Nutrition
Good Nutrition and Great Food
When You’re Eating for IBS
By Heather Van Vorous
Author of
Eating for IBS
No, this title is not a contradiction in terms. It’s not only
possible, but actually very easy to eat a healthy – and delicious - diet that
will actively prevent IBS symptoms. There are, in fact, very clear guidelines to
follow for how to eat safely for IBS, based on the well-established effects
certain categories of foods have on the GI tract. The key word here is
categories – if you’re like most people with IBS, the odds are you’ve been going
crazy trying to figure which one specific food triggers your attacks. The
problem is, it isn’t a single food that causes attacks. It’s any food that is
high in fat, insoluble fiber, caffeine, coffee (even decaf), carbonation, or
alcohol. Why? Because all of these food categories are either GI stimulants or
irritants, and can cause violent over reactions of the muscles in your colon. So
does this mean you can never again eat any of these foods? No, not at all. It
just means you’ll have to recognize them as triggers, and eat them carefully,
according to guidelines we’ll cover below. More importantly, you’ll need to
focus on what you can and should eat, and the primary food category here is
soluble fiber.
Soluble Fiber
Hmmm….You’ve heard of fiber, you’re pretty sure you know what it is, and you’ve
probably had it recommended to you as beneficial for IBS. But soluble fiber? Is
this something special? Yes, it is. Soluble fiber is the single greatest dietary
aid for preventing IBS symptoms in the first place, as well as relieving them
once they occur. Here’s the kicker. Soluble fiber is NOT typically found in
foods most people think of as “fiber,” such as bran or raw leafy green
vegetables. Soluble fiber is actually found in foods commonly thought of as
“starches”, though soluble fiber itself differs from starch as the chemical
bonds that join its individual sugar units cannot be digested by enzymes in the
human GI tract. In other words, soluble fiber has no calories because it passes
through the body intact.
Soluble Fiber Foods – the Basis of the IBS Diet as a general rule, the
grain and cereal foods at the top of this list make the safest, easiest, and
most versatile soluble fiber foundations for your meals and snacks.
Rice
Pasta and noodles
Oatmeal
Barley
Fresh white breads such as French or sourdough (NOT whole wheat or whole grain.
Please
choose a baked-daily, high quality, preservative-free brand.)
Rice cereals
Flour tortillas
Soy
Quinoa
Corn meal
Potatoes
Carrots
Yams
Sweet potatoes
Turnips
Rutabagas
Parsnips
Beets
Squash and pumpkins
Chestnuts
Avocados (though they do have some fat)
Bananas
Applesauce
Mangoes
Papayas (also digestive aids that relieve gas and indigestion)
Why is soluble fiber so special? Because unlike any other food category, it
soothes and regulates the digestive tract, stabilizes the intestinal
contractions resulting from the gastrocolic reflex, and normalizes bowel
function from either extreme. That’s right – soluble fiber prevents and relieves
both diarrhea and constipation. Nothing else in the world will do this for you.
How is this possible? The “soluble” in soluble fiber means that it dissolves in
water (though it is not digested). This allows it to absorb excess liquid in the
colon, preventing diarrhea by forming a thick gel and adding a great deal of
bulk as it passes intact through the gut.. This gel (as opposed to a watery
liquid) also keeps the GI muscles stretched gently around a full colon, giving
those muscles something to easily “grip” during peristaltic contractions, thus
preventing the rapid transit time and explosive bowel movements of diarrhea as
well. By the same token, the full gel-filled colon (as opposed to a colon
tightly clenched around dry, hard, impacted stools) provides the same “grip”
during the muscle waves of constipation sufferers, allowing for an easier and
faster transit time, and the passage of the thick wet gel also effectively
relieves constipation by softening and pushing through impacted fecal matter. If
you can mentally picture your colon as a tube that is squeezing through matter
via regular waves of contractions, it’s easy to see how a colon filled with
soluble fiber gel is beneficial for both sides of the IBS coin. As a glorious
bonus here, normalizing the contractions of the colon (from too fast or too slow
speeds) prevents the violent and irregular spasms that result in the lower
abdominal cramping pain that cripples so many IBS patients. This single action
alone is the reason you shouldn’t eat anything on an empty stomach but soluble
fiber. Ever. The only foods you want to trigger your gastrocolic reflex are
soluble fiber, as that’s the best way to keep those contractions (and thus your
life) normal.
Try to routinely snack on small quantities of sourdough bread, rice cakes,
homemade quick breads (pumpkin, zucchini) from IBS safe recipes, bananas, baked
corn chips, etc. all day long, every single day. If you don’t have a chance to
eat or you’re not that hungry, take a supplement such as psyllium powder,
Fibercon tablets, Benefiber, or a glass of Citrucel (these are simply soluble
fiber supplements – they are NOT laxatives, even though they’re often marketed
as such). Your goal is continual stability, and a steady ingestion of soluble
fiber insures this. In the short run this strategy allows you to prevent
problems from snack to snack and meal to meal, but in the end it adds up to
long-term stability from day to day, week to week, and even month to month.
You’re likely to find that the single best method for completely preventing IBS
symptoms is basing your diet on soluble fiber foods. You can keep your colon
stabilized each and every day by building all meals and snacks on soluble fiber
foods.
Fat – The Bad Guy
Well, you probably knew this one. Most people quickly figure out on their own
that greasy foods cause problems. High-fat foods are usually easy to identify,
and after getting sick for the third or fourth time in a row after eating French
fries or ice cream it becomes painfully obvious that fat is an IBS trigger. Have
you been wondering why? Fat is the single greatest
digestive tract stimulant. Nothing else will trigger a more powerful
gastrocolic reflex. For those of us already prone to wildly unstable colon
contractions, this is bad news indeed. Interestingly, the type of fat doesn’t
matter at all – saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, they’re all equal
triggers. It simply makes no difference to your gastrocolic reflex if you’re
eating lard or extra virgin olive oil. It will make quite a difference to your
heart and your health in general, of course, but in terms of controlling IBS the
less fat of all kinds, the better period. This doesn’t mean following a fat-free
diet, by the way, but simply a low-fat one.
Danger - High Fat Foods Ahead
Please don’t read this list and assume that you can never again eat any of these
foods, so life is no longer worth living. These are all triggers, yes, and some
of them you will probably have to completely eliminate from your diet. BUT -
others can be eaten in small quantities when you follow the guidelines coming
up, many of the items listed have safer substitutes you can use freely, and
there are quite a few tips and tricks for cooking with the nutritious foods on
the list in a safe manner. So take heart, this isn’t the end of the world – it’s
just the beginning of a better diet.
Red meat (ground beef, hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks, roast beef, pastrami,
salami,
bologna, pepperoni, corned beef, ham, bacon, sausage, pork chops, and anything
else that
comes from cows, pigs, sheep, goats, deer, etc. )
Poultry dark meat and skin (the white meat is fine, as is seafood by the way
– try to buy organic turkey and chicken)
Dairy products (cheese, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, milk, cream,
half-and half, ice cream, whipped cream). Even skim and lactose-free dairy
can trigger IBS attacks. In addition to fat and lactose, dairy contains
components such as whey and casein, which can cause severe digestion problems.
Egg yolks (whites are fine, do try to buy organic) Meat, dairy products, and egg
yolks are particularly dangerous for all aspects of IBS. In some people their
high fat content causes violent, rapid colon spasms and triggers diarrhea.
Alternately, for others their heavy animal proteins, complete lack of fiber, and
very low water content can lead to drastically slowed colon contractions and
severe constipation. No matter what IBS symptoms you’re prone to, these three
categories of foods pose high risks and are really best eliminated from your
diet altogether.
French fries
Onion rings
Fried chicken
Corn dogs
Anything battered and deep-fried
Anything skillet-fried in fat of any kind
Shortening
Margarine
All oils, fats, spreads, etc.
Mayonnaise
Salad dressings
Tartar sauce
Cool Whip
Coconut milk
Shredded coconut
Solid chocolate (baking cocoa powder is fine)
Solid carob (carob powder is fine)
Olives
Nuts and nut butters
Croissants, pastries, biscuits, scones, and doughnuts
Pie crust
Potato chips (unless they’re baked)
Corn chips and nachos (unless they’re baked)
Store-bought dried bananas (they’re almost always deep fried)
Fats are usually fairly obvious foods to identify, but not always. The worst
culprits are those at the top of the list and many (particularly meat, dairy,
egg yolks, and fried foods) can simply be eliminated from your diet entirely and
your whole body will be healthier for it. I know the thought of this can be
deeply shocking, but giving up these foods does not equal deprivation. Honestly,
it doesn’t. There are a great many easy substitutions that will let you cook and
eat safely while still enjoying many of your traditional favorite foods. There’s
also a lot of fun to be had in trying a wide variety of new ones. And when
you’re tempted to indulge in a dangerous treat, just remember that everything
tastes a lot less delicious when it’s followed by a vicious IBS attack.
There are also some hidden sources of fat to watch out for, cookies, crackers,
pancakes, waffles, Frenchtoast, biscuits, scones, pastries, doughnuts, and
mashed potatoes can all be sky high in fat (virtually always so at restaurants),
so be careful. Give thanks for the recent fat-free craze that has given us
supermarket aisles full of safe alternatives.
Insoluble Fiber – Good or Bad?
Both! Here’s the type of fiber everyone is familiar with – bran, whole grains,
raw fruits and vegetables (note the exceptions under Soluble Fiber), greens,
sprouts, legumes, seeds, and nuts. In short, the healthiest foods in the world,
and what everyone should be eating as much of as possible.
Right? Well, right, except for one small problem. Insoluble fiber, like fat, is
a very powerful GI tract stimulant, and for those of us with IBS this can spell
big trouble. Unlike fat, however, you cannot simply minimize your insoluble
fiber intake, as this will leave you with a seriously unhealthy diet. It’s a
paradox, but the conflict can be solved fairly easily.
Insoluble Fiber Foods – Eat with Care
Once glance will tell you these are the best (and tastiest) foods around, but
your colon simply can’t handle it if you eat them with abandon. You can (and
absolutely must) eat them, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat these
foods with suitable caution, and you’ll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them,
in very healthy quantities, without problem. In general, if a plant food (no
animal products contain fiber) seems rough, stringy, has a tough skin, hull,
peel, pod, or seeds, be careful. This is not a comprehensive list by any means
but it should give you the general idea. Whole wheat flour, whole wheat bread,
whole wheat cereal Bran whole grains, whole grain breads, whole grain cereals
(the two big exceptions here are oatmeal and brown rice, both of which are very
safe whole grains)
Granola
Meusli
Seeds
Nuts
Popcorn
Beans and lentils (mashed or pureed they’re much safer)
Berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, cranberries, etc.)
Grapes and raisins
Cherries
Pineapple
Peaches, nectarines, apricots, and pears with skins (peeled they’re
much safer)
Apples (peeled they’re safe)
Rhubarb
Melons
Oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes
Dates and prunes
Greens (spinach, lettuce, kale, mesclun, collards, arugala, watercress,
etc.)
Whole peas, snow peas, snap peas, pea pods
Green beans
Kernel corn
Bell peppers (roasted and peeled they’re safer)
Eggplant (peeled and seeded it’s much safer)
Celery
Onions, shallots, leeks, scallions, garlic
Cabbage, bok choy, Brussels sprouts
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Tomatoes (peeled and seeded, especially raw, they’re much safer)
Cucumbers (again, peel and seed them and they’re much safer)
Sprouts (alfalfa, sunflower, radish, etc.)
Fresh herbs
Never eat insoluble fiber alone or on an empty stomach.
Always eat it with a larger quantity of soluble fiber, and you will keep your
gastro colic reflex stable. What does this mean in practical terms? Cook some
diced vegetables into a low-fat sauce for pasta, stir-fry veggies into a fried
rice, or blend fresh fruit into a smoothie to drink after a breakfast bowl of
oatmeal. For fruits, vegetables, and legumes in general, peeling, chopping,
cooking, and pureeing them will significantly minimize the impact of their
insoluble fiber. Make soups, drinks, sauces, breads, and dips from your veggies
and fruits instead of eating them whole and raw. For beans and lentils, cook and
blend them into sauces, dips, soups, or spreads their insoluble fiber is found
in their outer skins and their insides are actually rich in soluble fiber. For
nuts, finely grind and incorporate them into breads or cakes with white flour,
which gives a safe soluble fiber base. For bran and other whole grains, eat them
in small quantities following soluble fiber foods – have a little whole wheat
dinner roll after a big sourdough one, or mix a small amount of fat-free granola
into a large bowl of cream of rice or Corn Chex cereal. For raw fruit and green
salads, eat them at the end of a soluble fiber meal instead of at the beginning.
For all insoluble fiber foods, start with small quantities and gradually
increase your intake, making sure you follow these guidelines.
I’m confused! How can the same food have insoluble and soluble fiber? Most all
grains, cereals, legumes, and tubers have an outer insoluble fiber layer, and a
soluble fiber interior (and the same is true for some fruits and vegetables,
such as apples and zucchini). It’s very easy to actually see this with your own
eyes. If you take a cooked grain of brown rice, wheat berry, kernel of corn,
potato, or bean you can separate the tough exterior (the bran, skin, or shell)
from the creamy interior. When the bran is removed from wheat berries and
they’re milled the result is white flour; when the bran is removed from brown
rice the result is white rice. There aren’t many similar common commercial
processes that remove the insoluble fiber exterior from legumes, fruits, or
vegetables, but finely blending, pureeing, or peeling these whole foods will
greatly minimize their trigger risk. Wheat in particular causes confusion for
many, many people with IBS who are unsure about whether or not it is a safe food
for them. There is no flat yes or no answer to this concern because, as we’ve
just learned, it depends. Whole wheat, with its outer layer of bran, is high in
insoluble fiber. This means that it’s a trigger. That’s why whole wheat bread,
whole wheat cereals, and bran can cause such awful problems for people with IBS.
However, when you remove the bran from whole wheat you end up with white flour
(the regular kind you can buy in any grocery store, that you using in baking
cookies, breads, muffins, etc.). Though this is still wheat flour, it is not
whole wheat flour, and this makes a world of difference. White flour contains no
insoluble fiber but it does have soluble fiber, which is the stabilizing force
of the IBS diet (just picture the thick gel that results when you dissolve a
piece of white bread in a glass of water). This is why white breads are such
great safe staples. When you read the ingredients on packaged foods they might
not specify if the wheat flour used is “white” or “whole”, but it’s usually
pretty easy to tell. For breads, a brief glance will tell you if there is whole
wheat in it (you’ll see little brown flakes). If the bread is pure white, like
French or sourdough, you’re safe. For most crackers, pretzels, muffins, etc.
only white flour will be used. The exception is health food store products,
which are likely to use whole wheat. However, they will almost always tout this
fact so you won’t be left wondering. The whole wheat (and other insoluble fiber)
intolerances so common to IBS are markedly different from true food allergies.
If you’re allergic to wheat, it will make no difference if the grain is left
whole or refined by removing the bran. In addition, with many allergies even
minuscule quantities of the trigger, whether eaten with other foods or alone,
can trigger violent reactions. Fortunately, with IBS this is rarely the case, so
we just have to be careful with whole wheat and other insoluble fibers. If we do
take care we can easily and frequently eat them in small quantities when they’re
combined with high soluble fiber foods. In addition, with wheat, once the bran
has been removed so has the risk of an IBS attack, and this gives us great
dietary freedom when it comes to white breads and other refined wheat flour
foods.
Some fruits and vegetables are particularly troublesome
for IBS.
Sulfur-containing foods (garlic, onions, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage,
asparagus, and Brussels sprouts), in addition to their high amounts of insoluble
fiber, also produce significant gas in the GI tract and this can trigger
attacks. As with all other fruits and veggies, however, these are extremely
nutritious foods with significant health benefits, so they need to be treated
with caution but definitely not eliminated from your diet.
Acidic foods (citrus fruits and cooked tomatoes) should be treated with extra
care as well, as their acidity can cause both upper and lower GI distress. Once
again, follow the rules for insoluble fiber and eat these foods in smaller
quantities incorporated with soluble fiber – but please do eat them. Fructose, a
fruit sugar, can cause gas, bloating, and diarrhea (this is typically not true
for sucrose, or plain table sugar). Fruit juices, particularly apple and grape
juice, are often sky high in fructose and even more problematic than whole fresh
fruit. It’s simply much easier and faster to drink a large glass of juice (and
ingest a great deal of fructose) than to eat an equivalent amount of whole
fruit. So treat juices as you would insoluble fiber and drink them carefully,
with soluble fiber foods.
Other Pesky Creatures to Avoid
Coffee – both regular and decaf – contains an enzyme that’s an extremely
powerful GI tract irritant. Go cold turkey today and drink herbal teas instead.
Caffeine is a GI stimulant and should be avoided,
especially in higher doses.
Alcohol is a GI irritant and often triggers attacks,
especially on an empty stomach (though small amounts of alcohol used in cooking
are fine).
Carbonation in soda pop and mineral water can cause
bloating and cramps.
Artificial sweeteners, particularly sorbitol, can trigger pain and diarrhea.
Artificial fats, namely Olestra, can cause abdominal cramping and diarrhea in
people who don’t even have IBS imagine what it can do to you. MSG has acquired
lots of ugly anecdotal evidence against it regarding all sorts of digestive
upsets. It can simply be avoided, so why take a chance?
Size Matters
No matter how safe any food is for IBS, eating a huge portion of it in one
sitting can trigger an attack. Your gastrocolic reflex gains strength in direct
correlation to the number of calories you consume in a meal. While this makes it
easy to see why high fat foods causes problems (fat is more than twice as
calorie-dense as carbohydrates and proteins) it also means that bingeing on
anything carries serious risks for those of us with IBS. So don’t kid yourself
that when your friend breaks out a pint of ice cream and a spoon that you can do
the same with fat-free sorbet. It’s not just ingredients, but quantity too. Size
really does matter. Keeping your portions small has some fringe benefits,
particularly in that it should make it easier to eat more frequently, and this
is a helpful strategy for maintaining a constant intake of soluble fiber.
Unfortunately, the Western world has gotten used to “supersizing” just about
everything we eat, and this can be a hard habit to break. One thing to try at
home is serving yourself on salad plates and soup bowls, so that visually you
don’t feel faced with a skimpy meal. Remember too that you can always take a
second small portion after you finish the first one, as long as you eat at a
slow-to-moderate pace and you still feel hungry. This is a great way to keep
from over-serving yourself initially and then feeling obligated to eat
everything on your plate even if you’re full (a “don’t waste food” lesson
ingrained in most of us as children). Snacking on small amounts of food
throughout the day will keep you from getting ravenous and then over-eating,
which can trigger an attack. At restaurants make a point of dividing your plate
in half the moment you’re served and take that portion home with you for a later
meal. Once you develop this habit you’ll likely be astonished to realize how
oversized most restaurant meals are, and it will be clear why it’s so common to
suffer an attack if you eat all that food at one sitting. I have a few favorite
restaurants (Ethiopian and Middle Eastern) whose dinner portions are so generous
I actually get three complete meals out of them. Even someone without IBS is
likely to feel pretty uncomfortable if they down that much food at a one
dinner. There’s another aspect to portion control that has some happy
possibilities for IBS. The risk of trigger foods can be tremendously minimized
if they’re eaten in tiny quantities following soluble fiber. In this regard, it
is as much how you eat as what you eat that will help you manage your symptoms.
While this is most important as a tool to allow you to incorporate all those
healthy insoluble fiber foods as often as possible, it’s also a means of
treating yourself to a “mini splurge” every once in a while. Let’s say you’re
well-stabilized and just dying for a chocolate bar. Eating a full-size candy bar
as a snack when your stomach is empty will likely wreak havoc and send you into
an immediate downward spiral of attacks (why? because it’s sky high in fat and
dairy, and has very little soluble fiber). However, if your symptoms were well
under control and you instead decided to treat yourself to a snack-size
individual candy bar (a tiny portion equals a tiny quantity of fat/dairy
triggers) for dessert, immediately following a nice low-fat, high soluble fiber
meal, you’d likely do just fine. I eat solid chocolate almost every day in this
manner. (Of course, this may just be sheer willpower because as God is my
witness I will not go through life without chocolate, but I think this is
probably the less likely explanation.)
Whatever your favorite trigger food, this strategy gives you a good means of
allowing yourself the occasional small indulgence. IBS food intolerances are,
fortunately, not like food allergies, where the quantity of a trigger (say,
peanuts) may not matter. For this we can thank our lucky stars, as it means that
few things are truly forbidden to us as long as we follow some common sense
rules and exercise a little self control.
Will eating for IBS make me fat?
You’re not alone if you’re wondering whether eating safely for IBS will lead to
excess weight gain. Rest assured, it won’t. The basis of the IBS diet, soluble
fiber, has no calories at all as it is indigestible. High soluble fiber foods
are virtually always high in complex carbohydrates and low in fat. This is a
good thing, as the healthiest diets in the world, associated with the lowest
obesity rates, are those highest in complex carbohydrates and lowest in fat and
protein (particularly from animal products). This fact completely contradicts
the current and misguided popularity of high protein/low carbohydrate fad diets.
Tellingly, the obesity rates for cultures with high carb/low fat and protein
diets (primarily in Asia) are a fraction of the obesity rates in the Western
world. Americans average only 40-50% of diet from carbohydrates – but most Asian
nations average 60-75%. The US national obesity rate is now one of the highest
in the world, at 35% for adults and 20% for children. The average Asian
country’s obesity rate is just 2-3%. Striking, isn’t it? It is simply very
difficult to eat enough high soluble fiber foods (they’re very filling) to gain
weight while still keeping your diet low fat. The high soluble fiber diet
necessary for controlling IBS should actually result in weight loss - if you're
overweight. If your weight is already normal it won't result in weight gain
unless you significantly up your portion sizes, which would likely trigger an
attack, or gorge yourself on refined sugar foods that have no soluble fiber to
fill you up. The IBS diet is essentially low-fat vegetarian-based, plus chicken
breasts and seafood. Eliminating the meat, dairy, fried foods, and soda pop
drastically lowers the calorie count for people who switch from a "typical"
Western diet. Upping your soluble fiber food intake will increase your calories
from complex carbohydrates, but these are much less calorie-dense than all the
fats you’ve eliminated. It also takes more energy for your body to store excess
carbohydrates, versus excess fats, as body fat, so you have to eat more
carbohydrate calories than fat calories in order to gain weight. Carefully
incorporating as much insoluble fiber as you can tolerate will not add any
significant calories at all. Plus, both types of fiber are very filling, and
will help with appetite control. Eating small portions frequently, important for
minimizing the risk of attacks, also helps keep you filled without having to eat
as much. Finally, please realize that soluble fiber is extremely beneficial for
a lot of health problems besides IBS. It not only regulates and normalizes
colonic activity, it also lowers LDL (“bad) blood cholesterol levels and the
corresponding risk of heart disease, prevents colon cancer, and improves
glycemic (blood sugar) control in diabetics by slowing the digestion of
carbohydrates and subsequent release of glucose into the blood. It also helps
prevent blood vessel constriction and the formation of free radicals, both risk
factors for heart attacks, by slowing the absorption of fat and carbohydrates
into the bloodstream. Best of all, it really and truly does dramatically help
prevent IBS attacks. So don't be afraid of it, and don't worry about weight gain
or difficult weight loss.
Eating for IBS should safely and easily normalize your weight, helping you lose
pounds if you need to. And if you’re looking for a weight gain, finally having
the knowledge of how to eat without fear should allow you to up your calorie
intake significantly and add on the pounds you need for good health.
The 10 Commandments of "Eating for IBS."
Is your head spinning from all these new categories of food? Don’t worry. I know
it can be confusing at first to start thinking about what you eat in terms of
fats and types of fibers. But what seems foreign today will be old hat tomorrow,
so just take things one day at a time. Making the effort here is truly
worthwhile, because following the IBS diet will make a world of difference in
your life. So let’s take the knowledge of how to eat safely and put it into
practical terms. Here are…
The Ten Commandments of "Eating for IBS."
1. ALWAYS eat soluble fiber first, eat soluble fiber
whenever your stomach is empty, and make soluble fiber foods the largest
component of every meal and snack.
2. Minimize your fat intake to 25% of your diet, max. Read labels and at
restaurants, ask.
3. Never eat high fat foods, even in small portions, on an empty stomach or
without soluble fiber. Better still, don’t eat them at all.
4. Eliminate all red meat, dairy, fried foods, egg yolks, coffee, soda pop, and
alcohol from your diet. This may be the most difficult dietary strategy to
adopt, and I know it probably won’t be fun or easy – but neither are IBS
attacks.
5. Never, never, never eat insoluble fiber on an empty stomach, in large
quantities at one sitting, or without soluble fiber.
6. Eat small portions frequently, calmly, and leisurely.
7. If you’re unsure about something, DON’T EAT IT. It’s not worth the risk.
8. Food is fun and eating should be pleasurable. Take the time and make the
effort to eat safely, and then enjoy yourself.
9. Remember that you have absolute and total control over your diet. No one can
force you to eat something you know you shouldn’t – if anyone tries, think of
them as a drug dealer and just say no.
10. Practice creative substitution, not deprivation. Use soy or rice
replacements for dairy, two egg whites to replace a whole egg, try low-fat
vegetarian versions of meat products, replace some oil with fruit purees in
breads or cakes, use veggie broth instead of oil in sauces, bake with cocoa
powder (it’s fat free) instead of solid chocolate. Use herbs, baking extracts
(vanilla, peppermint, maple, etc.) and mild spices generously to heighten
flavors.
In summary, if you’re currently trying to break a cycle of ongoing attacks, it
is best to strictly limit your diet to soluble fiber foods and peppermint tea (a
powerful GI muscle relaxant and painkiller) for several days. This will allow
your GI tract to stabilize, and then you can gradually and carefully add in
other foods following the rules. At that point you’ll be ready to go shopping,
re-stock your pantry with your new safe staples, and cook fast, easy, fabulous
meals following the IBS guidelines.
Credit:
Heather Van Vorous is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS. Her
groundbreaking dietary guidelines for IBS have resulted in her inclusion in the
4th edition of Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, an ongoing Canadian
clinical research study of the Eating for IBS diet, and recognition as the
foremost “patient-expert” on IBS in America. She has had IBS since childhood and
is the president of Heather & Company, an organization dedicated to meeting the
needs of IBS patients through education, products, and services. Her IBS cooking
show, Heather Cooks!, airs weekly on the internet and will be broadcast on
American public television.
Heather Van Vourous's free weekly
online cooking show for Digestive Health. From the author of "Eating
for Irritable Bowel Syndrome" and
"The First Year: IBS"
http://www.helpforibs.com/diet
