Food triggers are personal
Trusted medical information
There is no single IBD diet that works for everyone. Tracking meals and symptoms can help people notice patterns to discuss with a doctor or registered dietitian.
Health Technology Prototype
A calmer starting point for life after an IBD diagnosis.
IBD Life Starter is a website prototype for people recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. The concept grew from Health and Design System Integration Lab work focused on auto-aggregating web resources into a clearer, more useful support experience.
Important note:
This website is for education and support only. It is not medical advice.
Always talk to a gastroenterologist, doctor, or registered dietitian before
making medical, diet, or medication decisions.
Start here
A new IBD diagnosis can feel confusing. This page is designed to organize early lifestyle questions into simple sections that help users understand daily adjustment without replacing medical guidance.
What is IBD?
Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, mainly includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. A first step after diagnosis is learning the basics and understanding what type of IBD someone has.
Medical foundationQuestions for your doctor
Newly diagnosed patients may want to ask about their IBD type, treatment options, symptoms to watch for, diet concerns, and when to seek urgent care.
Doctor visit guideAdjustment takes time
Food, routines, symptoms, stress, and support systems can all change after diagnosis. This guide is meant to make that transition feel more organized and less overwhelming.
Lifestyle supportFood
Food is one of the first lifestyle questions many people have after an IBD diagnosis. This section avoids strict diet rules and instead emphasizes that food tolerance can vary from person to person.
Eating during flares
Needs medical guidance
During flare-ups, some people may need temporary food changes. The right approach depends on symptoms, nutrition needs, and medical guidance.
Future tools
Later versions could turn researched information into simple tools that help users prepare for appointments, track patterns, and make daily life easier.
- Food and symptom journal template
- Questions to ask a registered dietitian
- Eating out guide
- Flare-friendly meal planning notes
- Patient experience themes about food trial and error
Travel and daily life
This section focuses on practical support for being away from home, managing uncertainty, and making daily life feel less restrictive.
Plan before long trips
Traveling with IBD can feel easier when users plan ahead, pack extra medication, and think through food, bathroom, and symptom concerns before leaving.
Lifestyle guideEmergency kit idea
Many people with IBD say that carrying an emergency kit helps them feel more prepared away from home. Common items may include wipes, extra underwear, hand sanitizer, and plastic bags.
Patient experienceBathroom anxiety
People with IBD may feel nervous about being far from a bathroom. This project can organize coping ideas while clearly separating patient experience from medical advice.
Daily life supportData pipeline concept
The long-term version of this project would auto-aggregate public information from approved web resources, organize it into a spreadsheet database, review it for safety and usefulness, and display approved summaries on this page.
1. Collect trusted sources first
Medical foundation
Step 1
- Start with sources like Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, Mayo Clinic, NHS, and Cleveland Clinic
- Use these for definitions, diagnosis support, nutrition, and doctor questions
2. Aggregate and organize research notes
Web resource pipeline
Step 2
- Run a local scraper to collect useful text from approved public web resources
- Store source title, URL, topic, source type, raw text, summary, and safety flag in Excel
3. Review before publishing
Safety and trust
Step 3
- Only reviewed summaries should be exported to the website
- Patient stories should be labeled as experience, not medical advice
- The prototype served as the basis for an R21 NIH application concept
Resources
These sources can form the foundation for the website's medical and educational content.
Crohn's and Colitis Foundation:
crohnscolitisfoundation.org
Mayo Clinic IBD Overview:
mayoclinic.org
NHS IBD Overview:
nhs.uk
Cleveland Clinic IBD Overview:
clevelandclinic.org
About this project
IBD Life Starter is an early prototype for a larger lifestyle resource. Future versions could include researched summaries, travel checklists, food and symptom tracking templates, and organized patient experience themes from public online sources.
The project is meant to show health-focused design, ethical research use, source organization, and a practical content pipeline connected to HDSI Lab work.