Summary of thread:
A person has Crohns, raw vegetables cause problems (unspecified)
Steve Holland replies:  patient may have mild obstruction.  Avoid things
that would plug her up.  Crohn's has no dietary restriction in general.


The feeling obout this has changed in the GI community.  The current
feeling
is that inflammation is not induced by food.  There is even evidence that
patients deprived of food have mucosal atrophy due to lack of stimulation
of
intestinal growth factors.  There is now interest in providing small
amounts
of nasogastric feeding to patients on IV nutrition.  But I digress.  
Symptoms can be drastically enhanced by food, but not inflammation.


The low residue diet is appropriate for you if you still have obstructions.
Again, it is not felt that food causes inflammation.  These foods are
avoided because they may get stuck.  I'd go ahead and have the
fudge, though ;-)  .

Spencer makes an especially good point in having an observant and
informed patient.  Would that many patients be able to tell what
causes them problems.  The digestive processing idea is changing, but
if a food causes problems, avoid them.  Be sure that the foods are 
tested a second time to be sure the food is a real cause.  Crohn's
commonly causes intermittent symptoms and some patients end up with
severly restricted diets that take months to renormalize.

There was a good article in the CCFA newsletter recently that discussed
the issue of dietary restriction of fiber.  It would be worth reading
to anyone with an interest in Crohn's.

And, as I always say when dealing with Crohn's, as does Spencer, Good Luck!