Everybody get lo, lo, lo, LOFFLEX

I never saw a dietician during my first hospital stay and that definitely played a part in not only why I was re-admitted, but also my ignorance around how important food is to this disease. I kinda just assumed I could carry on as I was so did when I went home. I think my first dinner out of hospital was a LOT of Pizza Hut...

WRONG!!! OHHH BOY WAS I WRONG. 

On re-admission I did see a dietician I was put on an "elemental diet" which, it turns out, is a really nice doctor-y way of saying "I'm going to shove a fucking tube up your nose and pump some yellow gunk into you for 20 hours a day". This was obviously done for lots of good and valid medical reasons, and is necessary for me to gain the nutrients I need to recover, its just harder to appreciate when its some foul looking, smelling and tasting concoction is being dribbled into your stomach.

Mmmmm delicious...

Anyway enough on that stuff, after being discharged I will be starting on the LOFFLEX diet developed by Professor John Hunter. 
The idea is essentially a very strict list of initially approved foods forming a base diet, to which you slowly re-introduce other food/ingredients one by one to test your system and see if they aggravate your Crohn's to keep track of "safe" food.
I'm becoming very quickly obsessed with this diet so this may turn in to a weird food blog that most people wont want or need to try to follow as I try and battle my way through the re-intro list.

It sounds like boring food when you read through what is allowed at first, but actually it doesn't all seem so bad when you look at the special LOFFLEX recipes however, check out the sweet selection I can chow down on right away below, and this is BEFORE I can add eggs, dairy, pork or even bread back into the mix to really kick things off.

CARROT CAKE!!

Shrimp & Avocado Salad

Roast Garlic & Rosemary Potatoes

Paella

I've always been a fussy eater, so food never really came into my mind when I was first diagnosed despite it being the first thing people ask about when they hear "Crohn's".
The one good thing that will come out of this diagnosis is that now I have truly experienced not having any flavours, textures or tastes for so long, I will have a much more open mind when it comes to food.
Please read the previous sentence as: I'm going to stop being such a picky little bitch and try more stuff.

In all seriousness, I do already look at food in a different way and can all of a sudden see I've been missing out. Im also going to HAVE to learn how to cook, which will be useful to keep myself from dying when I do actually grow up. 

Im genuinely really looking forward to it all.

Me, me, me, me, me!

It shocked me to find out that I have absolutely nothing to say that isn't related to this goddamn disease recently. I've become such a self-centred bore for example that my best mate was over from America where he now lives and not only did I TOTALLY forget he was still in the same country as me for once, after he reminded me and asked if he could come visit the best conversation

Bro... I'm so swoll

When they start you on steroids and fluids they always mention the throwaway line "oh these things will cause some swelling"...PAH what an understatement!!!

Im sure its just because of the amount of these things in my system (5 weeks of both by this point) but the most traumatic and painful night of my hospital stay was down to some intense swelling.

It starts off small, normally with jokes about cankles from my Dad or just having a puffy face and hands. 

Food, glorious (banned) food

So the nasal feeding tube has pretty much been my only source of nutrition (after a week the dietician let me also have plain jacket potatoes as well... WOOHOO), but this means I've become obsessed with food in 2 very different ways:

1. Seriously studying and learning the strict LOFFLEX diet that I will be put on once I leave hospital (links to the diet and recipes are included on the right) to ensure that my recovery is as complete and effective as possible.
2. Voyeuristically watching every cookery show on TV possible and fantasizing about all of the delicious things I cant have. Masterchef, Great British Bake Off, daytime TV fix Chopping Block, I will watch literally anything with food in.

Mummy & Daddy Miller: The real superstars

The most important thing I have to do is give a MASSIVE shoutout to my Mum and Dad.

I'm not going to get all sappy because thats really not our style, but I genuinely don't know what I would have done over the last 2 months without them.

Either Mum or Dad have stayed overnight with me, in hospital,

How the hell did we get here?

After 25 years of living like a man-child with my parents and siblings, I decided to start my adult life out and move out of the family home. Despite my Mum's heartfelt but not totally serious (probably just 90% serious) pleas for me to stay with her forever and ever, my entire family came and moved me in to my new, shiny flat. A month in, my 26th birthday was the perfect excuse to throw a party but I'd not been feeling too great (more on that in a sec) and with the big party coming up, I decided to be an actual grown up and book my own doctors appointment.