Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Welcome to the Boards Eve

I'm Sinead and I'm live in Dublin, Ireland. I'd love to be in Oz right now in your end of summer, we are in the midst of winter despite technically it being Spring. Where in Oz are you? I toured the East Coast from Cape Trib to Sydney this time two years ago, it was AMAZING!

I've answered some of your questions, I put your questions in red and my answers in green. Hope this helps!

For instance, what are rice chex and corn chex?
They are breakfast cereals- http://www.chex.com/
I use Rice Krispies and Cornflakes a lot and also most corn or rice based cereals are good

What are Graham crackers?
We can't get them over here in Ireland either, I've been recommended before that the closest thing is lowfat digestive biscuits, but they are definitely not the same thing.

Is oatmeal the same as porridge (made with rolled oats and water in the microwave)?
Yes, but its ground as opposed to "oaty". And you can get flavoured instant ones. But good old microwaved porridge on soy/rice milk or water is just as good.

Is sourdough bread ok?
Yes

How much bread should I eat before a meal? One slice?
one slice should be fine, Or have your meal but eat a few mouthfuls of your potatoes/rice etc before everything else.

I have been trying this diet for about a week, and have no relief. Still enormously bloated. Not constipated or diarrhoea, but seems to be air. I am really desperate.
The thing about this diet is that you need to give it time. Keep a food diary to see what foods effect you most. Do the breaking the cycle diet for a few days and add one food every day. Fennel tea is good for bloating so try getting some of that into you, and make sure that you drink A LOT of water too

Everyone keeps advising me different things, such as that soy products are highly indigestible and I should buy BonSoy, a soy milk made with Japanese kombu, but this is higher in kJ than low fat soy. And soy cheese and yoghurt are much higher in kJ than regular no fat products. So I seem to be running in circles!
Different things work for different people, most tolerate soy or rice milk products just fine but many are soy intolerant. Try them and listen to what your body says. BTW most soy cheese are horrid! Concentrate on getting your body in check rather than watching your Kj/calories at the moment.

I am sorry this message is such a mess, but I truly am desperate to get things under control. I am sure most of you have been in this position, so any advice would be enormously appreciated.
Don't worry, we are all one big happy IBS family here. We've all been where you are now but those of us who have stuck to Heather's guidelines have our IBS controlled with a mix of diet, lifestyle and medicines.

This is a link to some recommended products for all countries and you'll be happy to see Australia listed with some recommendations. Try to do a search if you are looking for more Australian info by using the search page and searching from all dates, I definitely remember discussions before about what you could get in Coles!

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S.

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