The best foods for ulcerative colitis

How to use this list

This list is sorted by the remission column, which is why it runs to 69 foods and includes things like brown rice, kale, salmon, and whole wheat bread that are rated caution during a flare. Usually OK in remission is the bar for entry. If you are shopping for a flare, read the flare column too, or go straight to the low-fiber list, which is the flare-safe subset of this page. Both verdicts are on every food page along with the reason for each.

A lot of the searches that land here ask for foods that heal colitis or for UC superfoods. I want to be straight about that: no food on this list treats inflammation. Medication does that, and food keeps you fed, hydrated, and comfortable while it works. What best means here is a combination of tolerance and usefulness. Protein that is easy to digest (eggs, chicken, turkey, white fish, tuna, shrimp, tofu, Greek yogurt), calories that go down when appetite is gone (avocado, smooth peanut butter, olive oil, pasta, white rice), and soluble fiber that firms rather than scrapes (oatmeal, banana, applesauce, peeled potatoes).

During a flare, I eat only from the rows where both columns say usually OK; that is about half the list. Once things settle, the caution rows are where the nutrition comes back: brown rice, quinoa, and whole wheat bread for fiber, salmon for omega-3 fats, cheese, yogurt, and kefir for calcium, spinach and kale for iron and folate, blueberries and kiwi for the fruit variety you lost. That widening is the whole point of remission, and guidance for IBD has been moving toward more plant fiber in remission, not less.

Two habits undermine this list. The first is staying on the flare subset long after the flare has ended, usually out of fear, and slowly losing weight, muscle, and variety. The second is reading usually OK as unlimited. Avocado and olive oil are concentrated fat, and large portions of fat can loosen stools even in quiet disease; Greek yogurt still carries some lactose; sourdough is still wheat. Usually OK describes a normal portion, prepared simply.

Some specific answers to the questions people type. Avocado rates usually OK in both columns because mashed avocado has little insoluble fiber; portion size is the only caveat. Brown rice is caution in a flare and usually OK in remission, with white rice as the flare swap. For cereal, cream of wheat and refined low-fiber cereals first, bran-based ones once quiet. Crackers: plain refined ones during a flare, seeded and whole-grain versions later. Desserts: gelatin, canned peaches, plain cookies, a square of chocolate. Meats: skinless chicken, turkey, white fish, tuna, shrimp, and salmon, with beef and pork at caution. Vegetables: carrots, green beans, zucchini, butternut squash, and peeled potatoes cooked soft, then spinach, bell peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes as you widen out.