Vegan and IBS

Anyone out there that is a Vegan and has IBS. If so, do you suffer, how do you get on?

[benwl Volunteer]

I think i've replied to you about this before

Quick summary: was diagnosed with C type IBS, saw dietician, went on FODMAP diet with increased fibre which helped, then switched to current low fat vegan diet (at my own initiative) which continues to help. I found on the vegan diet i've been able to reintroduce foods like onions which were formally triggers.

Mostly i'm fine - just occasionally i feel it returning, for example if i'm on holiday and my diet has changed a bit, and then upping the fibre and keeping the fat down makes it go away.

I think stress was also a trigger - i try to keep active, lots of yoga and dance as well as mediation to stay calm.

[Hidden in reply to benwl]

Actually benwl I think you have. My reasoning for posing the question is because I had a couple of awful bouts of IBS and not my normal symptoms i.e. I had diarrhoea as well as intense nausea - I thought I had a tummy bug. I am almost certain it was my homemade Vegan Cheese as the symptoms came on suddenly on Sunday night (Sunday lunchtime was the first time I had eaten my cheese (I made it a couple of weeks ago but had frozen it); I had the cheese again on Monday lunchtime and again on Tuesday. Monday night was the worst night but fortunately once the diarrhoea had stopped I was able to get to sleep and go to work the next day albeit feeling a little delicate and tired. It was when I had my lunch on the Tuesday and within about 1/2 an hour of eating the cheese I started to feel yukky, that's when I thought it must be the cheese. Fortunately during my lunch hour I went to the shops and bought some Optibac Probiotics and Yogi Stomach Ease tea bags, the tea bags have been a lifesaver, I started to feel better within about 1/2 an hour.

I was diagnosed with IBS back in 1996 but they didn't have a type C or D or both back then but I figured out over the years that I tended to err on C and sometimes I would be normal, although I have always suffered with the pain.

You have said you are on a low fat Vegan diet, does that mean that you are not eating much in the way of nuts/oils/coconut milk etc? I would be interested to hear what kind of foods you eat.

I also keep active and cycle a fair bit and I also love both power and hill walking, in fact I absolutely love walking up the mountains in the Lake District, my idea of heaven. What I don't practise is yoga and I keep saying that I ought to find a class locally and I think that's what I really need to do.

[Agoodenough in reply to Hidden]

Poor you. I know nothing about IBS. Glad you are not deterred (and walking in the Lake District is my idea of heaven too). Hope things are continuing to settle down for you.

[Hidden in reply to Agoodenough]

Thank you Ali for your lovely reply.

I'm much better now thank you and am having my Gut Healing Soup tonight and the Yogi Stomach Ease tea bags I bought this week which are amazing😀. Lake District is amazing. X

[benwl Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

Thats a long time to be living with IBS. I'm sorry to hear that. In terms of types and things they do know a lot more, but it's still just a diagnosis they give if someone has a persistant stomach pains that they can't find any other explanation of. Which is why people can have radically different experiences of it.

For the low fat diet, I basically have to cook from scratch so I can control the ingredients, and I don't add any oils or fats during the cooking process. So I dry fry (using a little water or vinegar to stop sticking) for example. I have 1 brazil nut a day! and sometimes some other nuts, and add seeds to salads, and have ground flaxseeds or chiaseeds in my overnight oats or green smoothies etc (and overnight oats or porridge is just made with water and not milk). For dressing on a salads i usually use balsamic vinegar. I have been experimenting with liquidised cauliflower, and potatoes to try and get a 'creamy' ingredient.

For my first year or so of being vegan I had no plant milks or cheeses at all. But now i do treat myself to oat or soy milk in coffee, and occasionally some vegan cheese.

I must emphasis that fats are essential in the diet and I'm not trying to eliminate them altogether. The advice of the "plant doctors" (Esselstyn, Cambell, Ornish, Macdougal etc) is for around 10% of calories to be fats. For me that about 20g in total per day, so with 1 tablespoon of oil having 14g, if I were to cook with added oils, i've easily blown my fat allowance before i've started! For comparison 100g of oats has about 7g, and adding flaxseeds with takes it up a bit.

It sounds like you do plenty of exercise, so maybe yoga wouldn't add much to that. However I do a lot of yin yoga, where the poses are held for longer (30secs to many minutes), and I have absolutely no evidence to support this, but I think maybe doing that massages or stimulates the stomach and might be helping my IBS. (I've made so many diet and lifestyle changes its hard to separate the effects of them).

[Hidden in reply to benwl]

Hi benwl , thank you for the comprehensive response which no really appreciate. I used to dry fry things and still sometimes do so think I may go back to that.

I'm using oat milk at the mo which is a commercial one as I'm not home much at the moment, hence the late reply (sorry) as the signal has been shocking.

My tummy seems to have settled down now thank goodness, which I'm really pleased about.

Your diet is very healthy and you have certainly worked hard at it that's for sure. I agree that fats are essential and following a plant based diet they do tend to be more of the good fats. How interesting experimenting with creamed cauliflower and potatoes. I do love nuts but have cut down on them as too many isn't good at all. I also love balsamic vinegar, I think it certainly adds flavour. I also mainly cook from scratch apart from at the moment as I'm away from my kitchen.

Thanks for your tips on yoga and how long you hold a position. I think this will relax my tummy and mind.

All the very best to you with your diet.😀

[Hidden]

Hi Alicia, I read that when going vegan it can take time for our bodies to adjust so here's a link that may interest you, its vegan FODMAP foods. I have microscopic colitis and keep it under control with diet and what interests me is I eat everything listed except oats.

livekindly.co/vegan-ibs-low...

I hope that your stomach settles down soon as you're doing so well. 😊

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi Jerry, thank you very much for the link, I will have a look at that. I've just looked at your condition and it's surprising on how many gut conditions are very similar. I seem to be able to eat oats so I am now making oat milk.

I'm certainly not about to give up on being a Vegan, I'm really enjoying the foods apart, of course, from my homemade Vegan Cheese as this seems have been a cause for a flare up I had on Sunday and Monday.

Alicia

[andyswarbs Volunteer]

Gojiman on youtube goes into this extensively. Well worth watching. He makes a case study of vegetablepolice who went to live in Thailand to help heal his gut and has recently stopped being vegan.

[benwl Volunteer in reply to andyswarbs]

I don't normally watch videos - but i watched a few in the gojiman vs vegetablepolice series and the whole thing is thoroughly depressing. Its a shame that gojiman is thinking of stopping the videos because of the negativity, but hearing him describe mcdougall as a p*k doesn't exactly endear him to me. The internet seem to bring out the worst in many people.

It would be great to read his book though.

[Hidden in reply to benwl]

It would be good to read and I haven't seen a video of him but will.

[Hidden in reply to andyswarbs]

I'll have a look at that.