Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: I need help cutting my calories. Here are the last two days foods, etc. LOOONG -- sorry :(

Heh - what you've been eating sorta looks like how my husband used to eat after he was diagnosed with diabetes. Lots of trail mix and nuts and very few carbs....and he started gaining weight, which was not his intent.

He then went on NutriSystem and lost 20 lbs in 3 months. What he really learned from NS is about portion sizing (a serving size is smaller than we both thought), vegetables and fruits (now half of everything he eats), and having lots of little meals rather than just a couple of big meals. He was a little hungry the first couple of days, but now it's automatic for him to have a snack of yogurt and fruit (instead of a cup or two of trail mix) and to have a cup of vegetables along with a salad and a small portion of protein and carbs for dinner.

Now I wouldn't necessarily recommend NutriSystem for IBS folks - there's lots of red meat and some artificial sweeteners - but you can follow their principles to learn how to feel full while eating fewer calories. If you're stable enough to have coffee (!), then you're certainly stable enough to have fruits and veggies make up half of each of your meals. You can learn about portion sizing for carbs and protein at all sorts of places, and filling your plate with the fruits and veggies will make up for the smaller sizes. And having 5 or 6 small meals rather than 3 large ones is good for both weight control and IBS!

--AC

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