Food!!

[Cazy1010]

what food can you eat with IBS

[winfong]

I know a lot of people swear by the FODMAP diet. Try searching this forum for that (upper right hand corner of your screen).

To be honest, I think half the posts here are about food. Try just scrolling through some older posts. Plenty of ideas.

[Luisa22]

Yes, like winfong said, the FODMAP diet is the thing. If you can get a dietician to help, that will be the best plan. Can your doctor refer you to someone?

Check out the "Monash University" Fodmap diet pages online.

But I found even some low Fodmap foods didn't -and still don't, suit me. Whereas, I have no trouble, and never did, with some of the high Fodmaps (honey and sugar snap peas are so friendly to me!)

It's supposed to be done strictly for a number of weeks, followed by the re-intoduction phase, where you slowly introduce tiny amounts of high Fodmaps, find out your tolerance threshold, what really doesn't work, and what you can happily handle. It's a bit of a balancing act, I find.

But I have a friend who had IBS for many years, and who stayed on low Fodmaps for 2 whole years! (that is not supposed to be a good idea at all and damaging to the microbiome) Anyway she reckons she cured her IBS !!

I started my re-introductions after 2 months.

[janey_babs]

I came to also recommend a low FODMAP diet. Fodmaps aren't the cause for everyone but is the most common cause of issues. I recommend doing elimination with a dietitian if possible

[Hetchins1946]

I've come to the conclusion that food has very little impact on my symptoms.The usual suspects for rapid transit like beetroot (and curiously Activa Active Gut Yoghurt!) can be quite dramatic, but apart from those I can find no really bad, or really helpful dietary changes. I've been keeping an Input/Output diary for a very long time

It may be a controversial thought, but I wonder if for /some/ people a belief that a diet will help, actually does make it help.

I'm sure that some IBS is psychological rather than physiological and belief in diets can improve - for some people - the very real (and distressing) symptoms.

My main trigger is stress, and I'm sure that if I could manage both the chronic and acute sources then I'd be so much better off. Psychological for /me/

[corpgov10 in reply to Hetchins1946]

Agreed. A lot of fuss is made over food, and not enough over reducing chronic stress and increasing exercise. Sure, cut down or avoid processed foods but for goodness sake change your lifestyle if you are constantly stressed!

[Hetchins1946 in reply to corpgov10]

Plus constant worry over food can be a source of stress itself. A self-fulfilling cycle.

You make an excellent point about exercise - something I am guilty of neglecting.

[Boxroad]

whatever agrees with you to be honest, everyone is different and have different intolerance

[Sparrow58]

Everyone is different. You could try keeping a food and symptom diary to see if anything shows up. The trouble is you think you have found something that upsets you and you stop it for a while and you get a flare up so it probably is not that. As mentioned above don't always think it is food it could be anxiety etc. All the best x