# Low-carb diet seems to be working



## SelinaKral (Jun 11, 2010)

Hello, I have IBS, mostly IBS-D with some C here and there. A few years ago I started taking antidepressants and it helped me a lot with my IBS, it soothed my nerves as well as the gut, and I was able to live quite happily - with restrictions, of course. The only problem was, any time I tried to go off the ADs, the symptoms returned with full power.

About half a year ago I decided to do something with my weight - I was not overweight, but getting dangerously close. I tried to go vegetarian (also someone recommended trying vegetarian diet to reduce my pollen allergies, but that's not the point, just mentioning it for clarity). I think a lot of you know wery intimately what happens when you have IBS-D and considerably up your vegetable intake... So, after a few weeks of bad cramps and long hours spent on the throne I ditched the vegetarian effort. It seemed like the only way to manage my IBS is balancing lean meat, white rice, white flour and a limited quantity of vegetables off a very limited list. Not very healthy.

Two months ago I decided to try a low-carb diet - not exactly Atkins, but similar. I stopped eating all sugars, legumes, all grains, potatoes and almost all fruit (just have a few berries here and there). My diet consists of meat, fish, vegetables, eggs, fats (mostly the healthy ones) and a limited amount of dairy (hard cheese, butter, cream). I was SO AFRAID of the vegetables. You see, you mostly eat meat with vegetables and fat, for example salmon with butter and a large salad with olive oil. Or beef with grilled vegetables. Eggplant, broccoli, spinach, bell pepper, cauliflower, zucchinis, cabbage. My experience with such amount of merciless fiber was always, well, shitty. To my surprise, after leaving out all the sugars and grains, I can eat a lot of vegetables without any adverse effects. Once I ate about 4 pounds of oven roasted vegetables (eggplant, broccoli, bell peppers, zucchinis and such) with salt, olive oil and garlic in one day and NOTHING HAPPENED. The next day I had one normal, if a bit bulkier you-know-what. I can eat meat doused in fat, eggs fried in butter, mashed cauliflower, cabbage soup. I don't even get too bloated, only the cruciferous feel a bit heavy.

I also lowered the dose of my AD considerably and so far it's ok.

I'm gonna stay on the diet, and after some time I'm gonna try reintroducing some of the carbs. Maybe some of them are the culprits and some would be safe?

All in all, if anybody here thinks of giving it a try - go for it. I'm not saying it is a miraculous cure, but it is worth the try.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

I tried and didn't work for me. But the reason I tried was because I read many success stories with low carb. Worth trying IMHO.


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## SelinaKral (Jun 11, 2010)

I think maybe my gut cannot handle both carbs and vegetables, because the bacteria in there overfeed and overgrow, or something like that? Or the combination of prebiotic fiber from both grains and vegetables throws the gut flora off balance? It would certainly deserve more research.


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

You can experiment with potatoes. Potatoes have a lot of carbs and are not grains. If the potatoes give you trouble, then it's probably the carbs.


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## Awats (Aug 13, 2016)

I have tried every diet to help with my ibsd. I've been dealing with this for over 10 years. I'm in a very bad flare up right now. I don't know what caused it. I'm airways sickly and tired my stomach swells everyone I eat anything. 
My husband and I are planning on taking out kids to an amusement park for the day in a few days. Any suggestions on how to handle that? I've been strictly gluten,dairy, grain, caffeine & sugar free for 12 days now. I'm scared to go ruin the day. My family is out to eat ice cream with out me right now. I feel lonely & beyond frustrated.


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## Slimmm (Jun 4, 2007)

Awats, don't they have salads anywhere at the amusement park? Or turkey drumsticks, kabobs? Corn on the cob (if that doesn't bother you)? A lot of amusement parks are now serving healthier food choices.


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## bb322 (Feb 1, 2018)

That's really interesting, I have been following the ketogenic (low carb) diet on and off for years now, and one of the main causes of my diarrhea is vegetables, especially cruciferous ones, vegetables very high in fiber and fodmaps.. so I wonder if I would be able to tolerate them if I followed the ketogenic diet consistently for a long period of time.


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