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#165700 - 03/31/05 10:14 AM
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Alicia T
Reged: 03/15/05
Posts: 13
Loc: York, Pa
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I was diagnosed with IBS a little over 5 years ago, and have been living with the symptoms ever since. I have learned through trial and error which foods would trigger an attack and which were what I thought of as "safe". A month ago I decided that I wanted to get things more under control and started doing some research, that's when I cam across this website and Heather's books. I immediately bought both of them, and started following the diet recommendations. I have been symptom free for 3 weeks.  Now that I am getting used to this, and my family is starting to adjust to the new diet too, I have a few questions. Is there anyone who is able to tolerate dairy products in small amounts? Cereal and milk was once what I considered a safe food, and I miss it! I know that I probably shouldn't use 2% milk anymore, but would small amounts of skim milk every once in awhile be ok? Also, when looking at the ingredients in food packages, what should I be looking for to avoid? I am totally confused with this. And this is probably an easy question... for the past three weeks I have only been drinking water or peppermint tea. Although I am impressed with the amount of water I am drinking (I never got enough before) I was looking for something safe for a change of pace. I guess I just didn't want to try something without knowing. Thank you in advance for any advice you can give!
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Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.
IBS-A, predominately D!!!
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Hi Alicia!
#165763 - 03/31/05 12:25 PM
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atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
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Welcome to the boards! You might want to repost this over in the "IBS Diet" board, where it would typically belong... there's more traffic over there, and you'll get more responses. 
Skim milk is not ok. Dairy products as a whole are a huge IBS trigger, and NOT just because of the lactose, so lactose-free milk is out too. Soy milk, rice milk, and other substitutes like that, however, are just fine! I find that rice milk is especially tasty on cereal - it doesn't have a funny taste to it like soy milk sometimes can.
When you're looking at food packages, what you want to avoid are the following, mostly:
1. Dairy products, including the derivatives such as casein/caseinate and whey, as well as the obvious ones (milk, cheese).
2. The other foods that are universal IBS triggers from Heather's list, such as red meat products, egg yolks, caffeine, coffee, tea.
3. High fructose corn syrup is in a LOT of products, and that is something else that can be a trigger for some, so it's best to avoid it.
4. Ditto for monosodium glutamate (MSG).
As for drinks... just about any herbal teas that don't contain caffeine are fine! You'll also want to avoid ones that have a high amount of licorice, as this can be laxative. Other than that, try whatever grabs ya! I have a whole cabinet of herbal teas now, some are Celestial Seasonings, some are Yogi that you can only get at the health food store... some I drink hot, some I make into iced tea. My favorite hot is redbush or rooibus tea, because it's most like "normal" tea to me. I also like Teeccino, a coffee substitute available at health food stores.
Oh, and if you're a fruit juice person, you can try some cranberry juice. It's the only juice that's safe for IBS'ers.
Hope that helps a little... and welcome again!
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