Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi - IBS can come and go, for some people there are months or even years where they have zero problems. And then it can come back...sometimes for no apparent reason at all.

My point about diet is that if someone is having IBS symptoms, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to eat foods that are GI irritants, carcinogens, or just plain stimulants that are likely to overload the nervous system of their gut. I'd say that unless someone is eating a trigger food regularly, and going months on end without problem, it shouldn't be discounted as a potential problem food. It's really impossible to know if something is truly a trigger if you continue to eat it, continue to have problems, but just assume that the trigger is not what is causing you problems. It's easy to do this with foods that aren't fun to give up - and red meat and dairy fit the bill for many folks. Unless someone is just rock solid stable, and has been for many weeks or months, making a meal out of a trigger food once a week is just too often, and is likely causing problems. At the very least eliminating the food completely for a while will let them know what's really going on... it just may not be what they're hoping for.

Personally, red meat would be the food I just wouldn't want to make any exceptions for. Zero health benefits, lots of health risks, and probably the single worst thing you could put in your colon, especially on a regular (and weekly is definitely regular) basis. That would be often enough to continue chronic constipation, and trigger many days' worth of diarrhea and pain.

- H

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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