IBS is a very common condition, affecting about a third of us at some point in our life. It’s not life threatening, but it will definitely threaten to throw your daily plans out of the window if you’re suffering with some symptoms.

I’m yet to meet a person who doesn’t like to eat, so it’s unfortunate that so many of us should be at the hands of a condition which is often triggered by food, and usually our favourite ones at that. But to see the glass as half full, this knowledge makes it easier for us to control our IBS, and there are some simple steps we can take to do this.

Get Your Pen and Paper Out Detective

Since IBS is a condition which comes and goes, we should probably try and work out what we did just before it arrived. To do this we should channel our inner ten year old and buy a new diary, or look at online/application logging tools. This time we won’t be writing love notes, but writing down everything that we ate and when, any symptoms we had and when, and if we were stressed much that day. This way we can reflect back over the days and try to identify any patterns between foods and symptoms, in the hope of identifying any food sources which trigger our IBS. But remember, if you think you’ve found some triggers don’t go making lots of changes at once, make one change at a time and continue with the diary, that way you’ll know which one it is.

Let’s Pay More Attention To How We Eat 

• Have an eating schedule and let your body know what the routine is. Instead of having erratic meals and snacks here and there, aim to have three regular meal times, with snacks in-between as needed.
• Take your time when you eat, think of it as the last supper. A lot of us are too busy watching the TV when we eat, wolfing our food down in a few gulps. Instead take the time to actually chew your food down, this will make it easier for your body to digest, because it could do with a helping hand right now.
• Make sure you eat your tea at a socially acceptable hour. Eating a large meal just before bed time won’t do our digestion any favours, and it might make for some uncomfortable sleeping.

What Are We Drinking?

Let’s not forget that digestion and IBS isn’t all about food, because fluids are invited to the party too. They have an important role in helping food pass through the body quietly, and if you have diarrhoea you’ll need to replace the fluids that you’ve lost. Stray away from your favourite caffeinated drinks if you have diarrhoea though, because they’ll probably make it worse. Instead opt for water, caffeine free drinks, and no sugar added squash.

Now Let’s Pay Attention To What We Eat

Channel your inner chef and cook from scratch, find your favourite ready meals and make them yourself instead. Often convenience foods contain a lot of ingredients that are troublesome for the digestive system, with or without IBS.

What Can I Do When I Have Diarrhoea?

• Stop eating lots of high fibre foods like wholegrain bread, brown rice,nuts, beans, and dried fruits. This may be the only time you’ll hear me say this, but switch to low fibre alternatives like white bread, white rice, rich tea biscuits, and rice and corn based cereals until your symptoms have cleared.
• Avoid cruciferous and raw vegetables, instead go for cooked root vegetables with their skin peeled off.
• Limit your fruit intake to 3 per day and remove the skin. This is the only time you will be excused from 5 a day so enjoy it.
• Stay away from fatty, re-heated, and processed foods. Then referring to the above section, continue to stay away from these foods, they’re no good for any of us. Instead try to grill or bake your foods instead of frying, opting for reduced fat alternatives.

What Can I Do When I Have Constipation?

• Gradually increase your fibre intake irrespective of your motivation to take on your IBS. Sudden jumps in fibre intake could make your symptoms much worse.
• This includes whole grains, fruit and vegetables, and oats.

Keep Your Doctor In The Loop 

This is the last and most important step. Don’t go making any rash decisions and changes without talking it through with your doctor. Eliminating whole foods and especially whole food groups might not always be the best option for you and your IBS, and your doctor can tell you what’s best for you and your IBS.

So this was a whistle stop tour of eating when you have IBS, but by no means a conclusive guide. If you want to learn more about how you can help to control your IBS make sure that you speak to your doctor and only consult some reputable sources like NHS choices.

Faye Prior (Researcher)

Sources

http://www.gwh.nhs.uk/media/140791/ibs_self_help_diet_sheet.pdf

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/incontinence-bowel/documents/nice%20guidelines%20ibs.pdf