IBS-Ds...help!
#201409 - 08/01/05 11:33 AM
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Digby
Reged: 07/31/04
Posts: 453
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Why are oily foods a trigger?
I used to be able to eat chow mein and egg rolls. Now one egg roll gets my tummy burbling.
Usually eggs don't bother me. But I had eggs, potatoes and a biscuit for breakfast and my tummy started to get uncomfortable. Was it the buttermilk in the biscuit? The little bit of butter? The paprika in the potatoes? Or...the eggs. For lunch I had a peanut butter and jelly on a bagel and a piece of See's chocolate. I have this every weekend, no problem. Before dinner I started getting the loosies. For dinner I had veges cooked in wine, garlic and herbs, and the dreaded egg roll. It took two Immodiums, two peppermint-ginger capsules, and my hot pack to tame the burbling beast. Arrgh!
Stress and lack of sleep are usually my triggers. Now it seems that several foods do it too. I'm popping Immodium almost every day. I feel like I'm cheating! Don't you wish you could just eat normally again?
I've gained back a few pounds and I'm desperately trying to hang onto them. I'm almost on the body mass index chart now!
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i don't know *why* fatty foods are a trigger - i don't know if anyone knows why certain foods are, but i find fatty foods to be up there with coffee for me. the whole gastrocolic reflex. it's hardcore.
i'd just say that the fatty foods are quite possibly trigerring your attacks, rather than the spices or something else. it really sucks to have to eat like a sick person, but there are ways to make it work - low-fat peanut butter, for example. there seems to be a lot of sneaky fat in the meals you listed - egg yolks, biscuits, butter, peanut butter, chocolate. (garlic and other harsh spices can also be tricky.) if you're trying to gain weight, i'd look for calories in other places - lean meat, grains, even some sugar. fat can be *really* hard on an ibs system, and the pain just isn't worth it.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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So true about the hidden fats. I usually eat low-fat (except for the peanut butter). But I'm finding that I don't get enough fat, which isn't good. Dr. Weil had an article recently about how not enough fat can lead to gallstones. I guess we just need to find the right fats, and the right balance.
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yeah, and making sure that the fats aren't on an empty stomach, and are mixed with other foods, like sf. i find fried foods are way too much to handle, but i can take low-fat peanut butter or mayonaise on a sandwich, a little olive oil in cooking, or a tiny bit of margarine on toast. there are also foods like avocados and soy products that have fats in them that i find are easier on my stomach.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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1. I think that Dr. Weil is a hyper-publicized media doctor and only "one" trendy opinion with an M.D.
2. Personally, I don't add a drop of fat to food. This does not mean that I do not get fat in my diet. The fat is naturally occurring, though minimal, in the food itself.
3. Fat is a HUGE D/attack trigger for me and I avoid it in all forms.
4. If you want to "gain" weight add ultra lean safe protein to your diet, exercise, and safe complex carbohydrates.
5. I think that the "fats" being advertised--note, ADVERTISED-- are just that: hype. It's trendy thinking and also if it triggers an attack and unwellness then it's doing more harm than good, anyways.
Kate, IBS-D.
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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian
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--------------------
[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Quote:
But I had eggs, potatoes and a biscuit for breakfast and my tummy started to get uncomfortable. Was it the buttermilk in the biscuit? The little bit of butter? The paprika in the potatoes? Or...the eggs.
OMG!! Just reading this made my tummy churn! And no, it wasn't the paprika! Biscuits are WAY high in fat, not to mention the dairy in them! (Way sad, I know! I love biscuits.) Add the egg yolks on top of them (I'm assuming since you didn't say egg whites) and you got yourself one big fat-bomb.
SOME fat is needed, but this meal would have me running to the bathroom all day, no doubt.
HTH. Keep trying,
Myra
PS Check the fat in your egg rolls, too. I think they might be high as well.
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IBS-D
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Evidently you need fat to help digest protein. I was eating low-fat everything, plus with the D, I'm looking anorexic from the weight loss.
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I like Dr. Weil because he's not strictly a Western medicine doctor. I'm a big believer in alternative medicine. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but have heard about the fat issue from nutritionists and other doctors as well (not just Weil). For me, a low fat diet is unhealthy. Fried foods, however, are definately a no-no. For me.
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There is enough fat in the protein to digest itself. Nothing, except water is ultra fat free. Whether the substance is a banana or a bowl of strawberries or a boneless skinnless chicken breast...there is enough fat--even in trace amounts--for the food to digest itself. Something like salmon, or an avocado NATURALLY has occuring fats to digest the food. (Try "skimming" an avocado!)
I maintain that this society is geared/programmed to greasy/fatty thinking and customs/habits.
Kate, IBS-D.
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Well, as always, I think you need to pick your guru. Heather's diet is low-fat because fat is a terrible trigger for IBS. I know there was a fad for the "Nourishing Traditions" idea where we were all supposed to eat soups made with marrow bones and I suspect that - having exhausted the public's enthusiasm for whole grain/olive oil/soy - alternative medicine gurus are now recycling those ideas. (What can I say? I'm old. Fads come, they go, they come back.) That was of eating certainly sounds yummy, but it would just kill my stomach.
Heather recommends no more than 25% of calories from fat. I don't think that's super-low. Dr. Dean Ornish, who's about as alternative as they get, would probably faint at the thought of getting that much fat.
I suggest you try following Heather's diet and see if your IBS gets better. You can get fat from a variety of sources other than the trigger foods and if you stay at or below 25% per meal/snack, I think you'll be getting plenty of fat and still be able to manage your IBS.
And I agree with Myra - I'd probably be dead if I ate what you described.
HTH.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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...with the greasy comment. Deep-fried foods (yes, even the dreaaded Dr. Weil says so,) are not healthy. However, we all need some fat in our diet, as Heather says. I was not getting enough healthy fats, even from her diet.
Thanks to Heather, a lot of IBS sufferers have found relief from her special diet. Thanks to Dr. Weil, sufferers of many different diseases have found relief due to his integrative medicine approach (the best of both Eastern and Western medicine). I'm grateful to them both.
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Hi Digby... I'm going to side with Wind and Sand on this one I think. I'm just not sure why exactly you say that a low fat diet is not healthy "for you". Is it because you've read that you need more fats, or because you've tried this diet and it made you feel unhealthy?
Like Sand said, 20-25% is not really that low at all in the grand scheme of things. In fact, most mainstream and gov't nutritionists recommend that the general population get no higher than 30%. And if you want to talk to Dr. Ornish, as Sand mentioned, 10% is a much heart-healthier way to eat.
If you're looking to have the healthiest possilble diet, to me that means listening to the majority of nutritionists out there and finding a happy medium - and from the looks of it that's pretty darn close to what Heather recommends re: amount of fat in your diet.
However, to me, even more important for living my healthiest life is eating to control my IBS; no matter how "healthy" i.e. eat (i.e. whole grains and plant oils all day!) if my IBS is not stable, I'm not healthy. Period. And for me, that means eating lower fat, and I don't feel any less healthy for it - I feel more healthy. Frankly, I'd be in the bathroom all day if I ate the amount of fat you eat! 
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I've obviously miscommunicated my regular eating habits, so I thought I'd clarify things before I get another post about my high-fat diet.
I have followed Heather's diet. During the worst of times, the bland diet works great. It's when I tried following the regular eating suggestions that I got into trouble. I lost so much weight that it was a danger to my health. I was leery of eating any fat becuase of all the experiences I had read about on this website. So I went overboard, cutting waaaay back on fats. A nutritionist advised that I add some fat in my diet, such as avocados and almond butter. Both of those things don't give me problems. Nor do eggs (as long as I don't eat them with fried potatoes!) I can also eat salad (loaded with plain pasta noodles and a side of french bread) without a problem, if I limit it to a couple of times a week.
Then I went overboard, thinking I could eat a regular breakfast, like I have in on occasion. I believe that t was the fried taters, possibly the buttermilk biscuit, and the greasy egg roll for dinner that did it. I've also found that in general, too many carbs are hard for me to digest.
The trick now is to increase my healthy fats to a level that's right for me. I'm also going to eliminate, for a week, foods that I'm supposedly allergic to (according to tests). Those are wheat, yeast, egg whites, milk and soy. I know, a true elimination diet would be for a month, but I'm going to experiment with a week to begin. Then I'll introduce the foods back in my diet one at a time and see how I feel. Except for dairy...I haven't eaten that in 20 years.
I also exercise regularly...swimming, hiking, dancing.
Thanks for your comments and concerns.
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