain.

#11

Carnivore does have less waste.

(Sondra Rose) #12

Here you go: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3724216/

(Joey) #13

This is a fascinating study - thanks for the link.

Reading into the details, the authors struggle to find any compelling association of any of the covered variables with diverticulosis. Instead, they conclude that the current guidance usually provided (e.g., eat “more of this” and “less of that”) is not based on reliable links they could find in over 2000 subjects post-colonscopy.

While not terribly surprising, such conclusions are rarely published. Nice to see this for a change.

#14

Rabbit Hole Alert :rotating_light: Hi Marion. Search up Tucker Goodrich. He has an interesting personal anecdote in his n=1. Further to that he hypothesises that industrial seed oils are a major factor in diverticulitis. This may be old news.

#15

Thanks everyone!
FrancoBear, this could well be the case for me, since for pre-keto years I used canola oil.

I have been carnivore since January 23 (I think it is)…zero seed oils for a good few years, since adopting keto roughly 7 years ago for diabetes type 2…
Since Jan ‘23 only good quality grass fed beef fat and lambs fat (from Tasmania).

I have a lot less pain since the colonoscopy that removed a few 11mm polyps, no idea why that would be but I will take it as a win!

I am hugely encouraged to continue with my dietary experiments…because the gastroscopy proved that I have reversed oesophagitis. The doc who did the colonoscopy and gastroscope couldn’t believe that I have achieved this with keto diet, no drugs

(Robin) #16

Way to go! Love a good success story!

#17

Thanks for the link SondraRose! :grinning:
Much appreciated.

I have an appointment with my keto very-informed dietician next Monday. Will let you know what she says.

#18

Had an interesting day with two dietician appointments, one conventional hospital dietician, who was very concerned I would get cancer on a carnivore diet. I gave her 3 days of food intake which included prawns wild salmon and oysters and she calmed down but told me repeatedly that “red meat is associated with colon cancer”. and diverticular disease needs fibre, so fruit 3 pieces a day and veggies.

Then had a consult with my very informed keto dietician who recommended I don’t take fibre supplements, told men the source of the meat causes cancer inform is research that relied on food s like Meat lovers pizza and sausage rolls for their data on cancer and meat!

The hospital dietician was obliged to tell me the info relied by the conventional dietary medical establishment, desp[oite it coming from very different type of food than I eat. she advised me to chance with my other advisers and try to reach an understanding of what will work for me. I was somewhat irritated by th erred meat will give you cancer info, because my iron levels are4 low and I had an iron infusion recently because of that. So, if anyone will benefit from organic grass fed red meat, it will be me!!!

I am eating grass fed red meat occasionally, a lot of air fried organic chicken wings and organic lamb, oysters, prawns, salmon etc etc.

Was advised by my keto informed dietician to carry on and start to introduce a few veggies, slowly a la elimination diet challenges level 2 and have blood tests again before reintroducing veggies to track inflammation and just really hope it has fallen.

Hard work.
Thank heavens for those few professionals who go the extra mile and get informed.

(Robin) #19

Veggies were the culprits causing my flair ups of diverticulitis. Went keto, cut out the veggies and… magic. That was 3 years ago. For various reasons, I have recently added in a few veggies… but cooked very well and chewed extremely well. So far so good.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #20

Georgia Ede did a great lecture on “WHO Says Meat Causes Cancer?” that debunked the IARC’s report: