Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Every food hurts! Don't know where to start. (severe longterm IBS)

Sorry and hope others don't mind, but I'm gonna quote myself again. I was in a similar boat a couple of years ago and was sceptical regarding whether diet can really help, but I've found it can, it's just really difficult to figure out your exact sensitivities. so here is my two-pence:

'The diet solution is twofold:

A. follow the four EFI rules:
1. no alcohol
2. no caffeine
3. less insoluble fibre than soluble fibre per meals (peel, deseed and cook until soft) (use a soluble fibre supplement)
4. limited fat per meals - one meal calories coming from fat:25% maximum. (1g fat has 9kcal, 1g carb has 4kcal, 1g protein has 4kcal)

-rough guide fibre content of foods (actual fibre proportions and content depends on variety and ripeness):
http://huhs.harvard.edu/assets/File/OurServices/Service_Nutrition_Fiber.pdf
-fat content of oil - 1 tablespoonful of oil has 120kcal coming from fat!! (e.g. 100g raw chicken breast has 110kcal from other, 1 medium potato has 150kcal: so you can safely cook 200g of raw chicken breasts with that one tbpsoonful of oil and one boiled medium potato)

B. follow the FODMAP guidelines simultaneously:
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/072710p30.shtml

Safest foods to eat would be (eat them for a week or two at least): porridge (cooked in water), boiled/baked potatoes, cooled white rice, grilled chicken breast, shrimp, white fish, boiled carrots, peeled baked peppers, peeled cooked courgette (ie zucchini), tomato paste, orange juice, no-pulp-berry juice and a bit of fat with each meal (salmon/olive oil to mention two of the healthiest options, but do count the kcals here, see above).

Incredibly restricted I know but I think you are extremely unlikely to have trouble from these foods and once your gut has calmed down after a week or so, you may experiment with adding different foods back into your diet one by one to see whether you can tolerate them. A food you can't tolerate may bother you within a couple of hours up to three days.

Normal bowel movements are always easy to pass and they number maximum 3 bowel movements per day & minimum 3 bowel movements per week.

Spasmodic pain and bloating may never be completely eliminated, but will probably be greatly reduced through adherence to this diet. '

Hope this helps.

--------------------
now: stable through EFI+FODMAP dieting (no lactose/no fructose/some fructans and some polyols)

before: IBS-D(pseudo-diarrhoea), bloating, often unbearable pain esp from too much fat: Apr 2007- Dec 2010

FODMAPs: http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/072710p30.shtml

[I've tried VSL#3 -> I could tolerate v good amounts of IF (even with less SF), it worked great (but overall I find it too expensive)]

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