Now let's see...I'll use me as an example to what would give me loose stool, maybe diarrhea and severe cramping.
If I consumed cereal with milk and a banana for breakfast, whole wheat sandwich for lunch with protein shakes, oatmeal for a snack, raw veggies with yogurt dip and other stuff people here tend to eat (even the SCD)...I'd be in absolute agony!
While these foods may not bother some people, I'm writhing in pain. I know from experience that while flaring, they make me not feel well, and my discomfort would be much worse.
While not flaring, I'd have symptoms...but I'd obviously blame the food.
Once I stoped eating the foods, the next day or two (depending on how long they take to leave my butt), all symptoms such as that would stop.
All food has action in the digestive tract...that's why it's suggested we change our diets by adding/eliminating/adjusting for loose stool, IBS, constipation. But they're not going to make us flare if we're not flaring, and if we are flaring and stop them, it won't make the flare go away. Food symptoms might diminish or lessen, but the flare is still there. And some foods can certainly have our digestive systems disagreeing for various reasons.
I also need to add that for some of us, we do pick up all sorts of stuff in our foods too...bacteria, viruses, pesticides/herbicides, bugaboos from others' hands or even our own, etc. So, that shouldn't be discounted either. I'd say that a case of c.diff or salmonella or Norwalk virus (for example) could certainly bring on a flare or allow one to continue.
Another addition...if we're in an extreme agitated state and we do eat foods that might be OK, but our stress levels in our guts suck....diarrhea or loose stool can happen because of increased activity. It's certainly complicated....and for some of us, offending foods aren't flare related, per se...but if I was put on the "stand" and asked a yes or no question relating food to flares...depending on how it was diluted/worded, I might have to answer yes.
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