How I Healed Crohn’s Disease Naturally: The Triad of Nutrition, Fitness and Faith

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when I was 12. By my early 20s, I was still struggling with the same symptoms. Yet at 26, I finally healed myself naturally. In the course of doing so, I realized there are three crucial components to healing. I call it the triad of healing: nutrition, fitness, and faith. Each of these plays a role in overcoming Crohn’s, or any health challenge you face.

They are all intuitive in some respects. It’s not groundbreaking to say that exercising is good for you, and so too is eating healthy. You cannot take a secular approach to health either. A strong prayer life is important to your overall health. But rarely are the three—nutrition, exercise and faith—combined.

Nutrition: Finding What Works for Your Body

From the outset of my diagnosis, my doctors insisted food had nothing to do with Crohn’s. At the time it sounded crazy. How could food play zero role in how your gastrointestinal tract feels or functions? I followed a moderately healthy diet for years, occasionally dabbling in foods I knew were bad for me. But never was I instructed on what to eat, how to eat, or what foods may cause symptoms.

When it comes to nutrition, it is important to understand that we are all different. Nuance plays a heavy role. One person’s good food may be another person’s poison. What worked for me may not work for you. There are multiple diets that have produced relief for those with IBD, including the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, The Maker’s Diet, and the Low FODMAP diet. I found the latter to be especially beneficial. The key was fine-tuning my diet and finally identifying those food groups that triggered symptoms.

In the course of healing yourself, it may be necessary to follow a certain diet for weeks or months to finally clear symptoms. Often, the feeling that comes with being symptom-free is so overwhelming and euphoric that you rarely miss those unhealthy foods you used to crave.

Fitness: Building Strength and Confidence

If my diagnosis had one benefit, it served as the ultimate wake-up call to start exercising. As a child, I was flabby and completely out of shape. I exercised some but did not move nearly as much as young boys should. As a 12-year-old lying in a hospital bed in my absolute frailest state, I resolved to somehow build a better body for myself.

My exercise regimen began with walking outdoors, which soon led to running. I started a rigorous series of calisthenics to build muscle, and soon I was performing thousands of push-ups and abdominal exercises every week. As I grew older, I began lifting weights. Exercise has remained a consistent part of my daily life.

A diagnosis with Crohn’s, or any other autoimmune disease, can wreck your body and create immense insecurity. I found that improving my physical condition was the greatest way to build confidence, and it also improved my symptoms in the process. Again, fitness remains intuitive.

Faith: The Missing Component

For years, I always felt that my exercise routine and eating habits were enough to keep me healthy, but something was missing. I grew up in the church, but faith played almost no role in my previous efforts to overcome Crohn’s. What was missing, it seemed, was divine intervention. I began asking God for better health. This, combined with an intense belief that I could be healthy, placed the final mental gear into place.

As I went deeper into the Word, faith became another intuitive aspect of health. If man was created in the image of God, a sick and weak person would reflect poorly on Him. Yes, there are examples that none of us can explain, but in general, I don’t believe that a merciful God would impose a debilitating health condition on anyone, including Crohn’s.

Praying alone will not solve your health problems; you still have to put yourself to work. Your job is to follow sound nutritional guidelines and a consistent fitness regimen.

Related » What Does It Really Mean to Have Faith?

The Path Forward

After more than a decade of trying conventional doctors and protocols, I finally learned from personal experience how vital these three factors are. I’m confident that they can work for you too. I have not even scratched the surface in this short writing, but my upcoming book Drug-Free Crohn’s dives deep into the triad of healing. If you are suffering from autoimmune disease, it is my great hope and prayer that you will start applying these three basic principles to healing protocols. And by doing so, you can begin to live a more fulfilling life.