A reader recently asked me if I could provide information on the subject of chronic illnesses and nutrition. With easy-to-implement tips, preferably without food supplements. The question is exciting and increasingly important due to the ageing population!That's why I'm happy to give you my point of view in this article.

Chronic complaints almost always have to do with the gut. That's why I'm giving you actionable strategies here to get your gut back on track with your diet. This is the most efficient way to counteract chronic conditions.

What are chronic diseases?

Chronic diseases are diseases that cannot be completely cured and last longer. Chronic diseases mostly affect older people. In other words, chronic diseases are events in the body that are long-term and persistent.

These include complaints such as asthma, hay fever, food intolerances, allergies in general, fibromyalgia, skin problems, migraines and all autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto's, lupus, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, Crohn's disease, coeliac disease or ulcerative colitis.

Now you can probably see that an incredible number of different health problems fall under the umbrella term "chronic diseases". The list includes diseases of the thyroid, intestines, skin and respiratory tract. And there are even some diseases that I haven't included that affect other regions of the body.

You may be wondering about the connection with nutrition. How can it be that I recommend a certain type of diet that is supposed to apply to all these different ailments? Everyone is different, as I always emphasize myself. Nutrition is something individual.

And yet there is a common denominator for all these complaints. Or actually two. Inflammation and the gut.

Chronic diseases: Inflammation and the gut

Even if it may be hard to believe: all of the chronic diseases listed above have to do with inflammation. All of them.

And what should you do if you have inflammation in your body? Eat anti-inflammatory foods. And so get your gut in order.

Inflammation very often originates in the gut. However, we don't usually feel it there because the outer layer of the intestine has no nerves. But that only makes the whole thing more dangerous! This is because these inflammations spread so quietly and initially unnoticed throughout the body. This is why they are also called silent inflammations.

Preventing chronic diseases through diet

I am usually met with skepticism when I say that diet is a huge part of the health puzzle. It is not just a single piece of the puzzle, but a whole area, perhaps comparable to the corner pieces and the edge. These pieces have to be put in place first before the whole inner workings can be created.

Unfortunately, with this view, I am still part of the minority that insists that nutrition is the only thing that matters. is crucial to alleviate chronic diseases.

Why are there so few of us? Probably because nutrition is not "exciting". It's not high-tech medicine with expensive gadgets, it has nothing to do with daring operations or sophisticated active ingredients. And it's not a pill that you can swallow in two seconds and that doesn't affect your life in any other way.

Nutrition involves a certain amount of effort and often requires a change in habits and lifestyle. And so it is not popular. It would be efficient - but it requires personal responsibility and initiative. And that makes it uncomfortable.



I often hear people say "I've tried everything to get my symptoms under control". However, when I then ask them how they eat, I find that they have not tried "everything"! Nutrition, the basis of metabolism, has often not been taken into account at all.

If you have never really changed your diet seriously and for long enough, then you haven't tried everything!

Then, in my opinion, you haven't even started where you should logically start. Nutrition is our foundation, everything we eat ends up in our blood and is distributed there. In other words, we are made up of what we have eaten. Or more correctly: from what we have actually digested.

And if I constantly eat things that promote inflammation, then I can't heal, no matter how much medication I take.

Medication doesn't heal anyway. They suppress and make life more bearable because symptoms disappear. But they don't heal.

Your body can heal itself if you don't constantly put it under new stress. And if you give it the nutrients it needs to repair itself.

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What diet is recommended for chronic illnesses?

Ok, ok, you've struggled through almost 800 words so far and I still haven't given you any nutrition tips. But now it's time to get specific!

Actually, my nutrition tips for people with chronic illnesses aren't all that different from the recommendations I give everyone anyway, namely:

• Eat real, genuine food and not industrially produced, food-like substances
• Drink only water and maybe a little extra coffee or tea
• No fruit juices and no zero drinks or other artificially sweetened products
• Half of your plate should consist of vegetables
• Reduce carbohydrates and sugar
• Eat only three meals a day and give your intestines and digestive organs enough time to recover between meals
• Use good fats and oils

But specifically for chronic Diseases the following recommendations are added:

• Eat more cooked vegetables instead of raw vegetables because they are easier to digest
• Preferably only two portions of fruit a day because of the sugar content
• Avoid 100 percent inflammatory foods such as wheat and cow's milk.
• Do not use oils that are rich in omega-6 fatty acids such as sunflower oil
• Make sure you consume enough omega-3 fatty acids in the form of cold-water fish and omega-3 oil, as these have a strong anti-inflammatory effect
• Ideally, you should also have a Mikrobiome analysis which, among other things, provides information on whether you have a permeable intestinal mucosa, increased histamine or too few butyrate formers
• Eat particularly slowly and chew well
• Use fermented foods such as sauerkraut, fermented carrots, kimchi or drink kombucha
• Cook yourself bone broth or buy it ready-made from a trustworthy retailer, as bone broth helps you to close your intestines again

Recommended foods for chronic illness

This is probably the most common question I get asked! The first reaction when I say you shouldn't eat croissants, bread rolls, fruit yoghurt, muesli or pizza is often panic.

That's why I'm pleased to present you with a long list of foods that you can continue to eat with a clear conscience.

As a small warning: the following list isintended for people who have not yet had a stool analysis. It could also show that you should avoid things like tomatoes, eggplants, avocado or nuts for a certain period of time. Although this will reduce the list, your symptoms will go away more quickly and your success will be much easier to plan.

List of gut-friendly foods

But let's start with the general list:

Algae, artichokes, eggplants, avocado, cauliflower, broccoli, chicory, endive, fennel, green beans, cucumbers, carrots, garlic, plantains, various types of cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, cress, various types of pumpkin, leek, lettuce (romaine lettuce), dandelion, chard, olives, pak choy, peppers, parsnips, mushrooms, radish, Brussels sprouts, beet, red cabbage, rocket, sauerkraut, salsify, celery, asparagus, spinach, sprouts, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, yams, zucchinis, onions

And that's just the vegetables!

There are also Nuts and seeds (except peanuts), fruit, pasture-raised meat (except pork), wild-caught fish (except seafood), eggs, pulses (except soya), herbs....

As you can see, the list would go on forever if I were to list everything individually. In other words, even with a chronic disease, there is a lot you can eat.

The only downside is that you have to cook for yourself or find restaurants that use high-quality food and cook without additives.

Which brings us to the next part of the reader questions: What tips can you give me for easy implementation in everyday life?

Implementation in everyday life: it's all about planning

When Roman and I change our diet (yes, we do this from time to time to try out new things), I always write a weekly plan.



This plan allows me to cook twice as much so that I have enough food for two meals. Or I can plan to cook the same vegetables several times a week so that I can reuse leftovers. Planning also helps when I'm shopping, because I then buy very specifically and need less time.

Here are a few ideas for healthy meals for people with chronic illnesses:

Coconut porridge, vegetables with smoked salmon, scrambled eggs with apple or a green smoothie for breakfast.
Pumpkin soup with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, salmon with vegetables, beet salad with nuts, cauliflower steak with hummus, chicken with coconut oil and coriander + vegetables, meat broth with vegetables and boiled meat for lunch or dinner.

You see, it's not about giving up everything that's delicious, but you can enjoy your food"even though" it's healthy!

without food supplements - or: why we think that diet alone is not always enough

The last request from the questioner was: preferably without food supplements...

I know that food supplements have a negative connotation for many people. Be it through aggressive advertising by multi-level marketing representatives, through overpriced products on the Internet, or through the sheer flood of (sometimes dubious) products that flood the market.

However, it sometimes seems to me that prescribed medications such as cortisone sprays, acid blockers or immunosuppressants are less critically scrutinized than dietary supplements. That doesn't mean that I'm against medication. Rather, I am arguing in favor of critically questioning the ingredients, side effects and economic interests behind medications as well.

In my opinion, however, there is nothing wrong with dietary supplements - especially in the area of intestinal cleansing and building up intestinal flora - if the products are of high quality. The point is: Food supplements make sense if you know what you want to support, promote or prevent in the first place!

And the thing about chronic illnesses is this: the condition is already pretty advanced, otherwise the illness wouldn't be chronic. This means that you have been suffering for a long time and the inflammation has probably been in your body for years.

This only to get under control through diet and a healthy lifestyle and to get away from possibly strong medication is not completely impossible, but unlikely. And very time-consuming.

So what can you do to support your gut

Repair is always more difficult than prevention. If nothing serious has happened yet, then a healthy diet is the best prevention. However, if there is already damage, then in my opinion there is no reason not to work with repairing food supplements such as high-quality lactic acid bacteria (probiotics), omega-3 fatty acids, prebiotics (such as acacia fibers), amino acids and possibly fermented drinks (e.g. HERBAL fermented drink).

These are tools that will get you to your destination faster and more efficiently - just like if you wanted to get from Basel to Hamburg, you would take the train, car or plane and not walk or cycle.

Are you walking to Hamburg too? Maybe yes! But maybe not, because you'll give up exhausted beforehand, you'll lose your way or you'll hurt your foot on the way.

So why not take L-glutamine or anti-inflammatory probiotics if you have an inflamed intestinal mucosa, acacia fiber (for example our acacia fiber powder GROW) if you have a butyrate deficiency and a fermented drink if your intestinal pH is too high?

Of course, there are also foods that can help you, such as homemade bone brothorfermented raw vegetables such as white cabbage or carrots. This is also best done yourself, or buy a product that has not been heated, i.e. not pasteurized. Or get yourself a kombucha mushroom or kefir pellets so that you can make your own nutritional supplement!

Chronic diseases: lifestyle is also extremely important

It's not just diet that plays a role in curing a chronic disease. It's also worth reducing stress, nurturing relationships, doing things that fulfill you and bring you joy, engaging with your emotions or getting help to reconnect with yourself.

We don't just nourish ourselves with food - and inflammation can also be facilitated by emotions such as suppressed anger, chronic stress or toxic relationships. I just wanted to get that off my chest.

Now I'm looking forward to your feedback! Were these tips helpful for you? Are you missing any information? Or would you like to tell me what has worked particularly well for you to improve your health?