The IBD Dietitian

The IBD Dietitian Helping to move from flares to remission| Rebuild gut health.Thrive
IBD Dietitian | PhD Researcher 🎯Remission-focused🧠 Science.📍Online support +1:1

Most IBD nutrition advice focuses on what to cut out. But some of the most useful conversations I have with patients are...
24/05/2026

Most IBD nutrition advice focuses on what to cut out. But some of the most useful conversations I have with patients are about what to add in. 🌿

One simple example that often comes up: extra virgin olive oil.

Not just because it is a healthy fat, but because of what is inside it.

Extra virgin olive oil contains natural plant compounds called polyphenols, including one called oleocanthal. These are tiny protective chemicals that plants produce to survive harsh conditions like drought, strong sunlight, and infection. In many ways, they are part of the plant’s own defence system. 🌱

What is fascinating is that these same compounds may also support our health through the gut.

When we eat extra virgin olive oil, those polyphenols travel to the large intestine where gut microbes interact with them, use them as fuel, and in return produce signals and compounds that may help support the gut environment and calm inflammation. ✨

Nutrition is not just about fats, carbs, and protein anymore. Plants contain thousands of natural compounds we are still discovering, and many appear to work together with our gut microbes in ways that are genuinely remarkable.
Sometimes the simplest foods carry remarkable complexity. 🫒

A drizzle over cooked vegetables, rice, pasta, soups, or toast is an easy place to start.

Of course, IBD nutrition is bigger than one food. The goal is always more structure, more nourishment, and less fear around every ingredient.

Comment THRIVE below and I will send you the free Thrive with IBD guide and add you to the Founder’s Launch waitlist. 💛👇

23/05/2026

Tonight’s taco 🌮 night

Despite having a pantry full of lentils and legumes, I rarely buy pinto beans 😅 so 🫘 kidney beans 🫘 have somehow become my go-to taco filling over the years — and honestly they work beautifully.

Tonight’s tacos included:
🫘 seasoned kidney bean filling
🥑 homemade guacamole
🥛 plain probiotic yoghurt instead of sour cream
🥬 lettuce + grated carrots
🧀 freshly grated vintage cheese from a block

One practical tip I often share with my patients is choosing block cheese over many pre-shredded varieties where possible, as shredded cheese products often contain anti-caking additives to keep the strands separated.

🫘 Fun nutrition fact:
A ½ cup (~100g) serving of boiled kidney beans — roughly what was used across 2 tacos 🌮🌮 — provides approximately:
✔️ 8–9g protein
✔️ 6–7g dietary fibre

Kidney beans are far more than “just a legume.”
They’re packed with:
✔️ plant protein
✔️ fibre
✔️ iron
✔️ folate
✔️ magnesium
✔️ zinc
✔️ gut-supporting polyphenols

For people living with IBD, legumes are not automatically “bad foods.” During remission, many people may tolerate them well when prepared properly and introduced gradually.

💡 Preparation matters:
• soak well
• boil thoroughly (or pressure cook like I have here)
• start with small portions like 1-2 tbsp
• increase slowly depending on tolerance

Nutrition with IBD should move away from fear and toward confidence, flexibility, nourishment & sustainability where possible 💚

Sometimes your gut does not need a complete diet overhaul. It just needs food to feel a little easier for a while. 🌿For ...
21/05/2026

Sometimes your gut does not need a complete diet overhaul. It just needs food to feel a little easier for a while. 🌿

For some patients, that means TEMPORARILY adjusting fibre texture and tolerance rather than removing entire food groups.

In practice, that can look like:
🍚 White rice instead of brown rice
🥕 Cooked, peeled vegetables instead of raw
🥜 Smooth nut butter instead of whole nuts or seeds
🍞 White sourdough instead of seeded or wholegrain bread

These are NOT permanent modifications. They are practical, short-term adjustments that can help you keep eating enough while your gut has a chance to settle. 🥣

Something I emphasise with patients and families regularly: fibre tolerance is not fixed.

It can shift depending on current symptoms, inflammation levels, strictures, surgery history, and whether someone is in a flare or remission.

That is why blindly following a strict low-fibre list rarely helps long term. What actually helps is knowing how to adapt your food based on where your gut is right now, while still protecting nutrition, variety, and confidence around eating. 💛

If this is something you or someone you know is navigating, save this post and share it with someone who might find it useful. 👇

Simple comfort food with a nutrition boost 🍋🫑This morning’s Lemon Rice got an extra nourishing upgrade with:🫑 Green caps...
21/05/2026

Simple comfort food with a nutrition boost 🍋🫑

This morning’s Lemon Rice got an extra nourishing upgrade with:
🫑 Green capsicum for vitamin C

🍋 Fresh lemon squeezed at the end to help preserve heat-sensitive vitamin C🌱

¼ cup chia seeds for a delicate crunch, plus fibre, plant protein, and healthy omega-3 fats to support satiety and overall nourishment

For people living with IBD — being on immunosuppressive or immune-modifying medications — supporting nutritional adequacy becomes even more important.

While no single food “supports immunity,” regularly including a variety of whole foods rich in vitamins, minerals, fibre, healthy fats, and plant compounds helps support normal immune function, gut microbiome health, and overall resilience 🌿✨

Vitamin C is one example of a nutrient that supports normal immune system function and acts as an antioxidant.

Approximate vitamin C:
🫑 1 medium green capsicum = ~90–100 mg
🍋 1 lemon = ~30–35 mg

For context, Australian Nutrient Reference Values for vitamin C are:
👧 Children: approximately 35–40 mg/day
🧑 Adults: 45 mg/day

A gentle reminder: nourishing your body isn’t about perfection or “superfoods” — it’s the cumulative effect of small, consistent whole-food choices over time 💚

The biggest mistake I see in IBD nutrition? Stopping when symptoms do. 😮‍💨Remission is the moment to exhale. And also, q...
19/05/2026

The biggest mistake I see in IBD nutrition? Stopping when symptoms do. 😮‍💨

Remission is the moment to exhale. And also, quietly, one of the most important windows for building long-term gut resilience. 🌿

Something I remind patients and families often: when symptoms are calmer, there is real opportunity to work on food variety, microbiome diversity,
nutrient repletion, and anti-inflammatory eating patterns without the urgency of managing a flare on top of everything else.

Nutrition support in remission shifts from reactive to proactive. 🩺

Less “what do I eat now that things are bad?”

More “how do we keep things stable for longer?”

Remission is not where nutrition stops mattering.

It is often where the most valuable work begins. ✨

Save this as a reminder to use the good periods well. 💛

Not every “gut health” tip you see online is safe for someone living with Crohn’s or colitis. 😵‍💫The internet makes gut ...
19/05/2026

Not every “gut health” tip you see online is safe for someone living with Crohn’s or colitis. 😵‍💫

The internet makes gut health sound straightforward:

🌿 Eat more fibre
🥛 Try fermented foods
💊 Take a probiotic
🚫 Cut out gluten
✨ “Heal your gut naturally”

And for someone without IBD, some of that advice might be fine.

But Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are not just a sensitive gut or a disrupted microbiome. They involve immune dysregulation, active inflammation, complex medication regimens, and disease activity that can shift significantly from person to person and week to week.

What works for general gut health and what works for IBD are not always the same thing. 🥲

Suddenly increasing fibre during a flare, trialling random supplements, or following a viral “gut reset” trend can genuinely worsen symptoms for some patients. Not because they did something wrong, but because the advice was never designed for their condition in the first place.

It also helps to understand what evidence-based IBD guidelines actually recommend: guidance built from robust scientific research reviewing what appears safe, effective, helpful, ineffective, or potentially harmful across many patients, not just based on a few individual experiences.

IBD nutrition needs more than a wellness checklist. It needs to account for where you are in your disease, what you are currently tolerating, what your bloodwork looks like, and how food fits alongside your medical treatment. 🩺

Save this as a reminder to filter gut health advice through an IBD-specific lens. 💛

And if someone you know is following general gut health trends without IBD-specific guidance, share this with them. 👇

Today, on World IBD Day 💜, I’m donning a purple saree — a traditional Indian outfit — in support of raising awareness fo...
19/05/2026

Today, on World IBD Day 💜, I’m donning a purple saree — a traditional Indian outfit — in support of raising awareness for children and young people living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Purple is the global colour of IBD awareness, representing visibility, advocacy, strength, and hope for those living with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

But today, my saree also represents something deeply important to me as an IBD dietitian: 🌏 culturally inclusive care.

Because healthcare, nutrition advice, and support should never be “one size fits all.”

Every family brings their own culture, traditions, food practices, beliefs, and lived experiences into their healthcare journey — and culturally inclusive care means recognising, respecting, and supporting that diversity with compassion and understanding.

At our hospital today, our team came together with purple-themed cupcakes, poo 💩 cupcakes, and an awareness stall to raise funds and start conversations around IBD.

And while the cupcakes brought smiles 😊, the message behind today is incredibly important:
IBD is much more than “just a tummy issue.”

It can impact:
✨ Gut health & digestion
✨ Growth & nutrition
✨ Energy levels & school life
✨ Emotional wellbeing

Many children require ongoing medical care, nutrition therapy, scans, procedures, and long-term hospital support.

Our fun 💩 cupcake fundraiser was designed to:
✅ Start conversations
✅ Reduce stigma around gut health
✅ Raise awareness about IBD
✅ Support children and families living with IBD

Because sometimes talking about poo… can help children feel less alone 💜

Thank you to everyone who supported our stall, donated, shared a smile, or stopped to learn more today.

18/05/2026

In preparation for World 🌍 IBD Day tomorrow, this newly published review came at such an important time. 💚

A recent review published in BMJ Frontline Gastroenterology highlighted that limited health literacy in IBD is associated with:
▪️ poorer quality of life
▪️ lower self-management skills

And honestly… this is something I see so often in clinical practice.

Living with IBD is already overwhelming enough.

Patients are expected to navigate:
medications,
food fears,
blood tests,
scans,
supplements,
symptoms,
social situations,
and endless conflicting information online…

often without 😣enough support or practical education to truly understand what is happening in their body.

This is why health literacy matters SO much.

Health literacy is not about intelligence.
It is about whether healthcare information is communicated in a way that patients can truly understand, apply, and feel empowered by.

As we head into World IBD Day tomorrow, I think this is such an important reminder that raising awareness is not just about talking about IBD…

It is also about helping patients feel informed, supported, confident, and less alone in managing their condition. 💚

This is one of the big reasons I created my “Thrive with IBD” Program — to help bridge the gap between medical appointments and real-life practical support through evidence-based nutrition and education.

✨ If you’d like to learn more🤩, grab my FREE resource through the link in bio and join the waitlist for the upcoming founders launch of Thrive with IBD.

Or simply DM me and I’ll personally send you the link. 💚


https://doi.org/10.1136/flgastro-2025-103475

17/05/2026

One symptom after eating out and suddenly every single ingredient is a suspect. 🔎😅

“Was it the sauce?”
“Should I have ordered something else?”
“Was it the salad dressing?”
“Why did I not just stay home?”

Something I hear from patients all the time is that eating out stops feeling like a normal meal and starts feeling like a risk assessment. And when that happens, the instinct is often to just avoid restaurants altogether.

But avoidance is rarely the goal. Confidence is. 🌿

A few simple strategies that patients find genuinely helpful:
🍽️ Stick to familiar foods when trying somewhere new
🥗 Ask for sauces and dressings on the side
🔥 Grilled or baked over fried where possible
🍚 Look for simpler, less heavily seasoned options

Meals that often feel more manageable include grilled chicken with rice, fish with mashed potato, stir-fried veggies with rice, simple pasta dishes, veggie or lentil soup or hummus with pita. Not glamorous, but reliable. 💛

Tolerance is individual so the best choice is always the one that works for your gut, not anyone else’s.

Eating out with IBD takes more thought. But it absolutely does not have to feel impossible.

Tag someone who stress-audits every menu before they even sit down 🍽️✨

Behind every nutrition consultation is time spent listening, reviewing, analysing, thinking, and preparing — before a pa...
16/05/2026

Behind every nutrition consultation is time spent listening, reviewing, analysing, thinking, and preparing — before a patient even walks into the room. 💚

This image captures a simple but meaningful part of my day: sitting in my clinic room reviewing nutrition assessment forms before bringing patients in, so I can guide and empower them with practical, evidence-based nutrition strategies tailored to their individual journey.

This week in Australia, we celebrate and 50 years of Accredited Practising Dietitians creating impact through evidence-based nutrition care. 🇦🇺

As someone trained as a dietitian across both India 🇮🇳 and Australia 🇦🇺 , this week feels especially meaningful to me.

It reminds me how nutrition transcends borders, cultures, languages, and healthcare systems — but at its core, it is always about people.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of supporting children, adults, and families navigating complex gut health issues and inflammatory bowel disease journeys. I’ve seen how food can become a source of fear, confusion, culture, comfort, healing, and empowerment — sometimes all at once.

What I value most about being a dietitian is not simply “telling people what to eat.”
It is translating science into practical, compassionate, culturally meaningful care that people can actually live with in the real world.

And during Dietitians Week, I also find myself reflecting with gratitude on some incredible dietitians who have inspired me and who it has truly been a blessing and pleasure to know — Anne Swain, Maree Ferguson, Amanda Clark, Ekta Agarwal, Kim Faulkner-Hogg, Clare Collins, and Kerith Duncanson. 💚

Each of these women has contributed enormously to our profession through leadership, research, mentorship, advocacy, clinical excellence, innovation, and generosity in sharing knowledge.

Grateful to be part of a profession grounded in science, humanity, and hope.

Happy Dietitians Week to all fellow dietitians making a difference every day.

14/05/2026

“Diet doesn’t really matter with IBD.”

The number of patients who have been told this… 😅

And yet food is consistently one of the most stressful, confusing, and emotionally loaded parts of living with Crohn’s or colitis.

To be fair: nutrition is not a replacement for medication or medical care. That part is important. 🩺

But structured, evidence-based dietary support can make a real difference to nutrient status, energy, gut comfort, flare recovery, growth in younger patients, and confidence around eating day to day. 🌿

The gap is not that diet does not matter. It is that most people are navigating the food piece alone, with conflicting online advice and no personalised framework to work from.

That is exactly what IBD nutrition support is designed to fix. 💛

Comment WAITLIST below to join the Thrive with IBD waitlist and get the structured, evidence-based support you have actually been looking for. 👇

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