# I cured my IBS with a whole food plant-based diet



## Varius

Hi everyone, like the title says I cured my IBS with a whole foods plant-based (WFPB) diet. In this post I want to explain what my situation was and give a sketch of my journey, but first I'll just explain what a WFPB diet is. A WFPB diet is one that consists of minimally processed whole plant foods and excludes meat, eggs,dairy and oil.

Starting when I was about 18 (I am 27 now) I started to suffer gastrointestinal issues which led me to self-diagnose myself as having IBS. My stomach and bowels would make noises throughout the day and I would have to go to the bathroom soon after almost every meal I ate. Needless to say these problems made life difficult as a university student. Around 4 years ago after reading that dairy could cause or IBS aggravate IBS I tried not eating it and within 1-2 days my symtpoms improved about 80% which was huge. It was still problematic however and I continued to try and cure my condition. I went to a gastroenterologist but that didn't help much.

What actually led me to the cure for my digestive problems was my interest in nutrition for general health. I began researching nutrition fairly intensively about 3 years ago which led to me finding about a type of diet most commonly referred to as a whole foods plant-based diet that was promoted by some professionals as being the healthiest diet. I found it interesting that the foods excluded from the diet -- oil, meat, dairy and eggs -- were the foods that would aggravate my symptoms. I wasn't sure at first whether this was the best diet to be following for overall health but over time I became more and more convinced. About two years ago I made large shift towards following the diet and my IBS got much better. Early last year I started adhering to the diet 100% and since then it has basically been near eliminated and I have also experienced a whole host of other health benefits.

The really eye opening thing for me was realising that oil which is such a ubiquitous ingredient in people's diets can be excluded and is actually very bad for health. I now think that oil and animal products are a major cause of IBS if not the major cause. It is quite common for me see other people on the internet who follow this diet and say that it cured their digestive ailments.

These are some websites and videos that provide information about the diet and the health benefits:

http://www.forksoverknives.com/what-to-eat/

https://www.drmcdougall.com/

http://nutritionfacts.org/











If you are interested and would like to try it to see whether it helps your IBS you could just try eating very simply for a day or two; for example just eating rice and vegetables or potatoes and vegetables. If the problem is the animal products and oil your symptoms will probably improve greatly within this time.


----------



## jaumeb

I tried the "only rice and vegetables or potatoes" and didn't work for me.

It is important to understand that not oils are the same. Organic extra virgin olive oil is different from canola oil.

Same can be said about meat and eggs.

I am currently exploring the ideas of Weston A. Price. If you are interested in nutrition you may like his work.


----------



## SanFranLarry

The obvious simple fact regarding diets is that each person is different and what works for one may not work for another. When it comes to either IBS or GERD, what you can eat is simple trial-and-error. Keeping a digest of what you eat and how it effects you I find to be quite essential.


----------



## Varius

> It is important to understand that not oils are the same. Organic extra virgin olive oil is different from canola oil.
> 
> Same can be said about meat and eggs.


While there are some differences on health between the oils I think it is far better not to consume oil as the health difference between consuming lots of oil and not consuming any is huge while simply switching to a healthier oil has a relatively small health benefit. I would say the same thing for meat and eggs. Here are two short videos considering oil:












> I am currently exploring the ideas of Weston A. Price. If you are interested in nutrition you may like his work.


I have heard of the Weston A. Price foundation and looked into their stuff. I would disagree with their views. Thanks for the suggestion anyway though.



> The obvious simple fact regarding diets is that each person is different and what works for one may not work for another.


People certainly react differently to diets but I don't think that stops us from making general nutritional recommendations as the healthfulness of different diets is very consistent among people. So for example 100yrs ago people consumed far less processed food and were much healthier whereas today people consume lots of processed food and most are overweight. One person may be able to live to a decent age on a high processed food diet whereas another might have a heart attack at forty but they both would have been healthier if they cut out the processed foods. Populations that consume a mainly WFPB diet have no or extremely low rates of heart disease, diabetes and overweight. See these short videos for example:

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/one-in-a-thousand-ending-the-heart-disease-epidemic/
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-okinawa-diet-living-to-100/


----------



## Akn1965

jaumeb said:


> I tried the "only rice and vegetables or potatoes" and didn't work for me.
> It is important to understand that not oils are the same. Organic extra virgin olive oil is different from canola oil.
> Same can be said about meat and eggs.
> I am currently exploring the ideas of Weston A. Price. If you are interested in nutrition you may like his work.


Only rice and vegetables or patato did not work for me also.and whenever I follow any diet say Scd,Fodmap etc only that period is safe for me. On the other hand when I add trigger foods the pain and diarrhea returns.

Thanks.


----------



## ashyam86343

Akn1965 said:


> Only rice and vegetables or patato did not work for me also.and whenever I follow any diet say Scd,Fodmap etc only that period is safe for me. On the other hand when I add trigger foods the pain and diarrhea returns.
> 
> Thanks.


Hi Akn,

Raw vegetables are huge load to stomach to digest & Potato is the same in addition it produces gas. So both triggers IBS more.

regarding dairy, Indian native milk dairies is actually helps to cure IBS as those gives us A2 type milks which increases the immunity and avoid bloating. In the world A2 type milk is availed by only 2 living beings, one is Cow & other is Human (mothers breast).

This is the reason cows are praised.


----------



## Akn1965

Thank you Ashyam.


----------

