Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Well I'm not a college student anymore, but I'm answering anyway. My IBS didn't hit until my senior year, when I was already living off campus, and I didn't even know that IBS existed so I was not eating Heather's diet ... but I WAS an incredibly picky eater when I was living on campus, and I got pretty creative in the caf.
My caf had a station for eggs, and eggbeaters were always available. Those are a safe option. Have them with toast, english muffins, or bagels. Use margarine if available, not butter. If they don't have egg beaters, just separate out the egg whites and use those.
There is almost always some sort of boneless, skinless, grilled chicken available, either by the sandwich/wraps area, or served in some kind of prepared dish. If your only chicken option is one in a prepared dish, very nicely ask the caf workers if there are any cooked breasts that have not been added to the recipe, and get your hands on those. If you kill them with kindness, they will help you. On days that nothing looked good, I always ate cereal. I've never liked milk so I always ate it dry, which you should do if they don't have soy/rice alternatives. We had a stir-fry station at our caf too, and I ate that all the time, though I'd be careful now with veggies. Plain baked potatoes are always safe -- you can dress them up with ketchup. I'd say that pasta is safe too, as long as it hasn't been coated in oil, which is likely. We used to be able to make our own pizzas, and if you can do that, then just leave off the cheese for a pretty safe snack. Also sandwiches are super safe. Stick to chicken or turkey, with mustard (no mayo, no lettuce, light tomoatoes). Stay away from the ever-popular salad bar, unless you've already had a meal high in SFS. Then you can have a tiny bit of salad at the end of your meal. Just don't go overboard, and use only Fat Free dressing. If you have any kind of Asian options, check those out. Obviously stay away from anything fried or greasy, but rice is great, as are steamed vegetarian dumplings. A good rule of thumb for surviving the caf is to think during the afternoon about what you'd like to have for dinner that night, then go to the caf and make it happen. Sometimes this means getting a piece of chicken from the grilled chicken sandwich area, and topping it with spaghetti sauce from the pasta area, you know? If you can get plain tuna -- not tuna salad -- from the salad bar, you can use it to top some plain pasta for a yummy change. If there are seasonings available, be generous with all kinds of italian seasonings, lemon pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, whateve you like. Think of the caf as a grocery store, and don't be afraid to take a little from here, a little from there, and put together your menu. You don't have to be limited to the combinations they suggest. If there are hard-boiled eggs at the salad bar, you can always just throw out the yolks and eat the whites with margarine on toast. Yum!
I know that the IBS diet feels really limiting when you have to pass up a lot of options in the caf, but remember that everyone, even those not on a special diet, finds the caf repetitive and boring, and ends up eating the same thing every night.
On the nights when you go to the caf and there is NOTHING to eat, go home and make some Ramen in your microwave. It's not much of a gourmet meal, but most of the varieties are safe (the chicken-based or seafood-based ones), and it only takes a few minutes. I only use half the seasoning pack though, because there is SO MUCH sodium in those things, I feel like I'm retaining the atlantic.
I hope this helps -- a lot of us have gone through this and I'm sure a lot of people have some really good suggestions.
Best,
Panda

--------------------
Amanda

I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator