How do other C-IBSers figure out which insoluble foods affect them positively vs negatively
#105330 - 09/12/04 01:01 PM
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lithelady
Reged: 08/15/03
Posts: 339
Loc: Novato, CA
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I'm really curious how C-IBSers determine which insoluble foods they can and can't eat and how much to eat of the ones they can eat. I know the general advice is to take it slow and eat only small amounts but my confusion is about how to tell when I've eaten one that's bad for me. I don't get any onset of sudden sharp pain and cramps like D-IBSers do shortly after they eat something wrong for them.
Thanks!
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Many years of C-IBS and pain too for past 2 years-
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Yes, I do think it's more difficult for us in C world to try to get a handle on our dietary do's and don't's. Although I don't by a long shot have everything figured out yet, here are a few observations I've been able to make:
Unlike some D people, we don't get instantaneous feedback. I have begun to observe that what I eat will manifest itself in good or bad ways in 12-24 hours. For instance, last week I experimented with taking a calcium supplement. I actually took it for about three days before realizing that it was really binding me up (sorry to get kinda graphic), then had to wait another 4 days or so before its effects were completely gone.
Another suggestion I can make is to eat very simply when you are in the phase of determining what's working and what ain't. Say you want to try out brown rice. Then have a snack of just a bowl of brown rice and nothing else, and see how it sits.
Hope that's at least a little helpful to you...
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hello from a fellow ibs c'er!!!
well when you are ibs c, it takes longer, sometimes much longer to identify trigger and heres what you do!!
take yourself back to basics...identify a few foods that you KNOW are safe for you ie for me this is my list:
white bread, wholewheat bread, toast crackers, cooked carrots, sweet potato, potato, white rice, brown rice, applesauce,mangos, bananas, peaches without skin, oatmeal, small amounts of tehina, chicken breast.
I then eat only those foods until I stabilise and reach a point of regular bowel movements with little or no other symptoms ie almost be like a normal person! (I know its not a totally balanced diet, but its not for the long term).
Now here is the important bit: ibs c is like balancing act. you NEED the insol fibre, but not an overdose causing lots of bloating etc so its so important (and this take a lot of the time) to establish how much of each you can eat.
eg I know that if I have more then one whole white pitta bread in one day I am going to be backed up. but I also know if I have more then one wholewheat pitta in one day i am going to be uncomfortable. so I only have one of each!!! :-) no more, no less and also limit that as my wheat intake for the day!
I find white rice very very clogging, so I mainly stick with brown rice.
I know I cannot have more then three pieces of fruit a day.
You may also find wholewheat is better on an empty stomach then on a base of white bread or vice versa.
Once you have reached what feels like stability for you (it took me about a month of just eating the above and playing around with the ratios) then you start to add in one new food every 72 hours. I know its a long time scale but it is the only way to be 100% sure of whether something disagreed with you.
I get excited and nervous to reintroduce new foods...there are nasty surprises (eg I can't tolerate sugar boo hoo) and great ones (I can have olive oil!!!).
This is my foolproof way of reaching liberation with ibs c...it takes loads of time, focus and determination...and some tears....but it really works.
hope i helped!
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Feel the fear and do it anyway!
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yep...totally agree with that...don't make a big dish out of any of the basic foods you are having....have them in their purest form....ie not chicken breast in a complicated sauce etc
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Feel the fear and do it anyway!
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Hi PT and DL,
many thanks to both of you! that's alot of info to digest so I'm printing it all out. Right now it feels overwhelming so I'm sure I'll have more questions later. Really appreciate that you both shared that it's not easy, sigh....... now I have to accept this truth and just do it! LL
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Many years of C-IBS and pain too for past 2 years-
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Hey!
I'm an IBS-A person, so I never really know what'll come up. But I also tend to not get that iinstant feedback on something. Its about a good 6-12 hours before something bad usually manifests in a bad BM. So it has made it incredible difficult to find what foods are triggers for me. I have to go back and look at the whole day and think of what I had today that I didnt have yesterday. Sometimes it is easy to say "must have been that", but sometimes you might have had a little of a few things. Or even something you've had a few times already. THAT'S when it gets frustrating. Ive had IBS symptoms for nearly a year and I'm still pretty restricyed in what I eat. Its a slow process for sure, but it beats the alternative I think. 
Hope you find your groove.
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