Quote:

---

My biggest problem is that I am so confused with all this new information. A lot of it goes against everything I have been teaching myself for the past 3 years. I have been trying to convert my family to a mostly organic whole food diet. Thats not to say we dont "cheat" and eat out or eat desserts, but we try to eat at least 50% organic.
There's no reason you can't keep eating organic on the Eating For IBS Diet. In fact, a lot of people on the Boards try to eat pretty much organic and there's at least one poster who won't touch anything but organic foods.

The IBS diet is going to take me some time to digest. I have not been allowing myself to eat white bread - I thought that was the enemy.
Well, you can take a look at this and see if it helps a little with that feeling. And you might read this, too, to understand better that the EFI Diet doesn't mean eating nothing but mushy stuff for the rest of your life: web page. Page down to "The Five Constipation Frustrations" and look especially at the second one.

If I may be permitted a minor rant, I've never understood why so many people think The Mediterranean Diet is great, what the Japanese eat is great, what the Chinese eat is great, and then turn up their noses at white bread and white rice.

I am also confused about the "low-fat" stuff that is suggested. I don't like bottled dressings filled with preservatives so I make my own salad dressings with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Why would eating a bottled Low fat dressing be better than that?
If you have IBS your gut simply cannot tolerate a lot of fat. And your gut doesn't care how "good" the fat is - it just doesn't like it. However, there's no law that says you have to eat low-fat bottled dressing - I certainly never do. You'll have to experiment for yourself and see how much oil your body will handle - and how much salad for that matter.

In general, eating a raw salad is Advanced Eating For IBS - it's tough IF to handle until you've got your gut settled down a little bit. I was on the EFI Diet for 6 months before I tried salads but I now do pretty well with them. And I use extra-virgin olive oil on mine but I can't overdo it. And, again, I wouldn't recommend the salad or the oil-based dressing until you've gotten your IBS under better control.

Also I have been eating yogurt cuz I thought that was supposed to be good for the flora in your colon and would help me. I don't see any suggestions for eating yogurt or if its a trigger food cuz it's dairy.
It's discussed in the FAQ: web page

I hope this isn't too confusing.... cuz right now my head is spinning thinking I have to re-learn how to eat at the age of 47 and how will I do that with the influences I have and always will have around me.
I learned to eat this way at 50. For me it simply came down to misery. I was so horribly sick and this offered the chance to feel better. And the EFI Diet is NOT an unhealthy way to eat. Yes, you need a Soluble Fiber base for meals and snacks but that doesn't mean you should eat nothing but white bread, white rice, and white potatoes. Especially since you're a C, you very much need Insoluble Fiber. You'll have to find your own balance of SF and IF, but except for the trigger foods nothing is off limits. It's just a matter of what your gut will accept.

Can someone help me and give me some insight or just tell me how to start slowly and not overwhelm myself.
First, make sure you've done the required reading. You can find it on the main Message Board page or you can look at this to be sure you've hit it all.

After that, you can go one of two different ways. First, you can cut back to all SF foods for a few days (Break The Cycle), then start adding in safe protein, some fat, and IF carefully. Second, you can take a look at what you're eating now and do some substitutions. For example, if lunch is a roast beef sandwich on a whole grain roll with mayonnaise, try a roast chicken sandwich on a white roll with low-fat mayo or mustard or chutney. The white roll is your SF base - make sure you also eat some IF in the form of fruits or veggies.

This is one of my very favorite posts - it's how someone with IBS-C eats what certainly seems like a perfectly healthy diet and does well IBS-wise. Maybe her menu will give you some ideas.

---