Good Food

Good food is a relative term.

Good food has a different definition for everyone. Of course, food like deep fried anything or soda pops can't exactly claim to be 'good' food, so there are some universal truths there, but good food can mean a lot of different things.

Right now, my Pouchitis (the chronic inflammation of the J-Pouch that was created with my small intestine when my ileostomy was reversed) is flared up. It is flared because I am not allowed to be on my antibiotics right now, because I cannot be on them for the cortisone injections into my joints. (There are always so many rules!).
Have you ever been in the midst of eating something, then go to the washroom and that exact food you're eating has already passed through your system??
That's one of the many possible variations if symptoms someone with any kind of Inflammatory Bowel Disease can suffer from. Undigested food. I think my record is about 10 minutes. You may shake your head and say that that's impossible, but it's not. It's even in my medical records that during several barium swallow diagnostic tests, the time it took for the barium to go through my system (which *should* have taken about an hour or more) was between 10-30 minutes -> several different times.
But here is some extra confusion.
My Crohn's Disease, which essentially affects anywhere in my intestines above the J-Pouch has different symptoms if it is flared. With my Crohn's, the pain from trying to digest food usually starts within about 5 minutes after eating and can last hours. With Crohn's, instead of just ejecting the food, it works harder and harder to digest it, so it can be painful for as long as it takes to get through several feet of intestine. It is brutal.
With the J-Pouch, my body simply ejects the food. It takes half the time to go through my system, if not less, hits the pouch, causes an intense succession of cramping, and then ejects it, whether I am ready or not. When my pouch is flared up, it's like the food is on a waterslide.
Weeee.
Except my innards are the slide and take the brunt of the pain.

Methotrexate (the medication that makes me an easily-bruised peach) is the only treatment that settles my Crohn's. It has never put me in remission, but it does keep it sort of stable; predictable at least.
Antibiotics, however, are what keeps my J-Pouch relatively stable. Methotrexate has no major effect on the pouch, and the antibiotics have no major effect on my Crohn's. Weird, right?
Hey - whatever works.

So, when I am in a bad Pouchitis flare (yes I realize the disease name sounds fabricated... it's not. I promise you), 'good food' is any food that I can keep in my system for longer than 20 minutes. OR, if the former doesn't really seem possible, then 'good food' is anything that doesn't cause an excess amount of pain while it travels on the waterslide. Good food means anything that I can manage to eat without bawling my eyes out. Good food means anything that I can possibly get some nutrients from.

Last night I made myself some pineapple curry chicken pasta. The pineapple tasted delicious - I love pineapple. Sure the curry has milk and butter and all that goodness. Sure the pasta has gluten. But the dinner tasted damn delicious and dinners like this make me WANT to eat despite the pain and the 20 trips to the washroom between bedtime and morning. It may not stay in my system long... at all... but it gets in there. That's the point. When my pouch is flared, THIS is good food. Tasty food. Food that makes me want to eat.

When my Crohn's is flared up, 'good food' means anything I can eat that will cause the least amount of pain. This doesn't often mean food that is considered 'healthy'. Things like fast food fries are AMAZING during times like that. Why? Because they slide right through my system. They are so bad for me that my body won't even try to digest them - which can be a nice reprieve. The intestines NEED a break when they are flaring up. Usually that means fluids (like Boost and pudding and soup), but sometimes you have to indulge your taste buds while also resting your tired and utterly irate intestines.

'Good food' can mean vegetables and food that is widely considered healthy, but it can also mean whatever the hell your body can handle. It can mean whatever hurts the least but still gives you some nutrition. It means whatever your specific needs are.

Today, good food for me means Boost, pineapple curry chicken pasta, apple crisp, Gatorade, and maaaaybe some Easter chocolate.
Whatever I can eat that makes it worth the pain. :)