Frying Foods When You Have Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a disease that can affect every aspect of your life, if you let it. I have chosen to try to overcome many of the limitations that most ulcerative colitis sufferers consider to be part of having the disease. It has taken me a lot of time, a lot of creative thinking, and a lot of trial and error to discover ways to be able to eat a normal diet that includes eating "fried" foods.

Grease is one of my ulcerative colitis trigger foods. If anything that I eat is overly greasy, I am sure to be suffering from an ulcerative colitis flare up before too long. My true weaknesses are French fries and fried chicken.

When I was growing up, cooking was a major factor in our family. My grandmother was a retired home economics teacher who also did a little catering. My aunts all love to be in the kitchen. My dad and step mother were both great cooks who loved to experiment. A lot of the recipes that I use today come from the people in my family. Many of the recipes are heart healthy because heart disease runs in my family.

I try not to make foods that are fried in grease. If I do make them, I use only Canola oil or shortening because these are the most friendly oils for my ulcerative colitis. I am not sure if it will be for everyone but, those are my best options.

I usually make mock fried foods that are cooked in the oven. These are very good alternatives to deep fried foods and they are more healthy. Anytime that you are making mock fried foods, you have to make sure that your oven is fully preheated, you use a Teflon coated pan and you spray the coating that you use on the food with just a little bit of cooking spray or oil.

To make mock fried chicken, I soak the chicken in a mixture of 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. I add the spices that I want to the mixture. I marinate the chicken for at least an hour.

I preheat my oven to 450 degrees.

I use a mixture of 2 cups of corn flake crumbs and ½ a cup of flour with my spices to coat the chicken. I usually use Tony Chachere Low Sodium seasoning or Mrs. Dash.

I make sure that the chicken is fully coated in the mixture. I spray a light coating of cooking spray on the chicken. I place the chicken on a Teflon coated cookie sheet. I cook it until the juices run clear.

That recipe works for a cut up whole chicken or chicken strips. My family loves this recipe. It has very little oil so it does not cause any problems with my ulcerative colitis.

If you like deep fried foods, you can put the food in a paper bag with 2 paper towels. Shake the bag to remove excess oil. If the food still looks greasy when this is done, get a new bag and new paper towels and do it again.

It is important that you figure out what works for your ulcerative colitis. This is not a disease that has cookie cutter solutions. Every person and every situation is different. The one constant is that with a little dedication and experimentation, you can overcome many of the limitations of this disease.