Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

I know how you feel -- I also got sticker shock the first time I tried to shop for "special" foods. It's also very hard and dismaying at first to try and read ingredients to figure out what's okay.

To answer your specific questions:

- rice cakes: some of them may be safe -- you'll need to read the ingredient list. I think many of the Quaker rice cake flavors have dairy. (The peanut butter chocolate chip ones are fabulous but they do have dairy.) Some rice cakes are also made with brown rice, which might bother you if you're still very sensitive. Another thing to check for is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and artificial sweeteners.
- cereal: Cornflakes might be okay, but corn does have some insoluble fiber (IF), so if you're still stabilizing you might have a hard time eating it first thing. You also need to check the ingredient list for dairy or HFCS. Same goes for the graham cereal -- graham crackers are partially made with whole wheat flavor, which is insoluble fiber and must be handled with care.
- turkey hot dogs: The only turkey hot dogs I've found that are safe are Ballpark smoked white turkey franks. You can recognize them by the green label and the exorbitant price. I've never found a Wal-Mart that carries them, but our SuperTarget does and they often go on sale for $2.50 a package, which is more palatable for me.
- bacon: I've never tried any fake bacons so I'm not sure about this. When I do use turkey bacon, I use Jennie-O's extra-lean turkey bacon. It doesn't do much for me crumbled in recipes, but if you nuke it in the microwave until it gets crispy it's pretty good eaten alone or on bread.

(If you are in doubt of a food -- the best thing to do is to post the ingredient list and the numbers of calories & grams of fat per serving. From that someone should be able to tell you if it looks do-able.)

I'd recommend starting out slow with the new foods, though -- start yourself on a basic diet and start adding new foods in slowly. It's boring, but it's a good way to know your limitations and your triggers.

There are some "borderline" triggers that may or may not bother everyone. For example, some people are very sensitive to preservatives, or caisenate (milk protein found in "non-dairy" foods such as coffee creamer, Cool Whip, fake cheese), or carrageen (a thickener often used in soy/rice milks or ice cream). Some people can't tolerate soy, others are fine with it. A low-fat chicken/turkey meat from the prepackaged section might be totally fine with some people, others might not be able to handle it. It's all a matter of the whole annoying "personal triggers" thing, and something you can't know except by trial and error.

So, you may not necessarily require organic milk. If you go non-organic, you should usually be able to find a carton of soy milk (in the refrigerated section) for less than $3. I usually use Rice Dream vanilla (not enriched, which bothers me) for my fake milk. It's half the size of the soy milk cartons and it's usually around $1.89, which does make it more expensive than the soy milk. However, I don't use much milk, so it's easier for me to get the 32 oz cartons. To cut down on the expense even further, I often will use water or applesauce in recipes where it calls for milk. (This won't work in all recipes.) I usually only use milk for eating cereal.

I am a very budget-conscious person so here are my strategies for grocery-shopping:

1. Learn to cook. I know most people don't like to do it, but it's a valuable skill, and hey, you may end up liking it after all. You will never be able to feed yourself as cheaply as you can if you cook your meals. It's also tough for a person with IBS to find many pre-prepared foods that are safe.

2. Get the grocery ads every week and stock up on stuff that's on sale. (But don't stock up on something until you're sure it doesn't make you sick.) Learn which stores are cheaper for which items. I frequent three different grocery stores because of this. It feels frustrating and unproductive at first, but eventually it becomes second-nature. (Don't get suckered into buying a membership at a "warehouse" type place (like Sam's Club) unless you're positive the price difference will make up for the membership. I sat down one day to see if we saved enough money to justify paying $40 each year for the membership, and we didn't.)

3. Use the search button at the top of the page to check out other threads in the past where people have asked for quick, low-cost food ideas -- in particular, you might want to search for college students.

4. Always buy generic if possible. As with anything, always check the ingredient list to make sure it's IBS-safe.

5. and finally, here are some of the more inexpensive things I buy regularly:

- canned tuna (in water -- I buy generic)
- eggs for the egg whites (it's cheaper to just throw out the yolks than to buy Eggbeaters)
- skinless boneless chicken breast (always wait for a sale - I can usually get them for less than $2/lb)
- bulk russet potatoes
- fresh bananas
- fresh carrots
- canned baked beans (make sure they say they're vegetarian, or check the label to see if they contain pork)
- canned fat-free refried beans
- instant mashed potatoes for when I'm feeling really sick and lazy (I make them with all hot water instead of the hot water/milk mixture the package recommends, and I don't add margarine) - check package to make sure there is no dairy
- white bread (nearly every brand will have high fructose corn syrup and/or dairy -- check the bakery for French bread, since it usually doesn't contain either and is fairly inexpensive. You can also learn how to make your own, which is what I do, but that might be daunting if you don't already know how to cook)
- pure maple syrup for pancakes (generic is usually fairly inexpensive -- don't get the cheapest syrup, because it often is comprised of mainly HFCS)
- low-fat Bisquick (green box, says "heart-healthy" or somesuch on it) so you can make pancakes or biscuits quickly (this isn't exactly cheap, per se, but it's a great time saver if you're exhausted and you're sick of mashed potatoes)
- reduced-fat peanut butter (I use a little bit on bread, fat-free crackers, or fat-free/low-fat tortillas)
- fat-free saltines to eat on empty stomach
- regular saltines (they typically have 25% calories from fat, which for some people is too high for an empty stomach -- but I buy both because I can buy ultra-cheap generic regular saltines, and the FF ones are usually nearly $2 per box)
- raisins (eat with caution)
- plain frozen French fries (you can sometimes find a generic brand that's low-fat enough to be eaten on an empty stomach - Ore-Ida brand is too high in fat, so don't even bother)
- applesauce (the big jars are way cheaper than the individual cups, but you need to make sure you will actually eat it all -- Wal-Mart generic brand carries a no-sugar-added kind that's safe, no HFCS) (applesauce is also great for cooking)
- white rice (not instant (it might take you a few tries to learn how to make a decent batch of steamed rice -- you'll need to have a pot with a properly-fitting lid, or I thnk the microwave rice cooker things are pretty cheap)) (if you are a C, you might want to try brown rice instead)
- spaghetti
- spaghetti sauce -- there are several safe jar kinds, or several good recipes in the recipe index. The safe kinds are almost always brand names, so wait for a sale or try to find coupons in your local paper. "bad" stuff to check for would be dairy (usually cheese) or high fructose corn syrup. You might not be able to tolerate tomatoes at first, either. Spaghetti sauces are often higher in fat, but usually once you add the pasta it lowers it to a safe level. I use one standard jar of sauce (25 oz?) for every 8 oz of spaghetti.
- boxed cereal (I like the "unhealthy" sugary stuff so I can't taste the fake milk -- things like generic Lucky Charms, Apple Jacks, Cap'N Crunch, etc. Be careful as some cereals have too much IF to be safe, especially first thing in the morning, and some cereals also contain dairy or high fructose corn syrup -- check the ingredients)

I have D when I'm having digestive problems, so as you can tell I don't eat a whole lot of IF. (bad girl) If you're a C, you'll want to make sure you're following others' recommendations on the best way to get more IF in your diet.

The health food store is a great place to have all sorts of substitutions that seem like tantalizing subs for food you can't have -- but nearly everything is incredibly expensive and most of it tastes pretty nasty. But, a lot of the ice cream subs are usually very good. Still expensive and still maybe not completely safe (high-fat, or has HFCS), but in small doses most people can tolerate them. My favorite is Soy Decadent Cookie Avalanche -- just like cookies-and-cream ice cream. Mmmm. Haagen Dazs low-fat chocolate sorbet is safe and Wal-Mart usually carries it, so you can try that too.

It would be very helpful if your dad could read "Eating for IBS" -- or even Heather's cheat sheet might help. Let him know that your "special diet" doesn't need to be a high-cost one. It's also even more helpful if you can convince other family members to at least sort of follow the diet with you. For instance, your dad can still buy regular milk, but maybe both of you could have the same IBS-safe dinner. This is what my husband and I do and it works great for us.

I also highly recommend making a grocery list *before* you go to the store. What's even better is to make a meal plan of what you're going to have every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That way you don't end up with a bunch of miscellaneous ingredients and no dinner. I also like to have a few "emergency" meals in reserve for when I'm too tired to contemplate actually cooking (usually spaghetti from a jar).

I'd also invest in a set of tupperware so you can take your lunches with you and so you can freeze leftovers for eating on the weekends or nights when no one wants to cook and you're sick of spaghetti.

Okay, that was sort of a novel, but I hope that helps. I do a lot of cooking so I don't eat much prepackaged stuff, but I do know that others do, so as I said before, if you do some searching you should be able to find more suggestions.

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jen

"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC

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