Low-Residue Diet for Ulcerative Colitis: Could It Help?
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Low-Residue Diet for Ulcerative Colitis: Could It Help?

Low-Residue Diet for Ulcerative Colitis: Could It Help?
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Updated on October 9, 2025
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Severe flare-ups are one of the greatest challenges of living with ulcerative colitis (UC). One option to try alongside your usual treatments is a low-residue diet.

It’s meant to reduce the amount of dietary fiber and “residue” — undigested remains of fiber and other foods that contribute to colonic waste — that go through your digestive system and irritate your bowel.

While the terms “low-residue” and “low-fiber” are often used interchangeably, they have different meanings. Low-fiber diets limit foods that are high in fiber — such as fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds — while allowing for fiber-free foods such as dairy products. There are several types of low-residue diets, but in general, they tend to limit dairy along with high-fiber foods and whole grains.

Although no diet can cure UC, a low-residue diet may help reduce your most stressful symptoms of UC, such as abdominal pain and cramping. A low-residue diet isn’t meant to be a long–term eating plan, and it’s only intended as a supplement to standard UC treatments. But it can help your bowel heal during active flares of this inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Before you start a low-residue diet, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian if it’s right for you. Also ask how long you should stay on the diet and whether you should take a supplement to meet all of your vitamin and mineral needs, both while you’re on the diet and on other days.

Can a Low-Residue Diet Ease UC Symptoms?

Ira Breite, MD, a gastroenterologist at Mount Sinai Health System, explains how a low-residue diet can ease ulcerative colitis symptoms.
Can a Low-Residue Diet Ease UC Symptoms?

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How a Low-Residue Diet Could Help Manage Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms

“One reason people with an active flare of colitis go on a low-residue diet is to reduce symptoms in addition to trying to treat them,” says David T. Rubin, MD, the Joseph B. Kirsner professor of medicine and chief of the section of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at The University of Chicago Medicine. “It helps to heal the bowel by reducing the amount of indigestible or poorly digestible fibers. This will reduce trauma to the bowel and, therefore, allow the bowel to heal.”

But Dr. Rubin cautions that dietary changes won’t cure or treat UC. Rather, a low-residue diet can be a supportive tool alongside your prescribed medications to help reduce existing inflammation, calm symptoms, and decrease further irritation.

“Symptom management is not the same as disease control,” says Rubin. Diet alone isn’t enough to put UC in remission.

He adds that your diet must take into account your body’s nutritional needs. Long-term use of restrictive diets, such as the low-residue diet, can raise the risk of a nutrient deficiency. That happens when you don’t get enough of the nutrients that your body needs for daily functioning.

What to Avoid On a Low-Residue Diet

As mentioned, a low-residue diet limits the amount of indigestible or hard-to-digest fiber and foods to reduce the amount of residue that enters your large intestine. This type of diet can be restrictive. So, if your doctor gives you the go-ahead to follow it, be sure to do so in moderation and only when you’re having a UC flare.

“Elimination diets don’t work,” Rubin sats. “People can avoid certain foods when they are actively flaring, but not chronically. The goal is to provide a healthy and enjoyable quality of life for patients.”

Rubin urges people to work with their physicians to make sure they get the nutrition they need while they limit or avoid foods that make the bowel work harder, such as:

  • Beans and legumes
  • Whole grains
  • Most raw fruits and vegetables
  • Nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and other foods with hulls, like corn
Low-residue diets also have you limit or avoid other foods that contribute to stool weight, such as tough meats with gristle (cartilage) and more than 2 cups of dairy products a day.

What to Eat on a Low-Residue Diet

Put together low-residue meals from these food groups:

  • Cooked Vegetables You can include veggies like carrots, eggplant, beets, cucumbers, and mushrooms as long as they are thoroughly cooked. You can also drink juices made from these vegetables.
  • Refined Grains You can have white bread, rice, and dry cereals containing less than 2 grams (g) of fiber per serving on a low-residue diet.
  • Cooked, Canned, or Peeled Fruits Without Seeds Bananas and cantaloupe (without seeds) are okay to eat on a low-residue diet. You can include juices without pulp and fruit sauces, like applesauce. But try to avoid most raw fruits.
  • Lean Protein Most meats, fish, and eggs are good sources of lean protein on a low residue diet.

The Takeaway

  • A low-residue diet may help ease symptoms like cramping and abdominal pain during an active ulcerative colitis (UC) flare.
  • This diet is a short-term way to give your bowel time to heal. It’s not intended for long-term use, as it can lead to nutrient deficiencies.
  • While helpful for managing symptoms, a low-residue diet does not treat the underlying inflammation of UC. So, be sure to follow it while you keep taking your prescribed treatments.
  • Before starting any restrictive diet, talk with your doctor or a registered dietitian to make sure you’re meeting your nutritional needs.

Resources We Trust

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.
Resources
  1. Sorathia AZ et al. Low Residue Diet. StatPearls. April 24, 2023.
  2. Low Residue Diet. Gastrointestinal Society and Canadian Society of Intestinal Research. 2013.
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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 patients and helps run an ambulatory surgery center.

Dr. Breite divides his time between technical procedures, reading about new topics, and helping patients with some of their most intimate problems. He finds the deepest fulfillment in the long-term relationships he develops and is thrilled when a patient with irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease improves on the regimen he worked with them to create.

Breite went to Albert Einstein College of Medicine for medical school, followed by a residency at NYU and Bellevue Hospital and a gastroenterology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Working in city hospitals helped him become resourceful and taught him how to interact with people from different backgrounds.

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Jennifer Warner

Jennifer Warner

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Jennifer Warner is an experienced freelance health and wellness writer who has been published in WebMD, Time, HealthDay News, HealthAdvisor, Entertainment Weekly, and more. She is a strategic advisor for New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs. She was previously a writer and editor at WebMD and a senior editor for the Mayo Clinic. She has international experience creating online, print, and television stories for all types of media. She is based in Wellington, New Zealand.

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