This is my personal account of how I healed my severe ulcerative colitis, naturally and without medication, and have maintained remission for well over a decade.
Using the ideas and practices in this post, I’ve gone from severe ulcerative colitis in 2004 to full health today, in 2024.
I’ve maintained remission for over a decade now without medication.
I’ve never used a biologic.
I use no medication for ulcerative colitis other than medical marijuana that’s legally available to me here in Connecticut.
I describe the role dietary template, food quality, lifestyle, medical marijuana and deeper spiritual healing have played in healing my ulcerative colitis and maintaining remission.
Keep reading to learn how I healed my ulcerative colitis and how you can apply the lessons I’ve learned over 20 years of healing to your own health journey.
Here’s How I Healed My Ulcerative Colitis
I successfully healed my ulcerative colitis naturally with a strictly followed Paleo diet variation for autoimmune disease, significant lifestyle modifications and intelligent medical marijuana use.
Self-care with restorative yoga, intelligent fitness training, meditation and emotional healing work round out my healing practice for ulcerative colitis.
I wasn’t always this healthy or this successful relative to ulcerative colitis. There were some very, very dark times along the way.
This is my full story of healing my ulcerative colitis…
Diet Has Nothing to Do with It?!?
My early visits to doctors and GIs for UC were nothing less than traumatic and entirely discouraging.
Diet has nothing to do with healing ulcerative colitis?!?!? WTF?
The first of many shocks I was in for back in 2004 was this idea that diet has nothing to do with ulcerative colitis.
Huh?
Some doctors still say this and believe this today, but nowhere near as many as did back in 2004.
Back then, in 2004, it was like the dark ages for gastrointestinal medicine and ulcerative colitis treatment in particular.
For me – so sick with severe ulcerative colitis in those early years – it was like a thick, impenetrable wall of denial with the medical professionals. They’d just get all emotionally reactive and angry when I brought up diet relative to healing ulcerative colitis.
“Diet has nothing to do with ulcerative colitis. There’s no known cause and no cure for UC. All we can do is manage your disease with medications and surgery.”
Over and over again, that’s what I had to hear from one doctor after another.
The only medication that worked for me back then for UC was prednisone.
Biologics weren’t widely available or prescribed for UC in the early and mid-2000s yet.
I knew long-term prednisone wasn’t an option for me, and that’s what they were pushing on me – high-dose prednisone for life.
I eventually checked out of the medical system and spent about 10 years not even seeing a doctor.
I took my life and my hands and took a lot of risks.
I did a lot of experiments.
I also ended up in the hospital a bunch of times.
Ulcerative colitis is no joke. It can get out of hand very quickly. Things can get dangerous and even life-threatening fast.
I was determined to heal my ulcerative colitis with food. I knew diet was a major factor in health and athletic performance. How could it not influence health relative to an illness like ulcerative colitis?
The Mainstream Medical Model for Treating UC
Ultimately, the mainstream medical model for treating ulcerative colitis is symptom management.
The immune system is out of control so we medicate it down with powerful medications with major side effects.
Never looking at food or diet or lifestyle.
When medical professionals do get into diet on some level, it’s never the right diet.
It’s very basic information that’s mainstream and simple and even misinformed, if well-meaning.
Much of the nutrition and dietary information you get from the medical establishment relative to UC is highly influenced by commercial interests. It’s certainly not focused on optimal health or natural healing of ulcerative colitis.
When symptoms and flare-ups persist, they add new medications. When that fails, they recommend surgery.
No thank you.
Biologic Medications for Ulcerative Colitis
Thankfully, way back in 2004 when I was originally diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis, biologic medications like Humira or Entyvio didn’t exist. Even Remicade was in very limited use for only the most extreme cases of Crohn’s disease.
All I ever used for UC was prednisone and different mesalamine drugs.
The prednisone worked but the side effects were way too much – especially the depression and mood disturbances – and the mesalamine drugs like Asacol or sulfasalazine didn’t do much of anything at all.
I remember a guy at work had a brother with Crohn’s disease who had been on Remicade for a while – rare back then and only because his Crohn’s was so bad.
He was really struggling with serious side effects from the medication and the disease was still progressing.
Thankfully, I had ulcerative colitis early enough that I remember a time without biologics. I didn’t have to deal with a doctor pushing them on me.
I’ve never used or even considered using a biologic for ulcerative colitis.
By the time biologics came into common use for UC, I had already healed my ulcerative colitis naturally.
Biologics are No Real Answer for Ulcerative Colitis
I have talked to a decent number of people with ulcerative colitis who are on one or more biologic medications for UC and still flaring.
I’ve talked to people on a biologic and high-dose prednisone who are still flaring.
I’ve talked to people who keep having to change biologics because they develop anti-bodies to every biologic they try sooner or later.
Unfortunately, these people are usually the least likely to want to make even rudimentary diet changes.
Biologics are not a panacea for ulcerative colitis.
They are not always effective or well-tolerated by people with UC.
My Early Years Healing Ulcerative Colitis Naturally – Darkness and Confusion
I knew prednisone wasn’t going to be any kind of a long-term option for me. I had one GI who basically wanted me on high-dose prednisone forever.
I knew I needed to avoid medication – and likely doctors – and heal ulcerative colitis naturally.
Ultimately I spent a bunch of years – from 2004 to 2009 – trying different diets and experiments and supplements and healers and coaches.
Virtually nothing worked. Most things made me sicker.
I’d try this or that or get involved with some high-priced naturopath or healer.
Eventually whatever I was doing wouldn’t work.
Several times, I got into a flare-up because of a practitioner’s approach, diet or supplement prescriptions.
I ended up in the emergency room a bunch of times with severe intestinal inflammation, bloody diarrhea, anemia and dehydration.
Or the healer I’d been paying and following and trusting would just abandon me and stop returning calls.
I’d end up in another flare-up and on my own again.
I almost died a few times.
I’d keep going and experimenting.
I’d heal the flare-up myself and move on.
Naturopaths and Alternative Healers
When you’ve been diagnosed with UC and want to avoid medication and an ever-worsening quality of life, the basic naturopath or alternative practitioner is usually one of the first stops.
These practitioners are virtually always unsuccessful with healing ulcerative colitis.
They’ve rarely had it themselves and don’t know how to heal it.
Diets from most holistic practitioners are generally not restrictive enough and there’s a massive over-reliance on nutritional supplements and alternative treatments.
Make no mistake, high-priced nutritional supplements and lots of return visits to the office are the major profit drivers for alternative practitioners of all kinds.
My family and I spent a fortune on all kinds of naturopaths and healers in the early years.
Nothing worked and many alternative treatments and diets made me sicker.
Generalists Generally Don’t Help Anyone
Alternative healers and naturopaths who treat a broad range of problems are generally not experienced enough with the nuanced variables of healing ulcerative colitis, the role of diet or how to deal with a flare-up effectively.
I Tried Every Supplement Known for Healing Ulcerative Colitis
This goes along with the above.
Most nutritional supplements won’t do anything for healing ulcerative colitis – especially without a proper diet in place.
A few dietary supplements have specific application once a strict Paleo-AIP diet is well in place and consistently implemented – but supplements are not the first line of healing for ulcerative colitis or a UC flare-up.
I spent a number of years working at a Vitamin World store here in Wesbrook, CT. This was before the internet in the mid-1990s.
I already knew a lot about supplements and herbs and was pretty advanced with them from years of working in that industry.
Like most everyone else who gets a UC diagnosis, my first stop was natural vitamins, nutritional supplements and herbs.
The problem is, with ulcerative colitis, the body doesn’t need more of most things.
It needs less, less, less.
In a moderate to severe flare-up, you likely need to do a reasonable amount of fasting to heal.
Most supplements don’t do anything for UC and will increase stomach and digestive discomfort. Particularly when the disease is really active, flaring or getting ready to flare.
In a flare-up now? Read Healing Ulcerative Colitis Flare-Ups and start healing!
Can You Heal Ulcerative Colitis with Diet?
Yes. Yes you can.
I healed my ulcerative colitis with diet, primarily.
At least 80-90% of how I healed my ulcerative colitis was with diet.
A strict, long-term, consistent Paleo autoimmune protocol diet (Paleo-AIP).
There’s a lot more than diet to healing ulcerative colitis.
That other 10-20% is a very long-term project.
Just doing “the right diet” isn’t going to get you all the way there when it comes to healing ulcerative colitis naturally.
There’s a lot of nuance in achieving that last few percent and getting to full healing of ulcerative colitis.
Managing Ulcerative Colitis vs. Healing Ulcerative Colitis
Important to understand when discussing healing ulcerative colitis with diet is the difference between managing ulcerative colitis and healing ulcerative colitis.
Too often people with ulcerative colitis are managing their way through the day and through their lives.
They haven’t healed ulcerative colitis.
It’s a tenuous “healing” or “remission” that really isn’t.
There’s a big difference between managing ulcerative colitis and healing ulcerative colitis and actually being free of it. Forever.
No more fear of flare-ups, no more checking the toilet for stool quality and blood.
Most people with ulcerative colitis don’t know how good they can feel and how much healing of ulcerative colitis is possible on the right diet and lifestyle plan.
Want to learn all the diet, lifestyle and spiritual practices required to heal ulcerative colitis naturally? Download the FREE 76-page guide The Illustrated Roadmap for Healing Ulcerative Colitis!
Diet, Diet, Diet
Diet will be the major driver of healing when it comes to ulcerative colitis. Make no mistake about it.
Diet is central to healing ulcerative colitis and thriving in your life again.
Food Experiments and Early Diets and Failures
One of the first naturopaths I saw did some body testing, sold me some probiotics and gave me a gluten-free chocolate cake recipe. While I was having bloody diarrhea 30 times a day, had lost 40 pounds and was malnourished to the point of my hair falling out.
I also saw a naturopath who had a Paleo-ish approach. It unfortunately included dairy in the form of raw cow’s milk yogurt. There were also eggs in this diet. It kept me sick and eventually led me to the ER.
All while the naturopath refused to answer my questions on the phone and demanded I come in for a paid visit on his next available day.
I almost died in the emergency room that night.
I never went back to that a$$h@le.
So many times I was on a diet that really was the “right” diet to heal my ulcerative colitis but for one or two highly problematic foods that would always prevent full healing.
Vegetarian and Vegan
A vegetarian diet can be somewhat effective for ulcerative colitis, depending on what the diet is composed of.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of vegetarian diets will include grains, nuts and seeds, dairy and possibly even eggs.
Most vegetarian diets have a reliance on beans and legumes and rice and soy products to keep protein and calories up.
Vegan is the same and worse, relative to protein content and quality as well as inclusion of inflammatory foods like beans, nuts and seeds.
The meat or no-meat argument has been around for well over 100 years at this point.
It’s highly politicized.
You may be having an emotional reaction to this section right now.
I’m sorry, but vegan and vegetarian diets don’t work for ulcerative colitis due, in part, to too many inflammatory foods as foundational foods in those diets.
Vegan and vegetarian diets also lack the animal fat and protein required to truly heal ulcerative colitis.
So, vegan and vegetarian diets are out for healing ulcerative colitis because of the inclusion of inflammatory food categories and exclusion of healthy fats and proteins from clean, well-raised and fed animals.
I’m firmly in the Paleo, meat-based camp for basic human health as well as healing ulcerative colitis.
A strict Paleo-AIP diet with clean, local, well-raised meat was a big part of how I healed my ulcerative colitis.
Raw Vegan and Healing UC
For similar reasons to the above, raw vegan doesn’t work for healing ulcerative colitis either.
Though, because a raw vegan diet is so restrictive, it can have some detox and healing benefits for a limited period of time.
Raw vegan will have some limited efficacy for healing ulcerative colitis in the short term.
If you adopt raw vegan and remove eggs, grains, dairy and processed food from your diet all at once, you will likely feel a lot better relative to ulcerative colitis pretty quickly.
Raw vegan removes a number of problematic, inflammatory and neolithic foods and ulcerative colitis will usually respond well to it in the short and medium term.
Raw vegan was one of the very first diets I tried for healing ulcerative colitis and my first UC diet coach was a raw vegan author.
You can achieve a limited, short-term healing with raw vegan relative to ulcerative colitis.
Unfortunately, the long-term shortage of calories, animal fats and proteins makes a raw vegan diet more a form of long, slow starvation rather than a method of nourishment.
Raw vegan also has a massively high failure rate.
It’s a cold, bleak existence living on fruit and green smoothies. I was constantly starving and craving fat, no matter how many avocados I ate. I was always cold. Most raw vegan authors seem to live in warm and sunny southern California. Coincidence?
Raw vegan is really not a long-term, sustainable diet for anyone, let alone someone with ulcerative colitis, though it will have some short-term healing and detox benefits.
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet
This is the old standby diet known for healing or managing ulcerative colitis. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is based on the book by Elaine Gottschall, Breaking the Vicious Cycle.
A family friend gave me this book as a gift when I first got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is a very complex and convoluted diet.
It includes dairy in the form of yogurt and some types of cheeses. It has nuts and a number of other problematic foods.
Just the dairy is enough to nuke this diet. But the added complexity of the diet itself makes it hard to follow and hard to stick to.
Even if you can stick to it, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet won’t deliver the promised healing of ulcerative colitis. It doesn’t remove the right foods and is flawed in principle.
Complicated Diets Don’t Get Followed for Long
As a side note, these hyper-challenging diets with all kinds of rules can become a trap themselves.
Because they’re nearly impossible to implement fully and 100% of the time, someone with ulcerative colitis will assume that lack of the perfect implementation has kept them from full healing of UC and double down on the diet.
This ends up being more wasted time and energy that could be put into actually healing ulcerative colitis.
Is Juicing Good for Ulcerative Colitis?
Juicing is another one of these go-to practices for ulcerative colitis that floats around the internet. It was floating around books long before the internet.
The logic is that the fresh juices are all nutrition with no fiber or digestive burden.
There is truth to this.
But I spent thousands on the best organic fruits and vegetables for years and ran them through my high-priced Omega juicer daily.
I threw away a lot of fiber, had a lot of diarrhea from massive doses of fruit juice and never healed my ulcerative colitis using fresh juices.
Sometimes, I think the juice brought on a flare-up.
I no longer juice or own a juicer and haven’t for a very, very long time.
Juice sparingly if you’re into it, but juicing fruits and vegetables won’t do anything to heal ulcerative colitis.
Raw and Fermented Dairy
Raw and fermented dairy has a small but fanatical following in some healing circles. This can be raw cow milk, yogurt and kefir, raw goat milk, yogurt and kefir and other, more exotic milks like kangaroo, camel and sheep’s milk.
There’s also the argument about the proteins in the milk from the different types of cow and the difference in autoimmune stimulation between milk from Holstein and Jersey cows.
The type of dairy doesn’t matter, the bacteria you ferment with doesn’t matter, the type of beverage you make doesn’t matter.
Milk, yogurt and kefir are not helpful for ulcerative colitis and, in my two decades of personal and coaching experience with UC, sooner or later all dairy ends up in a flare-up.
Avoid all dairy, milk, cheeses, kefir and yogurt if you intend to fully heal ulcerative colitis.
Fasting and Intermittent Fasting
Fasting for longer periods as well as shorter fasts, known as intermittent fasting, can be helpful for ulcerative colitis.
The fasts give the digestive tract time to rest and heal – it actually heals quite quickly during fasting – and the absence of food means the autoimmune system can start to calm down as well.
With fasting, a plan for reintroducing solid food is a must.
There’s also the issue of weight loss. Ulcerative colitis is usually accompanied by weight loss. Sometimes significant weight loss.
The body generally can’t tolerate a lot of fasting with UC.
I still use an intermittent fasting eating template most of the time. I also use intermittent and longer fasts with clients with good results.
Especially in flare-ups.
In a flare-up right now? Read my post Healing Ulcerative Colitis Flare-Ups.
Fasting can be effective for ulcerative colitis, but it’s an advanced technique with risks, idiosyncrasies and nuances.
Fasting for UC is not for the inexperienced and shouldn’t be attempted without an experienced coach.
Paleo Is Almost There for Healing Ulcerative Colitis
The Paleo Diet, as well as the accompanying theoretical framework, is the basis for healing ulcerative colitis.
Everything I did in healing my own ulcerative colitis and everything I teach my coaching clients with ulcerative colitis is informed by a Paleo or Evolutionary worldview.
A Paleo Diet will work exceptionally well for healthy people and it will be a significant improvement for most with ulcerative colitis as grains and dairy are major drivers of stomach issues and UC flare-ups.
The Paleo Diet will work exceptionally well for ulcerative colitis. Unfortunately, the inclusion of nuts, seeds, eggs and nightshade vegetables in a basic Paleo diet doesn’t take people with UC all the way to full healing and remission.
Paleo-AIP
The Paleo Diet is very close to the right healing diet ulcerative colitis. The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol diet puts the final puzzle pieces in place by removing the last few problematic foods from Paleo and calming down the immune system profoundly.
Want to learn everything I know about healing ulcerative colitis with a Paleo-AIP diet? Read my popular post Healing Ulcerative Colitis with Diet – The Principal Guide.
Here’s How I Ultimately Healed My Ulcerative Colitis
Diet is of central importance to healing UC.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Diet is about 90% or even more when healing ulcerative colitis.
Maybe diet doesn’t directly cause UC (though I’m not so sure it doesn’t) but once someone has UC, diet is the main mode of control and healing from day to day.
From there, once a strict and consistent Paleo-AIP diet is in place, major lifestyle changes, yoga, meditation, intelligent fitness training and medical cannabis round out the healing picture for ulcerative colitis.
The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol Diet
This is the dietary template that ultimately healed my ulcerative colitis and has kept me healed for over a decade now. (It also works for everyone I show it to who follows it.)
The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol diet (Paleo-AIP) is an autoimmune-focused Paleo variation that additionally excludes eggs, nightshade vegetables, nuts and seeds primarily.
These foods are allowed on regular Paleo.
Paleo will “work” for ulcerative colitis relative to a Standard American Diet (SAD) and relative to many other diets. But many fail to achieve full and lasting remission of UC on straight Paleo because the eggs and nuts are too inflammatory.
I’ve seen clients come out of remission on just a few teaspoons of peanut butter a day in an otherwise strict Paleo-AIP diet.
Where Paleo removes the basic inflammatory foods like all grains, legumes, dairy, refined sugars, and processed foods, Paleo-AIP removes the remaining additional autoimmune-stimulating foods.
This removal of eggs, tomatoes and nuts made all the difference for me. I continue to see it work for everyone I work with too. It takes very few nuts or eggs to keep you in a perpetual semi-flare-up.
What About Reintroduction of Foods on Paleo-AIP for Ulcerative Colitis?
In a word, no. Don’t reintroduce anything.
I’ve stuck with Paleo-AIP for more than 10 years now.
I still can’t eat nuts or eggs or grains or dairy.
Sooner or later cheat meals and less-restrictive diet variations lead to flare-ups with ulcerative colitis.
I see this with clients too. Certain foods and eating behaviors are forever off limits with UC. That’s the reality of it.
Basically, Paleo-AIP works for everyone with UC, it’s just that not everyone with UC can do Paleo-AIP from a mental or emotional standpoint.
And, most of those who even try Paleo-AIP for UC are too focused on “reintroductions” and “cheat meals” to make any significant progress.
I gave up on trying to cheat or “reintroduce” foods. The setbacks aren’t worth it.
Not to mention, most cheat foods or things like dairy make will you feel bad in other ways. Sugar affects my mood negatively, even if it doesn’t trigger a UC flare-up. Why eat crap and feel bad when you can feel healthy and move your life and health forward instead? For some food?
Healing the Gut and Reintroducing “Normal” Food Again
The idea that you can do a healing diet like Paleo-AIP or some other diet, heal your digestive tract and then “reintroduce” the foods you ate before you had ulcerative colitis is highly flawed and idealistic.
It’s a fantasy and it’s marketing.
Most of the stuff you want to reintroduce isn’t actually food anyway.
If you want to learn the deeper theoretical basis for Paleo-AIP and the rest of the healing practices I’ve mentioned in this post, you can download a FREE copy of my 76-page guide The Illustrated Roadmap for Healing Ulcerative Colitis Naturally right here!
Precise, tiered timelines for reintroduction of foods and transition to a “normal” diet after a gut healing “boot camp” or a “cleanse” or a period of fasting is a way to sell books and introduce complexity.
When you give the body the right food and rest and the right lifestyle, the body’s innate healing force takes over.
A lot of tables, schedules, timelines, intellectualizing and reintroducing is going to move you away from the health results you seek.
How I Healed My Ulcerative Colitis with Lifestyle Changes and Slower Living
This is a deep, wide and nuanced topic. And it interconnects with yoga, meditation and spiritual work below as well.
I went through a lot of life upheaval and career changes and relationships ending and changing as I healed.
I had to learn to say “no” a lot more.
There’s a major contribution from overall life stress, energy output, your general level of physical exhaustion or state of rest to ulcerative colitis.
Taking on too much in and of itself can lead to UC flare-ups. As can the wrong jobs, people and relationships.
Sometimes we need to make difficult and very personal decisions to heal. This is a big part of the long-term healing of UC.
How I Healed My Ulcerative Colitis with Medical Cannabis
I was into medical marijuana for UC very early. When Connecticut initially went legal for medical marijuana way back in 2014, I did some research and jumped on the opportunity.
For more than a decade now, the only medicine I use for ulcerative colitis is legal medical cannabis.
There’s incredible healing potential in cannabis medicine for people with ulcerative colitis.
Marijuana is an alternative treatment that deserves a real look by patients and a lot more scientific and medical research. This all seems to be coming now as legalization of marijuana takes off.
Qualifying Conditions
It’s no coincidence that Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are almost always the first group of qualifying conditions for new medical marijuana programs in states that are just starting to allow legal marijuana business.
The cannabinoids, THC and CBD, are potent, safe and effective medicine for digestive disorders. Even the most restrictive state programs generally acknowledge this.
In Connecticut in 2014, there were initially six qualifying conditions for a medical marijuana card.
Crohn’s disease was there but ulcerative colitis wasn’t. I got qualified under Crohn’s disease even though that wasn’t technically what I had. I had a great marijuana doctor back in those early days. He didn’t agree with UC not being in the first round of qualifying conditions to begin with.
Today, in 2024, Connecticut not only has 40 qualifying conditions for a medical marijuana card, we also have full recreational marijuana and home delivery from many dispensaries.
We’ve come a long way, baby.
Want to see what the status of medical marijuana legalization in your state? You can visit the NORML.org website and see!
How A Decade of Medical Marijuana Healed My Ulcerative Colitis
I credit intelligent, disciplined and medically-focused use of cannabis medicine for some of the final healing of my ulcerative colitis.
Cannabis is real medicine for ulcerative colitis.
And marijuana brings major relief for many other disorders, autoimmune diseases and emotional illnesses.
Cannabis medicine will change a lot in the coming years and decades.
Want to learn more about medical marijuana for ulcerative colitis and how I use it? You can read my post Medical Marijuana for Ulcerative Colitis – The Principle Guide.
How I Healed My Ulcerative Colitis with Yoga, Meditation and Deep Spiritual Work
This goes deep. Ultimately, there are deep energetic and spiritual components to ulcerative colitis.
There are addictive, self-sabotage and subconscious factors in ulcerative colitis.
Full healing of ulcerative colitis without medication requires a significant investment in long-term spiritual growth, health and healing.
This is part of the “forever” or “life-long practice” side of healing UC. Constant growth and learning. Constant practice and development.
The inner-body awareness and internal energy connection that you learn from yoga, meditation and some other spiritual practices are essential to healing the energy body and this is where the deepest healing of ulcerative colitis happens.
If you want to do a deep dive on the energetic and spiritual reasons ulcerative colitis manifests for some and not others, you can read my ever-popular post Exploring the Spiritual Meanings of Ulcerative Colitis.
Conclusion – How I Ultimately Healed My Life from Ulcerative Colitis
I healed my ulcerative colitis with a strict, long-term Paleo-AIP diet.
From there, massive lifestyle changes, yoga, meditation, more intelligent fitness training and deeper spiritual, emotional and even self-development work made major contributions.
For more than a decade, medical marijuana has been a central, plant-based medicine in my healing practice for ulcerative colitis.
My entire life – and even who I was on a deep level – had to change on the journey to permanently healing my ulcerative colitis.
Call to Action
Download my FREE 76-page guide The Illustrated Roadmap to Healing Ulcerative Colitis Naturally [LINK] and start your healing journey right now with a proven Roadmap as your guide!
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