Diet for IBS

Eating the Right Foods Helped Me

Here are the tips I found helpful for getting rid of my gas and bloating. I do believe that everyone is different and has different dietary requirements, but these are the tips I personally found helpful. (They overlap somewhat with my fibromyalgia diet tips, so you may want to read that section, too.)

The diet tips that worked for me to help with IBS were:

• Cut back on sugar.
  
  
• Cut back on foods with yeast, especially yeast breads.
  
  
• Take probiotics when needed.
  
  
• Cut back on dairy products, especially milk. Limited amounts of yogurt with active cultures and without sugar are okay.
  
  
• Emphasize soup with meat, beans and non-starchy vegetables.
  
  
• Go easy on spicy foods.
  
  
• Avoid grains, corn and rice.
  
  
• Avoid raw vegetables and fruit unless eaten with an acidic or active culture dressing such as Ranch made with buttermilk.
  
  
• Keep a diet diary - most important!

1. I cut back on sugar as much as possible. This is the number one thing that had helped me to not have as many stomach problems. My family also has a lot less colds, sinus infections, bronchitis, etc. when we don't have much sugar in our diets. Evidently, pathogenic yeast and bacteria thrive on pure sugar.

2. I took probiotics to restore the proper flora in my GI tract. I've noticed that if I take too much probiotic supplements I put on weight and develop heartburn. I think in this case I probably have too much stomach acid and may be digesting my foods too well. So I just take probiotics on occasion when I have any kinds of signs of a yeast infection or digestive upset. Or, as an alternative to probiotic suplpements, I eat yogurt with active cultures. Currently I buy a big contain of Mountain High brand yogurt each week and keep it in the fridge. I have a little bit each day, and an extra dose if I feel my stomach getting upset.

I've put on weight these days since I changed my diet, and now I have to diet and exercise just like everyone else when I want to lose weight. But I've never wanted to lose weight bad enough to go back to my old high carb diet and have my old health problems return along with the yeast overgrowth.

3. I cut back on dairy products, except for yogurt with active cultures. Some cheese now and then seems to work out okay, and it seems better if the cheese is in something cooked like a casserole or taco. But low fat dairy products, especially cold dairy products like low fat milk really seem to cause digestive upsets for me. I grew up drinking low fat milk with Carnation instant breakfast mix every morning. The breakfast mix has a lot of sugar in it, so looking back I think this may have been a real yeast feeding diet for me when I was younger.

In case you are wondering if I get enough calcium, the answer is that I do. I had a nutritional deficiency test and an osteoporosis test done last year and my bone strength and calcium levels are fine, even though I'm in my forties and have many high risk factors for osteoporosis. (See my section on osteoporosis diet for more information on this.)