Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

The menu you've laid out is pretty much all SF (Soluble Fiber) which is not going to do what you need - you must eat more IF (Insoluble Fiber). Soluble Fiber calms down a spasming gut which is a necessary first step for IBSers but in order to get your gut moving stuff out you have to have IF - especially if you're IBS-C.

The other thing that bothers me about your menu is that you're sticking with "white" SF. I like "white" SF but you've repeatedly said you consider it unacceptable. Therefore, I think you'll be less anxious and more likely to stick with the program if you incorporate more colorful sources of SF into your day.

Instead of a toaster waffle for breakfast, how about oatmeal? Oatmeal is about half SF and half IF and the IF in it is usually tolerated well by IBSers. Instant oatmeal is fine as long as it's safe - no dairy, no artificial sweeteners. Oatmeal gives you some IF and in the form of a whole grain. Try throwing a few berries in for even more IF. For protein, try a hard-boiled egg white.

If your snack is a few rice cakes, add a little fruit, too, even if it's just a peeled apple. That gives you some IF.

Instead of white rice with your lunch, try brown rice. More IF, more color. If you can manage a tiny bit of veggie soup so much the better.

Carrot sticks are fine but they lean toward SF so see if you can augment them with maybe one small celery stick.

How about some squash with more chicken or fish for dinner? Add a little well-cooked green beans or peas to get some IF in you at that meal too.

As your gut calms down you can increase the amount of IF you're consuming. Eventually you'll hit that magic spot where you're eating the bare minimum of SF necessary to keep your gut happy while rounding out your diet with safe protein and IF.

And please be sure to get some fat in your diet. Too much isn't good for IBS but you need some. Heather recommends no more than 25% of calories from fat. You can go lower if you feel better that way, but don't go too low. Think of a reasonable amount of fat as lubrication to keep all your systems - including your gut - running smoothly.

Another way to approach this is to think about what you were eating before you found this Website and try to tweak that so it's more IBS-friendly. For example, if you used to have, say, tabouleh with chicken and veggies for lunch, try the same approach but use orzo in place of the tabouleh and be sure most of the veggies tend toward the SF side. As you do well with that, start mixing some tabouleh in with the orzo and bump up the IF veggies.

I have a feeling you found this Website by finding the Boards and you really can't get a good handle on Heather's approach just by reading the Boards. Here's a list of stuff to read through that might help you better understand that all-SF all the time isn't where you want to go with this approach.

Here's a post I wrote a while back that will point you to the basic reading you need to do to get a better handle on how this is all supposed to work. Just follow the links: web page

Here are two old newsletters that address common misconceptions about dealing with IBS-C. Please do read these. They explain better than I can why IF is so important:

Constipation Frustrations 1

Constipation Frustrations 2

Please don't freak out about this. It seems pretty unlikely you've gained 3 pounds of fat in 4 days. The fact that you're constipated may be sending your weight up or you may be retaining more water or it may just be the normal weight variation we all experience on a day to day basis. (If you're going to weigh yourself more than once a week you might want to figure a moving average and follow that - it smooths out the daily weight swings everyone experiences.)

Unless I've forgotten everything I once knew about weight and calories, 1 pound of fat "costs" 3500 calories. So in order to gain 3 pounds of fat you'd have to have consumed 10,500 calories more than your body needed for basic metabolism plus activities. Over a 4-day period, that would mean consuming 2,625 extra calories per day. That seems pretty unlikely.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

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