Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Soups and vegetables

Whether you can handle raw lettuce in a sandwich is going to depend on *your own* tolerancy. Try it and see how it works. If it works, keep doing it. If it doesn't, don't do it again.

I notice that you are asking a lot of questions that require specific answers on why foods are making you bloated. We can offer advice, but IBS is so incredibly individualized that the BEST way to figure out if something will make you bloated is to try it. YOU may not be able to handle foods that the rest of us can, and you may be able to handle foods that the rest of us can't.

The bottom line is, you need to experiment on your own and see how it affects you. This will be a valuable learning experience for you because you'll get a better idea of how *you* handle certain foods. And you will ALWAYS have to check labels. If it contains any type of dairy, whole wheat, or artificial sweetener, STAY AWAY FROM IT.

As for vegetables, some of us (but maybe not you) find that pureeing a can of tomato-based vegetable soup works pretty well for vegetables... if eaten at the end of a SF meal. I like to eat a lot of vegetables and find I have a pretty good tolerance for them if they are cooked. I even ate a medium-sized salad (raw lettuce, of course) after dinner last night and was GREAT. So, buy a bunch of frozen vegetables (avoid corn because it is known to cause problems unless it is pureed) and experiment.

If you find that you cannot handle even cooked veggies very well, try pureeing them after you have cooked them. No need for a food processor unless you feel like spending extra money - a blender will work just fine. And out at restaurants, I like to mash mine with a fork, if I'm worried.

Like I said before, a lot of this diet is experimenting and finding what works for you. For example, Heather said in one of her books that she can tolerate a small piece of solid chocolate if eaten after a SF meal. I cannot, no matter how full of SF that meal was.

Good luck and have fun checking labels at the store!

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Elizabeth

all those years it wasn't IBS - it was celiac!
send me an email: liz@dopple.net

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