Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: IBS Trigger Foods in Heather's Recipes

Hi Belinda - I think Shells Bells answered this well. It's not a question of avoiding all possible triggers (such as insoluble fiber and fats), it's a question of eating them carefully so that you can incorporate them into your diet for overall good health.

I actually think of triggers as foods that should be totally avoided - red meat, dairy, fried foods, egg yolks, coffee, soda pop. These are foods I never include in recipes, nor do I ever eat them.

But fats and insoluble fiber foods MUST be eaten for good nutrition, even though they can potentially be trigger foods. Eating them with soluble fiber, the fats in just small quantities, and the insoluble fiber foods cooked/diced/pureed makes them much, much more tolerable.

The blueberry pecan french toast is a good example. It has a high soluble fiber foundation from the bread. The blueberries and nuts are finely chopped, and then cooked, to minimize their insoluble fiber. The canola oil is added in a very small quantity - it's a heart-healthy fat, and you need to safely add these. The soluble fiber makes the addition possible. If you were eliminate the "triggers" in this recipe you'd eliminate the fruit and nuts and canola - you need these foods for nutrition. I'd never give a recipe for, say, fruit and nut trail mix where you just eat out of hand raw blueberries and whole nuts. That's super high insoluble fiber, and would likely cause problems. But treating the ingredients carefully, and especially having that soluble fiber foundation, makes a world of difference.

It's the same thing for the other recipes. They are very low fat - even if they have a bit of added oil, their total fat content is low. And remember - you have to have a low fat diet, but you cannot go fat free. Your body needs healthy fats.

The veggies added to the sandwiches are in thin slices, and with a soluble fiber foundation. Same for the whitefish - that has brown rice as it's soluble fiber staple.

If you know that a specific ingredient is completely intolerable to you, substitute for it. Use white rice instead of brown.

Corn chips should not be a problem. Baked corn chips are very low fat, and the brands I see locally (Tostitos and Guiltess Gourmet) don't have any additives at all. Corn is not an IBS trigger if it's finely ground, but whole kernel corn is. Corn is a common food allergen, but that's different from IBS.

It sounds like you have a really, really long list of healthy foods that you cannot tolerate in any amount. This is actually not typical for IBS. Most healthy foods (especially fruits and veggies) can be safely added when cooked, diced/pureed, and combined with soluble fiber.

What's also important to note is that if you completely avoid all insoluble fiber foods and fats, your body will become even less adept at dealing with them. This is really a vicious cycle to get into. Folks with IBS can end up on real deprivation diets where they're afraid to eat so many foods that they don't eat much anything, or they only eat chicken and rice, etc. This is just not healthy for your body. If you can carefully, slowly, gradually add in a bit of fruits and veggies, you'll actually increase your ability to tolerate them. The more fiber your gut is used to, the better. So avoiding insoluble fiber and fat isn't the answer. You need to find ways to carefully add in whatever varieties you can tolerate, try to expand that variety, and try to gradually increase the quantity. Your body will gradually adapt to the increase and become better at handling insoluble fiber and fats overall, especially when you give it a soluble fiber foundation for stability.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Heather

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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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