# How to Eat Healthy Without Gas?



## quarky (Jun 15, 2011)

All week I've been struggling with gas, particularly in the evenings. I feel the need to pass gas literally every 2 minutes, and holding it in is uncomfortable to the point of pain. It's been particularly bad after eating quorn, eggs, and most vegetables.

Today I've skipped out all the fruit and veg I usually eat, and just eaten sourdough bread, bagels and plain chicken. I feel fine. (I know most people say wheat is bad, but it's pretty much my ultimate safe food... a couple of days of living on just plain white toast and IBS symptoms completely go away.)

It feels like every time I eat anything "good for me" I swell up like a balloon. Anyone relate? How do you cope? I'm IBS-D, never C. Am I doomed to a lifetime of eating no veggies except carrots, squash and sweet potatoes? Does anyone here manage to get the recommended "5 portions a day" without feeling permanently bloated?


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## twonK (Oct 30, 2006)

I can recommend this elimination diet http://www.precisionnutrition.com/elimination-diet. After 2 weeks on it I started to feel a lot better, after 16 years of suffering terribly with gas, bloating and pain. Then every 3 days you add back a single food. The theory is that you discover the problematic foodstuffs this way. It requires a lot of patience (trust me), willpower and some meal planning.

HTH,

Pete


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## quarky (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm not sure that would help since almost all fruits and veg are on the initial "include" list, and I know that some of them cause me problems. Interestingly, tomatoes and potatoes (on the exclude list) are veg I can tolerate quite well, providing they're thoroughly cooked and have skins and seeds removed.


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## twonK (Oct 30, 2006)

well, you'd start off by going on the elimination diet minus the foodstuffs that you know are problematic. Quite often foods that you think are "safe" turn out not to be (e.g. I thought I could handle cheese) and foods that you think are unsafe are safe (I've been avoiding pretty much all fruits for years and it turns out I'm fine with most of them - doh!). BTW I additionally excluded high FODMAP foods which excludes a fair number of fruits & veg. They're on my challenge list.

It's slow but (so far) worthwhile.


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## quarky (Jun 15, 2011)

Ok. I can already get symptom-free by cutting out all fruit and veg, so I guess I'll try starting off with no fruit or veg and then adding them back in one at a time.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

You might want to check out the Low FODMAP diet and start adding back from the low fodmap fruits and veggies that are low in fermentable carbs.

Try adding back the least likely to cause gas and see how that goes before adding in the ones that make even healthy people on the gassy side.


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## Amanda Nicole (Jul 14, 2013)

You might consider food sensitivity testing - this helps to take a lot of the "guesswork" out. I use the Mediator Release Test with my clients (best test currently on the market, in my professional opinion). Many of the other food lists, such as FODMAP and others, take out foods that are thougt to provide some issues in some people, but they do not, by any means, work for everyone across the board. Everyone responds to different foods in different ways and it's important to identify YOUR individual trigger foods that are contributing to symptoms.

The reason why testing is so important is because, with food sensitivities, symptoms can be delayed up to 3-4 days and symptoms are dose-dependent (meaning small amounts of your triggers may not cause noticeable symptoms, but larger amounts will and eating multiple triggers at the same time will) - this is why you can appear to be "OK" with a food one day and not the next. Also, people can be sensitive to chemicals found in foods, whether the chemicals are naturally occurring or added in. I've worked with clients whose medications were actually the main cause of their symptoms - their meds contained dyes and starches that they were reactive to. I've also known clients who were so reactive to coconut that they couldn't use most standard, commercially available personal care products and some household products, such as shampoos, soaps, toothpaste, detergent, etc. (derivatives of coconut are commonly found in these products).


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## Sharye (Jun 18, 2012)

I also have found that when I have a problem that I need to stay away from most vegetables and fruits. I had a problem today and had broccolli last night for dinner. Right after my stomach was having fits. I would live to find a good diet to get me back to where I feel like I can get back to normal and be able to enjoy life instead of feeling stressed because I do not know when a attack will happen. Any he would be greatly appreciated.


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