Tasty&Healthy
A whole-food dietary approach designed to reduce intestinal inflammation and support remission in individuals with Crohn’s disease.
About the Tasty&Healthy Diet
The guiding principle of this diet is to strictly avoid ingredients associated with the development of inflammation, while allowing all other natural foods to be consumed freely and without limitation according to individual preferences. Excluded foods include processed and industrialized foods, animal fats, and gluten. Fresh, whole foods, including vegetables, fruits, legumes, rice, gluten-free grains, eggs, poultry, seafood and fish are encouraged. With a wide range of flavorful, practical meal options, Tasty&Healthy is designed to support gut health and help manage Crohn’s disease.
Although still an emerging dietary approach, early research is promising. Clinical remission was achieved in 67% of children and young adults with mild-moderate Crohn’s disease following the diet.1 Intestinal healing was demonstrated by bowel ultrasound improvements in 86% of patients and video capsule endoscopy improvements in 61% of patients.4
What Does the Research Show?
The Tasty&Healthy diet is supported by randomized controlled studies (TASTI-MM and TASTI-E), and mechanistic metabolomic analyses.
Research demonstrates that the diet:
- Achieves clinical remission with similar efficacy to EEN (the gold standard for inducing remission) with higher tolerability and adherence1
- Improves clinical symptoms and inflammatory markers1,2
- Enhances gut microbiome-related metabolites1
- May promote mucosal healing4
While research continues to evolve, current evidence suggests this diet is a promising whole-food therapeutic option for Crohn’s disease.
Figure 1: Effectiveness outcomes throughout the follow-up period for both EEN and Tasty&Healthy intervention groups. Demonstrates improvement in fecal calprotectin, the key marker of gut inflammation, in both groups. 1
Tasty&Healthy Phases
The diet is structured into phases to induce and maintain remission:
Induction Phase (8 weeks)
Strictly adhere to the dietary guidelines, avoiding all processed foods, gluten, deep-fried foods, animal fats and dairy (except natural yogurt) to achieve remission.
Maintenance Phase (9 weeks and beyond)
Those who have achieved remission after the initial eight weeks can begin to gradually expand their diet. Crucially, processed foods remain completely prohibited even during this phase.
- First, patients can attempt to reintroduce gluten (mainly whole spelt, barley, rye and oats) for 4 weeks. Test calprotectin at 4 weeks to evaluate.
- Next, patients can attempt to reintroduce dairy for another 4 weeks.
Calprotectin should be tested after the addition of gluten and dairy. Reintroductions should proceed every 4 weeks under the guidance of a dietitian, who can advise on next steps based on inflammation markers and symptoms.
The "MyTasty” study showed that many participants (55%) reintroduced gluten and dairy without increasing inflammation (measured by calprotectin). If calprotectin increased by more than 30%, the food was re-excluded. In>90% of cases, the inflammation subsided.3
Implementing the Tasty&Healthy Diet
To successfully implement the diet, you must differentiate between allowed whole foods and restricted inflammatory ingredients. The following is a general overview of foods included and restricted in Phase 1 of the diet. This is not a complete guide and should not replace individualized medical advice.
This diet must be accompanied by a personalized dietitian to ensure a balanced intake of calories, proteins, vitamins, and minerals (such as calcium), and to make adjustments like temporarily reducing fiber if abdominal pain occurs.
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Foods to Include:
Eat freely a variety of foods not on the "restricted" list. For example:
- Vegetables and Fruits: All types, including starchy vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes) and natural fruit juices
- Proteins: Fresh poultry, fish, seafood, and one egg per day. Natural yogurt (preferably probiotic) is the only dairy allowed
- Grains and Legumes: Gluten-free grains (such as rice, corn, quinoa, buckwheat, teff, millet, amaranth) and all legumes (such as lentils, soybeans, beans, chickpeas, peas)
- Pantry Staples: Single-ingredient gluten-free flours, all types of raw nuts and seeds, natural spices, vegetable oils (preferably olive or canola), and natural coffee/tea. Any packaged food containing only a single, unprocessed natural ingredient is permitted
Foods to Restrict:
- Processed and Packaged Foods: Anything containing industrial additives like preservatives, emulsifiers, and stabilizers (e.g., snacks, sweets, canned goods, sauces, commercial baked goods)
- Animal Fats: Red meat, butter, and all cheese
- Deep-Fried Foods: Deep frying is prohibited, though light sautéing or steaming is allowed
- Gluten: Wheat, barley, rye, and spelt must be avoided
- Additives: It is highly recommended to avoid or strictly limit salt, sugar, honey, and alcohol.
References
- Frutkoff YA, Plotkin L, Pollak D, Livovsky J, Focht G, Lev-Tzion R, Ledder O, Assa A, Yogev D, Orlanski-Meyer E, Broide E, Kierkuś J, Kang B, Weiss B, Aloi M, Schwerd T, Shouval DS, Bramuzzo M, Griffiths AM, Yassour M, Turner D. Whole food diet induces remission in children and young adults with mild-moderate Crohn's disease and is more tolerable than exclusive enteral nutrition: a randomized controlled trial. Gastroenterology. 2025 Jun 17:S0016-5085(25)00896-0. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2025.06.011. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40553742.
- L. Plotkin, Y. Aharoni Frutkoff, Z. Shavit, G. Focht, J. Livovsky, R. Buchuk, R. Lev-Zion, R. Sigall Boneh, B. Weiss, M. Slae, I. Dotan, L. Godny, J. Kierkuś, M. Matuszczyk, E. Broide, G. Moshe, A. Griffiths, I. Martincevic, T. Naftali, L. Abramas, M. Aloi, R. Mercurio, A. Yerushalmy-Feler, T. Schwerd, E. Crowley, R. Reifen, D. Turner. Fecal calprotectin response to Tasty&Healthy dietary intervention in asymptomatic children and young adults with biologically active Crohn’s disease: results of the “TASTI-E” randomized controlled trial (P1059). J Crohn Colitis 2025; 19 (S1):i1952
- L. Plotkin, Y. Aharoni Frutkoff, Z. Shavit, G. Focht, J. Livovsky, R. Buchuk, R. Lev-Zion, O. Ledder, A. Assa, R. Sigall Boneh, B. Weiss, M. Slae, I. Dotan, J. Kierkuś, E. Broide, A. Griffiths, T. Naftali, M. Aloi, A. Yerushalmy-Feler, T. Schwerd, R. Reifen, D. Turner. Personalized Tasty&Healthy whole-food diet for maintaining remission in children and adults with Crohn’s disease: results from the MyTasty open-label trial (P1093). J Crohn Colitis 2025; 19 (S1):i2009
- L Plotkin, Y Aharoni-Frutkoff, Z Shavit, G Focht, J Livovsky, R Lev Zion, O Ledder, R Cytter- Kuint, E Zharkov, E Broide, A Assa, R Sigall-Boneh, B Weiss, M Slae, I Dotan, L Godny, J Kierkuś, A Griffiths, T Naftali, M Aloi, A Yerushalmy-Feler, T Schwerd, R Reifen, D Turner, Tasty & Healthy, P0951 An exclusive whole-food Tasty&Healthy diet induces endoscopic and radiological healing in Crohn’s disease when used as maintenance treatment: results from the MyTasty clinical trial, Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, Volume 20, Issue Supplement_1, January 2026, jjaf231.1132, https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjaf231.1132
Tasty&Healthy Research Articles
Delicious and Nutritious Recipes
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