# How I cured my IBS



## Food Is My Medicine (Feb 22, 2016)

"Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. " Hippocrates . Greek physician (460 BC - 377 BC)

Like a lot of people I had a list of general symptoms related to digestive health. Abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea etc. I went to doctors numerous times for a bunch of tests. The answer was always a variation of the same. You have IBS, take these pills.

My symptoms got steadily worse and my general health was deteriorating. I was constantly getting sick, exercise would cause serious fatigue and diarrhea so I stopped exercising and gained weight, my blood pressure was high. I was in my early 40's and felt like an old man. Work and family life was suffering from my poor health.

Over time I realized that the doctors were not helping at all and possibly making things worse. After doing a lot of reading I concluded that my lifestyle was the cause of my problems and no-one can fix it but me.

It was not a quick or easy process, but not my health is now excellent. I almost 50 and am leaner, fitter and more energetic than I have been since my early 30's.

If you take full responsibility for your health you can probably make the same change. Everybody is different so I can't tell you exactly what to do. The only thing I can be sure of is you have to take responsibility for your health. Doctors and people on the internet can provide support and help, but only you can cure yourself.

Here is what worked for me.

· See the quote above from Hippocrates. Your body is literally made up of what you eat. If you don't eat well you can't expect to feel well.

· No pills. Most prescription medicines are focused on reducing your symptoms, not curing the root cause of the problem. The symptoms are essential feedback telling you when you are not taking care of your body. If you mask the symptoms it enables you to ignore the damage you are doing and make things worse in the long run. Some can have serious side effects.

· Listen to your body. If you are paying attention it tells you what is good and bad for you.

· Zero caffeine and alcohol.

· Primarily plant based diet. Fresh food, not processed. You need to do some cooking. I still eat some meat, but typically not every day.

· High fiber diet. I have used psyllium husk (main ingredient of Metamucil) to get more fiber and think it is helpful, but you should not rely on that alone. Your gut needs a variety of fiber.

· Yogurt and kefir

· Limit sugar and other sweeteners.

· Limit fruit. For a lot people this is not an issue because they already don't eat enough of them, but I love fruits and can eat too much. The negative effects seem to be limited if eaten with proteins and fat.

· Try to have a balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat in all meals. Don't eat "low fat" foods. Fats are essential. Just limit fats from animals (except fish) as most are not healthy.

· No refined carbohydrates (pasta, white bread etc). Don't eat food that are mostly carbohydrates by themselves (cereal, bread, pasta) even if they are whole grain

· Herbal teas particularly peppermint and chamomile. I replaced coffee with decaf green tea. As the symptoms eased I went to caffeinated green tea. It has much lower caffeine than a Starbucks coffee.

· Exercise

· My morning smoothy. Hemp protein, banana, kefir or yogurt, soy milk, psyllium husk. It is not good to eat the same thing all the time so I change the fruit, milk (soy) and sometimes add kale or some other leafy green.

I have been reading with a lot of interest about all the recent discoveries about the gut microbiome. If I was starting again I would try a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT). In any case even if that works all the things I did above are important to maintaining digestive health.

I hope this give some inspiration for others to take control of their health.


----------



## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

You make some good points in your post. Reconsider soy. Do some research about it. I wouldn't recommend it.


----------

