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IBS Books > Eating for IBS >
Chapters > A New Way to Eat
A New Way to Eat for IBS ~ Trigger Foods
The fundamental idea of eating for IBS is to avoid foods that trigger or irritate a spastic colon via the gastrocolic reflex that occurs when food enters the stomach, and to eat foods that soothe and regulate the colon. This will relieve and prevent the lower abdominal pain or cramps from IBS diarrhea and constipation, as well as gas, nausea, and bloating or swelling. This is best accomplished by strictly limiting the amount of dietary fat (the single most difficult digestive tract burden), eating soluble fiber consistently with every snack and meal, eliminating coffee, carbonated beverages, and alcohol, being very careful with insoluble fiber, and avoiding overeating by having frequent small meals instead of large ones. It is also important to avoid cigarettes, as tobacco wreaks havoc on the digestive tract. Click here for a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Eating for IBS diet.
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Trigger Foods - Warning! Eat at Your Own Risk
The most difficult foods for the body to digest are fats and animal products. As a result, they are the most powerful IBS triggers for abdominal pain and bowel dysfunction (BOTH constipation and diarrhea), and you must strictly limit or, preferably, eliminate most of these foods from your diet altogether. Will this require an enormous change in the way you eat? Probably. But it is a change for the better, and we will walk together through the steps needed to make this change as easily and deliciously as possible.
Fat is quite simply the single greatest digestive tract stimulant. When food enters your stomach and upper GI tract, it triggers the gastrocolic reflex, which cues your lower colon to start contracting. Fat will trigger this reflex more powerfully than any other category of food. While this is normally something that would simply result in a a bowel movement,it is paradoxically likely to cause problems for people with IBS constipation OR diarrhea. This is because people with IBS do not have a normal gastrocolic reflex response, and their colons tend to spasm irregularly and often violently. In people prone to constipation, if those spasms are too strong they'll actually "seize up" the colon in a type of charley horse, and motility can halt altogether. This will cause severe pain from the ongoing cramping of the colon, and it wll also result in or worsen constipation, because motility has shut down and fecal matter is not moving through. Only when the muscles finally relax will you begin to feel a little better, but it can take quite a while after suffering such violent spasms for normal colonic motility to return.
In a corollary way high fat foods also typically worsen IBS diarrhea, as the muscle spasms triggered by fats result in gut contractions so fast and hard they rush matter through the colon, without enough time for water to be absorbed. This causes pain from the spasms and diarrhea from the hypermotility. So, though it sounds odd, high fat foods are triggers for BOTH diarrhea AND constipation if you have IBS, as they are each a possible result of the gastrocolic reflex gone awry.
When it comes to reducing or eliminating the high fat trigger foods from your diet, I sympathize tremendously with you. At first glance these changes can seem overwhelming and just too difficult, as by nature most of us are resistant to any great transformations of our lives. It is almost always easier to not alter a habit, simply because inertia takes less effort than action.
However, I really cannot stress enough that the changes in diet required for IBS do NOT equal deprivation. You will not be expected to simply give up all the foods you love, and offered a tasteless starvation diet in return. These changes are in fact a terrific opportunity for a better life, as you can easily learn how to eat safely for IBS without giving up an ounce flavor, fun, favorite restaurants, or delicious home cooking. It is simply a matter of substitution, of replacing trigger foods with safe choices. Remember that the only thing you're really giving up here is the constant worry and dread of attacks, as well as the abdominal pain (both left and right side spasms), bowel dysfunction, and agony they cause.
Please note that individual tolerances for IBS trigger foods may vary. The following list is comprehensive and should include all potential dietary sources of trouble from fats or GI irritants. You may find through experimentation that you have a higher degree of tolerance for some of these foods than others, but you're better off simply eliminating almost all of them.
Red Meat (Beef, Pork, Lamb, etc.)
Poultry Dark Meat and Skin
Dairy Products
Egg Yolks
Fried Foods
Coconut Milk
Oils, Shortening, Butter, Fats
Solid Chocolate
Coffee, Regular and Decaffeinated
Alcohol
Carbonated Beverages
Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial Fats
Caffeine
As an aside here, while it's crucial to maintain a low fat diet in order to manage IBS, it's equally important that you do not go fat free. Your body needs healthy fats in order to function. Keep your fat intake to 20% - 25% of your total calories, and make your fats count. They should be monounsaturated and contain essential fatty acids, so choose fat sources such as olive oil, canola oil, avocados, finely ground nuts, fatty fish, flax oil, etc. Because all fats, even heart-healthy choices, are still potential IBS triggers, please follow the Eating for IBS guidelines detailed in the Diet Strategy chapter.
Click here to continue reading Eating for IBS ~ What's All This About Fiber?
Wondering if the Eating for IBS diet info really helps? Click here to see what people have to say.
All content is copyrighted by Heather Van Vorous and MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED without permission.
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