Diet for Microscopic Colitis

Microscopic colitis is a chronic condition in which the lining of the colon becomes inflamed, leading to digestive issues such as continuous and watery diarrhea. Dietary alterations can be a primary weapon in your fight against the condition, as you'll avoid trigger foods that bring on and exacerbate the symptoms.

General Diet Recommendations

Consume a diet that restricts fats, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Limit your daily consumption of fats to no more than 30 percent of your total calories, spread evenly across your daily meals. Additionally, limit or eliminate foods and beverages known to irritate the lining of your stomach, such as those containing caffeine or exceptionally spicy items.

Food Allergies

Have yourself tested for possible food allergies as well. Food allergies are common, and even if you do not notice outward symptoms of one, it still could affect your body on a lesser level, triggering or amplifying colitis symptoms. People often are allergic to lactose and gluten (a protein found in grains like wheat, rye, and barley), so you might want to eliminate these foods. Even if you do not want to test for allergies, you can still eliminate gluten and lactose to see if your symptoms abate.

Catalog Your Efforts

Keep a food journal while attempting to determine a proper microscopic colities diet. List not only the foods you consume and the time of consumption, but also record objective and subjective descriptions of your symptoms so you can draw correlations. In other words, your food journal should note something like: "Ate spicy chili with a glass of milk -- felt sick 20 minutes later and had to use the restroom." Over time, this will help you identify and eliminate specific foods that seem to worsen your microscopic colitis.