Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Dietary Options-My Story

Hey, Im new to the boards, but I just wanted to see if anyone else here tried the dietary changes that I made with any success. But first, a little background.

I've been constipated for as long as I can remember. The root cause was as a child, I had a small membrane of skin partially covering my anus, so you can imagine the pain a BM must have caused. So, I guess as a child I learned to resist the urge to go, which created a lifelong problem of constipation. Over the years, as much as for my health as for any regularity benefits, I have altered my diet many times. I was vegan for 6 months, then downgraded to vegetarian which I was for 5 years. I then went back to meat, but did food seperation, a sort of variation on food combining. The last thing I decided to try was the so-called Paleolithic diet or the 'cave-man' diet. Im happy to say that so far, thats really working!

Now, I dont know that I had any type of food allergies, but I do know that, even as a vegan, after eating oatmeal, I would sometimes feel as if I had swallowed a brick- meals could sit heavy on my gut, and of course there was the bloating. The only time I had a flat stomach was oddly enough, during my period when my body's detoxing would cause me to eliminate more than usual. Going back to meat was rough-horrible constipation for about 2 months, but even with the food seperation, I was miserable with constipation, pain and bloating.

I have done the cave-man thang for about 3 weeks now and I have to say it honestly works for me. The first few days were hard, and I had to strain hard to eliminate at all(usually a tiny amount at that), but at least stuff was moving. After the first week, the bowels improved in quantity and in frequency- I think the body has to take time to remove the old fecal matter composed of the waste of the ingested problematic foods, but once that initial stage is complete, bowel regularity comes very quickly. It's been three weeks now and I can honestly say that everyday I am guaranteed a succesful elimination. I once read that the amount of feces that the body should remove every day is about a forearm's worth. I cant say that I eliminate that much, but I think given time, I will have a healthy and healed eliminative system- Im very happy with the results so far after only 3 weeks.

The particulars of the diet as such are: no foods that could not be eaten or were not eaten by paleolithic man. Long story short, that means no grains or anything made from grains(wheat, oat, rice, corn, amaranth, etc), no legumes or pulses or their derivatives( any and all beans and peas, including peanuts), nothing in the potato family( including yams and sweet potatoes) and no dairy whatsoever. As far as condiments- no sugars or cornstarches, easy on the salt, vinegars are banned( but I use some anyway). What I found interesting is that many of the dietary eliminations overlap those recommended on various IBS diets and also the more common food allergies(corn, wheat, peanut, dairy). Contrary to these, however, the paleo diet does encourage meat/protein consumption, especially free-range, grass fed meats, as they are less fatty and more lean( and not pumped with steroids and chemicals). Now, believe me, I was totally skeptical of making my diet 50% meat(and/or eggs), and I wont lie, the first few days were very uncomfortable and I was bloated and backed-up. But, like I said, it takes a while for the body to move out the 'old' and begin processing the waste of foods from the paleo diet.

Basically, I can have all the beef, chicken, and fish I want( with some exceptions like processed meet, pork and some seafoods). I tried buffalo meet as well(restaurant near me has buffalo burgers)- its very lean, and tastes just like beef, but has less fat than shrimp. You can have all the veggies in the world( just no butter to top them, and easy on the salt)- so you can go hog wild on the salads, soups, caseroles and grilled veggies. And fruit I eat a boatload off. As far as fruit goes, I either eat it fresh, or buy frozen fruit and make smoothies using fruit juice( to sweeten) and water. Im very satisfied as far as my appetite goes, and noticed that I dont have many sugar cravings( for sweets or sodas or gum). I can honestly say that I dont miss breads and grains and I dont crave them in the least( especially when you consider the after effects). I once accidentally swallowed some kernels of rice with a meal( they put my chicken on a bed of rice), and the reaction was immediate- the feeling of a brick being in my tummy was there, and I did not feel better until I eliminated a few hours later. So, there is no incentive, nor desire to cheat. I had a chocolate craving(mineral deficiency?) for a week and I did satisfy that, and was miserable for about 2 days until I eliminated it from my system. But, like I said, palette wise, I am very satisfied. I found alot of good recipes online and from a few books( and I already had a boatload of vegan veggie recipes from back in the day), so sticking with it is not a 'chore'.

To sum up, here is a list of the accepted foods:
beef( and also buffalo meat aka bison)
chicken(and most poultry/wild game)
poultry eggs
turkey
wild game
seafood
most nuts and seeds( especially walnuts) but excluding peanuts and cashews
olive oil and canola oil for cooking(excluding most other oils)
flax oil for supplement ingestion
all veggies excluding potato family( but encouraging the consumption of root veggies i.e. carrots, turnips, beets, etc)
all fruit

As for fiber, most of the fiber will come from the fresh fruits and veggies that are consumed, which have on average more fiber than grains when eaten unprocessed(aka raw). Especially good is stuff like alfalfa sprouts which I add to salads to get that extra bit of fiber. Ripe pears seem to really work for me as a fiber- usually within a few hours of eating a ripe pear, I have the urge to eliminate. I reckon everybody has a fruit that would work for them. The smoothies are great too as the frozen fruit has at least some fiber, and is also a way to get nutrients. Nuts and seeds help too- almonds are very good for folks with constipation.

Well, thats my story in a nutshell. Again, I have to say that I feel better than I have in ages and havent been this regular since I was an infant. I cant say what the diet would do for someone with IBS-Diarrhea, but if you have IBS-C, it may be worth trying out.

Here are some links about the diet if you want more info.

http://www.panix.com/~paleodiet/#foods- an overall Paleo resource

http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html - article on the micronutrient particulars of the paleo diet.

http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/hb/hb-interview1a.shtml

another paleo article

Hope these help, enjoy.

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