Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Does any one else have a vegetable phobia?

My IBS is severe. I used to be IBS-C and now I'm IBS-D. Despite this I am able to tolerate an assortment of fruit and veggies. Here's how I do it:

1. I limit my fruit intake to breakfast. I spread a pureed, cooked fruit (as if it were jam!) on my morning bagel so that I eat the fruit with a soluble fibre. I buy the pureed fruit at the supermarket in babyfood jars. Heinz if I'm in Canada and Gerber if I'm in the U.S. I always read the ingredients to ensure that the fruit sauce contains just the pure ingredients and no additives other than Asorbic C. (I've tried the organic babyfood fruit sauces, but for some reason they taste awful!) I alternate in putting the following fruit sauces on my bagel: apple, apple/strawberry or pear. (I stay away from the peach sauce because it irritates my IBS.)

2. I limit my veggie intake to dinner only. I boil, bake, steam or microwave any combination of the following veggies: carrots, turnip, beets, broccoli, mushrooms, tomatos, zuchinni, squash and Swiss chard. I cook the veggies well. I eat only organic veggies because there are less irritants in them (no pesticides, fertilizers, preservatives, etc.), because they are not genetically modified (so they won't be crossed with something that I can't tolerate like cabbage!) and because they contain lots of nutrients. Conventional veggies have had most of their nutrients bred out of them because they are grown only to look good and have a long shelf life so they will sell well in the supermarket.

I am very careful with the quantities of each veggie that I eat. With some veggies like carrots, I can tolerate more so I put more in the pot. With others like broccoli, Swiss chard and tomatoe, I can tolerate just a tiny bit (maybe a teaspoonful). I do not usually puree my veggies. However, sometimes I buy a babyfood jar of pureed veggies because I haven't got the time or patience to puree them myself.

I eat the veggies with my dinner, which includes a protein (chicken, turkey or fish) and lots of soluble fibre (white organic Bastamti rice or potatoes).

I, therefore, find the secret to successfully tolerating fruit and veggies is to:

- eat them with lots of a soluble fibre staple (white bread, white rice or potatoes);

- keep consumption of fruit or veggies to once a day -- fruit at one meal and veggies at another;

- know how much you can tolerate of each fruit and veggie;

- cook your fruit and veggies; purchase babyfood pureed fruit and veggies if you haven't got time to make it yourself;

- eat organic produce wherever possible since it will be less likely to irritate your gut and will provide you with much-needed nutrients, which conventional produce does not have. I look at the organic produce issue this way: If you're limited in how much you can eat, make what you can eat count by getting the maximum amount of nutrients possible.

By the way, I can also sometimes tolerate a few slices of (uncooked) watermelon and honeydew melon. I eat these following a meal that contains lots of soluble fibre.

Hope this gives you some ideas for how to incorporate more fruit and veggies into your diet. By the way, if you want to start adding more fruit and veggies, I recommend starting with very tiny (teaspoonful) quantities to see how you fare.

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator