Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Good news from a C is great to hear!

Yep. Before seeing the naturopath, I had worked myself up to 1 T of acacia fiber that I drank in 4 c of fennel tea in the morning. I was also taking 200mg of 5-HTP twice a day in the hope that it would act like an antidepressant. So, I grant that this is quite a cocktail, and it can be hard to say definitively that one thing in particular is working. The acacia fiber definitely helped, but my C improved *dramatically* after I added in the vitamin C, magnesium, and Culturelle.

I'm not sure whether the elimination diet has helped the C. I'm doing a lot of things at once, so like I said, it's hard to know what is doing what. I have seen some reduction in bloating but not anything dramatic. The diet eliminates dairy, wheat, soy, corn, citrus, alcohol, refined sugar, chocolate, and artificial colors/flavors for at least 10 days. (I did 14 days. Plus, as a "pesce-vegetarian," I also avoid meat except for fish.)

The diet sounds pretty horrible, but if you already know how to eat vegetarian and have some familiarity with alternative foods and access to a good health food store, it is relatively painless. Except for the no booze part!

If you decide to try a diet like this, I'd recommend a good, easy vegetarian cookbook, like "The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home."

On day 11, you start adding stuff in one day at a time. So far I have only tested soy, and it seems to have caused an increase in bloating. This is disappointing, since soy is a large part of my diet. But, I also happened to eat cauliflower at one meal, which is known to be gassy. So I may retest soy later. There are so many variables, it can really get confusing!

I should add that my bloating and C symptoms never were as severe as those of many people on this site, so I never was very motivated to change my diet radically. But, I have felt very good on this elimination diet--it's such a healthy way of eating--and I've lost 5 pounds, so I think I will try to continue generally in this vein. (But I'm definitely gonna have a drink!)

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