Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Still Limted. Any advice?

Sorry it took a bit to respond- another couple of bad days ...

Here's what I suggest. One caveat, I don't go to any great lengths to avoid things like HFCS or milk derivatives, so that's something to keep in mind when reading ...

Beans: I eat FF refried beans all the time. You could try a scoop in your yummy turkey tacos, or you could add a few black beans or kidney beans. I always have white rice when I'm having Mexican food as an SF base. Since you have been avoiding them for a while, remember to start small.

Broccoli: I pretty much only like broccoli when it's in stir-fry. I make it at home- I only put a little bit of broc. in since hubby doesn't care much for it. I have chicken stir-fry and usually just use a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies. You could use whatever veggies you like tho- use ones that you know are safe. Can you do sugar snap peas? Anyway, what I do is cook my veggies well, and then at the end I toss the cooked meat back in the pan and add TONS of teriyaki sauce and other sauces. Then the broccoli is practically falling apart. Serve over a good base of white rice or noodles.

Pizza: There's a good post floating around right now on the diet board with ideas. I like to make my pizza on Boboli crusts (I can't find the ingredients list to see whether these are safe), and I use BBQ sauce instead of tomato sauce. I do lots of chicken (canned chicken works fine), peppers, onions, or whatever frozen bagged veggies are around. If I opt to have cheese, I actually just use Veggie Shreds shredded soy cheddar cheese- might be weird on tomato sauce, but delish! on BBQ sauce. I can usually find this cheese at local stores ...

Salsa: have you tried taco sauce instead? Or pureeing regular salsa further to try to make it safer? Maybe you could use one of those fast-food hot sauce packets, just to control portion size?

One of the places I go when I'm bad is Del Taco. They have Big Fat Chicken Tacos which are the nummiest things on the planet! And I bet if I made the effort, I could make them safely at home. But they are made with an ancho chile sauce that is very good. I'll have to see if I can get a good recipe for it ...

Yogurt: Have you tried the Stonyfield Farms soy yogurt that they sell at Walmart? I tried the strawberry once, the flavor is good, but I don't actually care much for yogurt

Other snacks are kind of a problem still for me ... I like all kinds of dry cereal (one of the places where I don't look for HFCS), and granola bars and fruit. I also like PB crackers I make with saltines. I go crazy with safe fudgecicles (I think they are safe anyway), and I am a total nut for baked cookies, muffins, etc. Ooh, and I ADORE peanut butter zig zag ice cream! But I only get that rarely ...

Cheese: I pretty much only use the Cheddar Shreds since it's the only thing I can find around where I live. And I don't get it that often, only for Mexican meals or sometimes for pizza. I think if you can find the right flavors for you then you won't even need cheese most of the time. I don't need it for burgers or chili or things like that.

Here are the things that I think are important to remember when you are trying new foods: Start SMALL, like a bite or two if need be. Try one new thing at a time. Give it a good shot before deciding it's no good, specifically if you think it's giving you gas/bloat- that particular symptom seems to happen kind of randomly, like you ate too fast or had something to drink before eating rather than after (or your best-friend's mother-in-law snagged her dress on a splinter in the door frame! Crazy IBS). Of course, if it gives you immediate and violent D or something you don't have to keep trying. And the last tip: make sure that you aren't still recovering from a previous attack, since your tummy will be that much more sensitive to new things.

I hope there's at least one helpful thing in there for you hon- Good luck! (And sorry it got so long-winded!)

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~*Amber*~

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