Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

exactly. that's the principle behind very much of this diet - getting your digestive system working gently, before introducing foods that could shock it and the cause the gastrocolic reflex to go haywire. that's why eating sketchy foods on an empty stomach causes problems, but eating them after some SF foods is often okay. like warming up before a strenuous workout. (more like warming up your voice before singing. sorry, analogies abound. but i find these make more sense, are closer to what (i think) is actually happening in our stomachs than the idea of a 'SF cushion' - it's true that most SF foods are cushy, but - and i'm ready to be corrected - but i don't think the cushion image represents what's actually happening. though, of course, it is a helpful idea.)

anyway, this is why so many of us find it works to graze throughout the day rather than eat a few distinct, larger meals - aside from ensuring we never get famished and overeat, which would cause ibs problems, too, it keeps our digestive system running, gently and smoothly, throughout the day, so it doesn't have the chance to jump into overaction, which is sort of what an attack* is.

*well, D attacks, and some C - C gets trickier because you can be suffering without spasms (the spasms being the jumpy gastrocolic reflex), but the spasms are what a D attack is.

okay. here ends jaime's personal treatise on ibs and the 'SF cushion.'

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jaime
ibs-a (mostly d) // vegetarian

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