Episode Details

In this episode, IBD specialist and functional medicine consultant Josh Dech breaks down the three most well-studied dietary approaches for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): the Crohn's Disease Exclusion Diet (CDED), the Ulcerative Colitis Exclusion Diet (UCED), and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). Josh explains the clinical evidence behind each approach, including research demonstrating steroid-free remission rates, improved mucosal healing, and strategies for supporting the gut microbiome while reducing inflammation.

You'll also learn when an elemental diet becomes necessary—an advanced nutritional intervention used when severe inflammation makes normal eating nearly impossible—and why cleaner elemental formulas may offer advantages over conventional hospital products.

Throughout the episode, Josh challenges conventional recommendations commonly given during IBD flares, discussing why many standard hospital diets focus only on reducing digestive workload while overlooking the role of processed foods, additives, sugars, and other factors that may influence gut health and the microbiome.

Most importantly, Josh explains why dietary therapy alone is rarely the complete answer. While therapeutic diets can help reduce inflammation and induce remission, long-term recovery requires identifying and addressing the underlying root causes driving chronic immune dysfunction.

If you're looking for evidence-based nutrition strategies, a deeper understanding of gut health, microbiome balance, inflammation, immune system function, and root-cause healing for Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, this episode provides a practical roadmap grounded in both clinical research and functional medicine principles.

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• CDED (Crohn's Disease Exclusion Diet)
• UCED (Ulcerative Colitis Exclusion Diet)
• Hospital Diets and Criticism of Conventional Nutrition Advice
• Elemental Diets and Severe Flare Management
• Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)
• Root-Cause Healing vs. Symptom Management
• Gut Microbiome, Dysbiosis, and Bacterial Mechanisms
• Foods to Include vs. Foods to Eliminate During Flares

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