Hi all
Newcomer alert!
I am a vegetarian - no fish or eggs, last few months I have had to have gluten free and lactose free diet as much as possible due to the allergic reactions caused by having them. I am not ceoliac as tests came back negative.
Trying to get healthy, I struggle with what to eat esp for breakfast. Any suggestions please?
Thank you
Ginny
When you say allergic reactions to certain foods, do you actually mean a food intolerance (see link below regarding the difference)?:
bda.uk.com/resource/food-al....
Have you been formally diagnosed with IBS via stool and blood tests? If so, what are your symptoms?
Hi
Yes intolerance to certain foods, get bloating, stomachache,diarrhea,skin rash etc Gp said its IBS but not had stool test just colonoscooy.
Skin rash isn't a normal symptom for food intolerances. If you have diarrhea you are likely to tolerate rice crispies, you may tolerate corn flakes, some people are OK with porridge/oats. It's a tricky one between fibre and non fibre - intuitively people think about having non-fibrous foods for diarrhea, however if tolerated, fibre such as from oats can help bulk out the stools and make them more firm, the same can be said of ground flaxseed.
Just in case some of this is of use to you, here is some information about IBS that I have shared with others in this group:
IBS can be due to a number or combination of factors - these can be stress (including stress from early life experiences) which impacts the communication between the brain and the digestive system. There are lots of free webinars online at the moment regarding mindfulness meditation which might help. Plus you can ask to be referred for CBT or something similar to reduce your anxiety - I would have thought online appointments are available. Exercise can play a major role in IBS in terms of reducing stress, helping your gut microbiome and regulating bowel movements.
There is also not absorbing certain types of carbohydrates called FODMAPs very well, the residue ending up in the colon and bacteria feeding off them causing symptoms. Ordinarily feeding gut bacteria is a really good thing - when you feed good gut bacteria these produce by-products that have great health effects in the gut and throughout the body. However, in some people with IBS bad bugs might have the upper hand over good - these bad bugs may cause symptoms such as pain or disordered bowel movements. There is an interesting infographic on this here:
gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com/....
This is why it’s worth trying probiotics such as Alflorex (which has been scientifically studied for IBS) or Symprove to crowd out the bad bugs and make their numbers die down. If that doesn't work you can try the FODMAP elimination and reintroduction diet. This is normally under the guidance of a nutritionist via GP referral - this may not be possible at the moment so you can read about it online. If you download the Monash University FODMAP app it will tell you which foods contain FODMAPs and in what quantities. You can eliminate all FODMAPs for 2 weeks and then introduce each type of FODMAP one at a time starting in small quantities, increasing over a 3 day period and wait up to 4 days for symptoms. I go much slower than this - only introducing a small amount (1/4 to 1/3 of a normal portion size) of the same food for 3 days and then increase if tolerable or no symptoms and cut back to the previous amount if symptoms for longer and then try to increment again . I've read your microbiome can adapt to handling a new food if introduced very slowly and your bad bugs are under control with a good probiotic. Ideally you want to eat as many FODMAPs as you can since they are good for your health. Many people with IBS don't have diverse gut bacteria - it has been found that people who lack a diverse microbiome are more prone to diseases in general. In the long run, if you can get your symptoms under control, the ideal situation is to have a very varied diet - lots of different coloured fruits and vegetables, a variety of protein and carbohydrate sources including cereal fibres. This may seem a long way off, but with the right treatment all of this is possible. Last year all I could consume to control my IBS was white rice, protein and limited low fodmap veg. Using the approach above (particularly introducing Alflorex) I am now able to consume far more foods - more than I've ever dreamed of including wholewheat bread which is unheard of for me.
If you are also suffering from pain, you may be suffering from visceral hypersensitivity (functional abdominal pain) - there is info about it here:
iffgd.org/lower-gi-disorder...
It is where the brain interprets the normal activity of the bowel as pain - this is due to a wearing down of neurons in pain control centres of the brain which can be caused by PTSD, neglect or abuse in childhood, extreme stressful events etc. The first line treatment is nerve pain agents such as low dose amitriptyline. There is a theory that being on something like amitriptyline for 6-12 months can help the pain control centre neurons to regenerate. Note that amitriptyline can cause constipation, but this can be helpful in people who are diarrhea dominant. Unfortunately I couldn't tolerate these. Linaclotide (for IBS-C only) & Alflorex have helped me with this intestinal pain.
You may also find assistance with anti-spasmodic medication such as mebeverine (Colofac) or enteric coated peppermint.
You can find some info on self management here:
Hi
I understand our teeth might be made for carnivorous diet but I prefer for religious and moral reasons not to eat meat if that a what you mean. I have been vegetarian since I was born and have never needed walls for support even after giving birth to 3 most heathy and beautiful babies 
and touchwood am very heathy myself.
I'm vegetarian and did low FODMAP for a long time. Lactose free dairy products are available in supermarkets and don't taste all that different to the versions with lactose in, so porridge or appropriate muesli or other low-FODMAP cereal with milk, or yogurt with permitted fruit are options. I ate a lot of buckwheat pancakes for a while - buckwheat has a better range of amino acids in than most. I realize you don't eat eggs - we started eating egg-free buckwheat pancakes during lockdown, and while I missed the egg to start with, I got used to it pretty fast. You can make it more nutritious by using sprouted buckwheat flour, but it's expensive to buy or takes time to make yourself from the grain, and if you do it regularly you need to be a bit careful how long you sprout it for as there are potential problems with eating too much buckwheat sprouts that were too mature. There is only a trace of lactose in butter, so unless you have something like an allergy rather than an intolerance, you can just use ordinary butter, and hard cheese is allowed. It's hard to be creative with food when one's digestion is all wonky isn't it! I relied a lot on lactose-free dairy to balance my diet since only small amounts of nuts are allowed (and they were hard for me to digest anyhow) and my gut really struggled if I tried to eat pulses so I mostly avoided them. Hope that helps a bit.
Hi Ginny,
I would just like to add, if you or anyone are on a very restrictive diet, (I was Vegan/ plant based for a while) It helps to create a Pinterest board of all your successful meals. I take a photo of my plate of food, then add it to board, with an explanation of the recipe, It’s like a homemade cookery book. I have about 250 photos on there now. Also, Pinterest is a great place to find ideas for meals.
New to this forum
New to this 
New to all this and feeling a little overwhelmed
New to this !
