Need Help . . . Confused
#61886 - 04/16/04 11:39 AM
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LynnR
Reged: 04/15/04
Posts: 9
Loc: Connecticut USA
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Hi,
I just got the book -- Eating for IBS at the library yesterday. After 7+ years & over 30 doctors, I finally have an answer.
I have tried many diets trying to get my body & health back together again. Most recently, I have been following a whole grain diet-- no processed food, no preservatives, no white sugar, etc. I was told repeatedly that it was the best for health reasons. But I found out that it wasn't the best for me b/c I kept on having to run to the bathroom especially moments upon eating something. The only "good thing" is that I lost some of my excess weight.
Now after reading this I am very confused. I feel as though I was sort of brain washed into straying away from products in the store that had ingredients that I did not recognize. Now it seems that I don't know where or how to shop anymore.
Before all of this happened, my eating habits included the following:
B: cold or hot cereal, blueberry muffin, bagel, english muffin, or toast with oj or milk.
L: sandwich on wheat bread (PB & Jam, cold cuts, cheese, cream cheese & Jam, chiken, tuna, etc), apple, & chips.
D: green salad, veggie, meat, & rice/orso/pasta.
For snacks & desserts I would have crackers, popcorn, fruit, cookies, or on a special occasion cake, brownies, etc.
I read where sourdough or french bread is the way to go. But what about bagels or english muffins. Is there a certain brand that I should get? With the pasta's should I stay away from the wheat & get some Asian noodles? Is there a guide for grocery shopping that I can get? What kind of type of vegetables are better for IBS? What are some good snacks for during the day? 
Any / all information would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Lynn
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regarding bagels and english muffins....get plain ones..not wheat bagels or cinnamon raison...just plain (i get lender's out of the freezer section) and thomas' english muffins the plain ones as well. Pasta...plain pasta..not wheat or anything fancy...just regular old pasta from the supermarket.
for snacks i am a big fan of kix and pretzels.
if you look on this website you'll see lists of food to eat and how to eat them. no need to get overwhelmed...its fairly simple 
good luck Lynn
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Welcome Lynn
#61898 - 04/16/04 12:02 PM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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Welcome to the Boards, Lynn.
Lets see if I can help you here....
First of all, I'm a little confused about your confusion. Whole wheat is VERY healthy, yes, most definitely. However, most people with IBS can't tolerate it. If it doesn't bother you, then by all means stick with it. I'm lucky because it doesn't bother me, so I eat it instead of the other stuff, and use whole wheat flour whenever a recipe calls for white.
I'll address your other questions as you posed them:
"B: cold or hot cereal, blueberry muffin, bagel, english muffin, or toast with oj or milk." Lose the milk; replace it with soy milk, if you can tolerate soy, or rice milk. ANY KIND OF DAIRY is a huge trigger. And the blueberry muffin most likely is full of fat, and possibly even dairy. Be careful.
"L: sandwich on wheat bread (PB & Jam, cold cuts, cheese, cream cheese & Jam, chiken, tuna, etc), apple, & chips." Again, be careful with the wheat bread. Lose the cold cuts unless they're white meat poultry. PB is too high in fat; be sure to use only a little bit. Also, lose the cheese and cream cheese unless they're soy. Replace the chips with Lay's Baked chips; regular chips have too much fat. About the apple -- please be sure to peel it; it's too tough for your tummy to have to digest.
"D: green salad, veggie, meat, & rice/orso/pasta." Salad is hard to digest; you need to have a soluble fiber base first; ditto with the veggie. Again, lose the meat.
"For snacks & desserts I would have crackers, popcorn, fruit, cookies, or on a special occasion cake, brownies, etc." Snacks and desserts have too much fat, and probably even dairy; be careful. Ditto with the cookies, cake, brownies, etc. Popcorn is an insoluble fiber, tough to digest. Same with the fruit.
Yes, sourdough or french bread is fine as long as there's no dairy in it. Ditto with the bagels or english muffins. Just check the ingredients, make sure there's no dairy; otherwise, any brand is fine.
As regards the pasta, be sure it's not made with the egg yolks (a big trigger). I don't know anything about Asian noodles, sorry.
You can make your own guide for grocery shopping; it'll take awhile, because you have to check all the ingredients on everything you buy. But after awhile, you know what you can tolerate and what you can't. And of course you'll get very good at spotting anything dairy on the ingredient list; it'll pop out at you.
Vegetables are an essential, but you have to learn how to prepare them. When you're first starting out, you want to cook them real well, and be sure to have a soluble fiber before you eat them. Stay away from broccoli and cabbage; they're the most difficult to digest.
Snacks: I LOVE Veggie Stix. However, they're higher in fat than we're supposed to have, so I have to limit my serving to less than 1 ounce. Rice cakes are good -- do you like those? Bagels are fine too. Even cereals. My hubby love Cheerios.
Remember, you must limit your fat to less than 25% per meal. That includes snacks. A snack is a meal. You have to calculate the percentage.
I'm glad you have Heather's "EFI," but you need her other book, "The First Year." All this is explained very well in that book. It costs only $15, a very wise investment. And it's our bible.
Again, welcome to the boards! Don't hesitate to ask any and all questions -- that's how you'll get better.
Bev
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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Hi Lynn,
I'm a newbie too and to top it off, I never really cooked anything, just microwaved those nasty-but-easy frozen dinners.. I ate much like you, thinking I was eating SO healthy, but always wondered why I often felt sick after eating that "healthy" stuff.
The way I stocked my pantry and began cooking "ibs safe" is I picked out recipies in Heather's "Eating for ibs" book and shopped for those ingredients. I have cooked several of the chicken dinners, and I'm finding I love making the breads. What I've found is the key for me is what I eat on an Empty Stomach. I spent a week on only the safe-soluable fiber (white rice, white tortillas, oatmeal) just to get stable and pain free (it worked!). I have since slowly added wheat bread and broccoli, salad, but only AFTER eating some of the soluable fiber.. ie I had several slices of white sour-dough bread before eating that grilled salmon which came on top of fresh spinach (which I love). I always wondered why eating a salad first upset my stomach.. Heather explains that and says to eat the salad LAST.
Browsing this message board really helps too because after awhile you'll see some patterns and also learn that it's no one rule for everyone. You have to learn what your body can handle..it's a major lifestyle switch but worth every annoyance, even as far as giving up my beloved coffee! ;-). Also be aware not every posted recipie is "safe" for you. I made a spagetti casserole that someone had posted but had a bad attack that nite and was in pain for 24 hours afterwards. But reading the "IBS - The First Year" taught me how to care for myself now and I got thru it. Hang in there and don't give up. The "food rules" are just different for us IBS sufferers, but not so different that you can't adjust your life and still enjoy eating AND be healthy!
Rosey
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