Vegan IBS

[Brillys]

Hi

Anyone out there tried to be vegetarian/vegan with IBS? I am keen to cut down meat consumption but being seriously unable to eat so many veg/pulses/nuts am finding it impossible.

[Luisa22]

I found a vegan diet impossible when I got IBS. I had been vegetarian for about 30+ years, and for a time was vegan. I had an excellent healthy diet on and on for all those years and it suited me.

I didn't know any different, so tried to continue my normal diet even though IBS had started (about 3 -4 years ago, but really started badly overnight in March 2020). Yet when I look back I wasn't getting any better and my tummy was upset all the time.

I had to go low fibre and face it. I couldn't eat vegan protein any more. So I went back to eating fish and eggs. Even cheese was dodgy. Sometimes it was OK, sometimes not. But fish and eggs were always OK. Even tofu upset me.

Now I've got to a point where I can eat much more vegetables, and sometimes can re-introduce peeled chickpeas and a few walnuts or brazil nuts. But lentils are still difficult to eat, plus most beans because I can't peel the skins off those.

I wouldn't have made it as a vegan this last 3 years. I am glad I went back to eating non-vegan proteins. Though it's sad. I was vegan for compassionate reasons.

[Brillys in reply to Luisa22]

Thats exactly what I've found when trying, again for humane and climate reasons. It must be impossible. Thank you

[BabsyWabsy in reply to Brillys]

Here is a different take on going vegan. The book is worth a read, though the film is more accessible. sacredcow.info/

[Bobb1e]

I tried going fully vegan for more than 2yrs. Unfortunately for me it just made my already small diet even more restrictive. I drink plant milk anyway as I’m dairy intolerant & thought that it wouldn’t be too hard to fully switch over. Too much fiber, everything has chilli in it (a trigger for me) & lots of ‘fake meat’. Lots vegan meals are just as over processed as mainstream foods, with a big reliance on coconut & palm oil in products especially in ice cream. Which is annoying as Alpro used to make a nice basic soya milk ice cream without masses of additives & it’s gone now. I found that for me I made lots of home cooked meals but eating out was very difficult, even in cafes that sold ‘ vegan’ alternatives.

I had a really bad relapse last august which took ages to recover & honestly the only food that helped was an old fashioned home made chicken both with rice. I now eat fish, chicken & eggs. But continue to be dairy free, and of course ratatouille is vegan. A probiotic helps.

At the end of the day, you have to eat what is best for your body to function healthily. You wouldn’t tell a ceoliac to eat bread for ‘vegan ’ reasons. You can still be compassionate in what you buy, eat organic if you can afford it etc . But ultimately don’t beat yourself up about it, it’s what’s best for you that counts.

[Brillys in reply to Bobb1e]

Thank you so much for your comprehensive reply Bobb. I have tried so hard to cut out meat as much as possible and am not a big fish eater but am beginning to realise that I just need to please my gut and not cut myself up about it.

Like you I am lactose intolerant which makes life hard enough, but not being able to tolerate green veg, pulses, funghi , anything too fibrous , peppers, seeds, alliums, makes you feel so restricted. Luckily fine with gluten and rice.

I have gone almost completely organic with meat and the veg I can eat, so feel better about what I'm consuming. Also trying to cut down on red meat, although I do enjoy a steak!

Take a daily probiotic which I'm sure does help.

[Bobb1e in reply to Brillys]

glad I could help a little Brillys. For me, it was a lightbulb moment when my yoga teacher told me she loved a steak. I haven’t got there yet, but I never really liked them anyway. But it was the why am I making life even more difficult for myself , that I decided to change diet. Like you I’ve been dairy intolerant for years & can tolerate some veg & as you know sometimes it can be ok and other times not. I’m famous for carrying my own tea & snacks ; a cheap date 😁 I notice a difference if I miss a probiotic though, so they obviously for help me . You take care and enjoy what you can eat .

[Iggls]

My very slow transit constipation does not tolerate meat, though is ok with fish and the odd single egg. I follow the Fodmap diet very strictly so couldn’t possibly be Vegan, nor would want to. 80% of my light and tasty diet is fruit, veg and luckily, dairy and I seem to have no vitamin deficiencies. So no problem at all with no meat !

[Bralorne]

I completed the low Fodmap diet to help deal with my IBS. The results showed that most vegetables, some fruits and pulses were the cause of the pain, bloating and constant diarrhoea. I now eat mainly protein with very small portions of fruit and veg and am pain free, mostly. I could never ever eat vegan or vegetarian.

[Iesgobdafydd]

I've been vegetarian (not vegan) all my life, so it would have been a lot harder not to be vegetarian when I developed IBS than to carry on cooking and eating the kinds of foods I always had. We're all different in terms of what foods cause us problems, whether we do better increasing our fibre or decreasing it, how severe our symptom are and so on, so it's really irrelevant to your situation that I was able to continue eating vegetarian with IBS. For quite a long time, I was eating the same limited range of things over and over (and taking multivitamin and mineral supplements) - sprouted buckwheat pancakes made with egg and topped with butter, and rice with cheese, red peppers and spinach featured heavily as they happened to be about the most digestible things I could find - and as far as I'm aware restricting my diet did me no harm, but who can say.

I think it's admirable that you've put effort into trying to eat less meat while struggling with IBS, but if it's too difficult for you given your health constraints, I hope you can let it go. Or perhaps you could consider cutting down on meat a little rather than cutting it out completely, or think about selecting the types of meat you eat in a way that minimizes animal suffering and climate damage. Or think about other ways you could act toward these goals.

[Luisa22]

It took me a long time for the penny to drop, but I remember that I actually started to get some "good-ish" days with my gut, once I had stopped trying to eat the foods I had been used to eating for years (which included lots of pulses, capsicums, mushrooms, tomatoes, every veg under the sun, all fruits, and onions in most things I cooked.) I just began to accept that I had to make a radical change to my diet to feel any relief.

Going low fibre at first helped me so much with IBS-D. Then gradually I added vegetables, one or two at a time, until I can now eat 17 different ones. But I have not made a lot of progress with fruit. My best fruit is peeled black grapes. Mostly I'm okay with them, but sometimes not. Other fruits seem to act as a laxative.

[Brillys in reply to Luisa22]

Thank you all for your stories. It makes me feel far less alone in what we all suffer and shows how one title of 'suffering from IBS' certainly doesn't fit all!