Throughout my 47 years of dealing with Crohns, there have been certain things that have triggered flare ups. For obvious reasons, I've always documented those triggers. Sometimes, it's something I've eaten, other times, something I drank (more to the point, how much). Other times, it has nothing to do with what I put in my body. Stress and travel (especially when the travel includes flying) are typically automatic triggers. Well, I have a new one…golf. And I'm really pissed off.
Whenever I workout, I always wait at least an hour after the workout before eating. Never any problems, except with golf. My workouts are way more strenuous than 18 holes of golf, yet I'm fine to eat after a workout. It took me a while to figure it out. I'm always hungry after I finish a round because I never eat on the course. If you have Crohns, you know the reason for that. Even though I may be hungry, I still wait an hour before eating. Doesn't matter. As soon as I do eat, it triggers a major flare up, albeit, for a short period of time. Typically, I'm feeling better 24 hours later. Having said that, the 24 hours are really pretty bad. It's bad enough when I'm home, but, if I'm on vacation, combine the golf with the travel and it can kill the entire vacation. The last time I played golf while on vacation was August of last year. I ended up in the hospital for 5 days with an obstruction. Some vacation.
I guess the reason why it took me so long to figure it out is because I've played golf for over 40 years and it's not until the past 3 or 4 years this has occurred. Sometimes, if I push my workouts too hard, I can flare, however, golf could never be that strenuous. I couldn't figure out why golf was causing these flareups. Then it hit me. It has nothing to do with the intensity of the activity, but rather the specifics of what body part I am using to perform the activity. When I workout in the gym, I never push my core. Multiple surgeries and massive amounts of scar tissue just won't allow it. It's the golf swing itself that is the cause of the problem. Think about the amount of stress on the core while rotating through a golf swing. As I wrote that last sentence, I'm sitting here shaking my head. How the hell did it take me so long to figure that one out?
Okay, so what's the solution? Do I stop doing one of the things I love doing? HELL NO !! For 47 years I've lived my life the way I've wanted to live it. Sure, I have missed out on scheduled day trips because of being too sick, but, who hasn't. I've never given up anything I love doing and I don't plan on starting now. A big part of life is how you deal with adversity. You deal with adversity by trying to make the best out of any situation, no matter how bad it is.
The next time I play, I am only going to have my meal replacement shakes the entire day. Absolutely no food. Going to make sure and give my intestines a complete break from having to work digesting food. They will have enough to do swinging a golf club somewhere between 80-90 times.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Whenever I workout, I always wait at least an hour after the workout before eating. Never any problems, except with golf. My workouts are way more strenuous than 18 holes of golf, yet I'm fine to eat after a workout. It took me a while to figure it out. I'm always hungry after I finish a round because I never eat on the course. If you have Crohns, you know the reason for that. Even though I may be hungry, I still wait an hour before eating. Doesn't matter. As soon as I do eat, it triggers a major flare up, albeit, for a short period of time. Typically, I'm feeling better 24 hours later. Having said that, the 24 hours are really pretty bad. It's bad enough when I'm home, but, if I'm on vacation, combine the golf with the travel and it can kill the entire vacation. The last time I played golf while on vacation was August of last year. I ended up in the hospital for 5 days with an obstruction. Some vacation.
I guess the reason why it took me so long to figure it out is because I've played golf for over 40 years and it's not until the past 3 or 4 years this has occurred. Sometimes, if I push my workouts too hard, I can flare, however, golf could never be that strenuous. I couldn't figure out why golf was causing these flareups. Then it hit me. It has nothing to do with the intensity of the activity, but rather the specifics of what body part I am using to perform the activity. When I workout in the gym, I never push my core. Multiple surgeries and massive amounts of scar tissue just won't allow it. It's the golf swing itself that is the cause of the problem. Think about the amount of stress on the core while rotating through a golf swing. As I wrote that last sentence, I'm sitting here shaking my head. How the hell did it take me so long to figure that one out?
The next time I play, I am only going to have my meal replacement shakes the entire day. Absolutely no food. Going to make sure and give my intestines a complete break from having to work digesting food. They will have enough to do swinging a golf club somewhere between 80-90 times.
I'll let you know how it goes.
