I've heard a lot of similar stories, about different triggers, from many people. It's always best to totally remove something (whether red meat, dairy, alcohol, etc.) first, get stabilized, and see how you do. Then you can verrrry carefully try (if you still want to) to add a little of the trigger back in to see how it affects you. This will really give people the info they need about how their bodies are going to respond to trigger foods.
What worries me is when someone doesn't take this step, and (like you said) just assumes that something isn't bothering them so they keep it in their diet, and keep suffering the consequences.
I think this is usually most common with the foods people really don't want to give up - a juicy steak, favorite cheese, ice cream, solid chocolate, that glass of wine before dinner. And I can totally understand and sympathize here!
So often with IBS I think it comes down to information being the key - the more you know, the better you can control the problem. But you have to take the steps (not always fun ones) to gain some of that knowledge in the first place, and then you can go from there.
Shanna, I admire you for going through this whole process first (what a time-consuming hassle, eh?) and then making your decisions accordingly. And Belinda, I admire you for questioning your own assumptions and taking action on something that required a real struggle (and I'm thrilled you got such a happy surprise as a result of your efforts!).
You guys are both such helpful and sympathetic voices on this board - thank you for that!
- Heather
-------------------- Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Belinda, this is a really good point for folks to consider...
