Welcome to PaleoHacks!

Paleo isn't one thing. There's a lot of guess work involved in trying to figure out what paleo people ate so even among people who are trying to "reenact" the paleo diet there will be differences in consumption. Some people try to be as rigid as possible and avoid all the foods you mention, including fruit, and others experiment with these foods to see what works for their bodies.

Some paleo folks consume dairy. The paleo community largely avoids wheat and other gluten containing grains. Some people avoid all grains, some don't. Potatoes and yams/sweet potato consumption has been popularized by Paul Jaminet and his wife in the "Perfect Health Diet" as "safe" starches that are less likely to cause problems for people than other starches.

Paleo, for me is about avoiding grains, dairy, sugar, vegetable oils and processed foods. But, that's what works for me and I don't impose my diet on others.

Another dimension of paleo is the amount of consumption of a given food. I can eat fruit occasionally but it works better for me to avoid large amounts of it. The same with nuts.

I encourage you to experiment with the foods you love and see if they are helpful or not, and to not worry about the "paleo" label. Once you've gotten rid of the vegetable oils, the processed junk foods, and the grains that are troublesome to you you are way ahead of the crowd.

I hope this helps and I wish you the best in your healing.

Although carbs are good for weight gain, I don't think it is a good idea for someone with Crohn's! SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) is common in these people and too much starch/sugar could feed the bacterial overgrowth and worsen symptoms of pain, bloating, diarrhea, etc...

I strongly recommend that you work with a qualified health professional that is familiar with the Paleo diet. Look on the Paleo Physician Network or Primal docs for example.

Maybe, if your goal is to get more nourishment and feel better, you will start gaining weight as a side effect.

I'm attempting the same goal: need to gain weight, and muscle. Regarding weight gain, I do not think there is any other answer than eat more. A lot more. However, because this can be very time consuming, I like to have very high caloric snacks that are easy to prepare and can add to my overall caloric intake. Raw nuts, unsalted, and dried fruit are very easy to start adding to your diet. You can put these in a zip-lock bag to eat whenever needed. Each cup-full can provide you with about 3-400 calories. Sausage is extremely versatile. It comes in a variety of meats (usually chicken and pork) and gives you the protein you need. It's usually precooked so a short time in the microwave or toast-r-oven will do. Try taking some extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil in spoonfuls. This easily adds ~130 calories per tablespoon!

Potatoes, rice are not strictly paleo but most people seem to agree they are more acceptable. The fact that you love rice and (I assume) it does not affect your chron's negatively tells me you should be fine.

In general, I would not worry about following paleo to the dot. It's not a fool-proof diet and definitely not one size fits all. If you're looking to gain weight AND simultaneously tackle chron's disease, you need to do research that finds the right diet for you.