Quiz: How Good Is Your Diet for Ulcerative Colitis?

How Good Is Your Diet for Ulcerative Colitis?

Not all foods are equally nourishing. Answer these questions to find out whether your diet is helping the condition or possibly making it worse.
By
Updated on June 25, 2025
by

Next up video playing in 10 seconds

How Good Is Your Diet for Ulcerative Colitis?

Rabia de Latour, MD, a gastroenterologist at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine, walks you through an assessment that can help you determine whether your diet is helping your symptoms or hurting them.

If you have ulcerative colitis (UC), you may not be able to eat everything you want, but your diet shouldn’t be strictly limited either. In fact, when you’re in remission, you should be able to eat most of the same foods as anyone else.

That said, some foods can trigger UC symptoms, particularly in people who are in the midst of a flare, according to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. Even seemingly healthy foods, such as raw vegetables, can bring on painful symptoms, such as diarrhea.

Knowing what you can and can’t eat can take a bit of trial and error. “While one person’s way of eating may work for them, it may not work well for all people with ulcerative colitis,” says David Gardinier, RD, whose specialty is inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition. Take this quiz to gauge how your food choices are affecting symptoms.

Question 1

How is your appetite?

  • A. It’s poor. Food just doesn’t appeal to me.
  • B. It’s not great. I’m hungry and want to eat, but I’m afraid it’ll trigger symptoms if I do.
  • C. My appetite is fine. I eat well and feel satisfied.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Additional Sources
Meet Our Experts
See Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network
ira-daniel-breite-bio

Ira Daniel Breite, MD

Medical Reviewer
Castle Connolly Top Doctor

Ira Daniel Breite, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He is an associate professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he also sees patien...

See full bio

Erica Patino

Author
Erica Patino is a freelance writer and editor, content strategist, and usability specialist who has worked for a variety of online health outlets, including Healthline, Sharecare, ...
See full bio

Rabia de Latour, MD

Rabia de Latour, MD, is a therapeutic endoscopist and gastroenterologist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, where she serves as the director of endoscopy and chief sustainability ...
See full bio
See Our Editorial PolicyMeet Our Health Expert Network