# "Eating for IBS"



## drinal (Feb 13, 2011)

About 10 days ago, when I grew sick and tired of feeling tired and sick, I went online, where I found a reference to Heather Van Vorous' diet. I read about it and immediately ordered her eBook from Amazon for my Kindle. I've now been following her diet, along with a few tips from my GI doctor, for 10 days and figured I'd keep a sort of diary here for anyone who might find it interesting or helpful. (I've had IBS-D about 4 years and am 50 years old)In the past I've never tried meds but I've tried yogurt, pro biotics and cleansing with black oak etc. Nothing seemed to help. The past 10 days I've seen considerable improvement, though I'll only be sure it's due to the diet if it lasts another couple of weeks. I still start to have a bad, kind of hollow feeling in my stomach if I let myself start to get hungry. So one key thing is to snack often. I'm not going into all the details of what Heather proscribes, you can find it on her site. The basis is low to no fat, and a diet based in soluble fibers. So, here's what I've been doing each day. Breakfast is now a delicious Quaker Oat Bran hot cereal with vanilla soy milk, honey and cinnamon added. 1 1/2 minutes in the microwave. I used to eat a healthy multi grain cereal and half way thru I'd start burping. Now I burp once, maybe twice. I still have my coffee, but with soy milk. I also take a good probiotic. You could also have cream of rice or Rice Chex. Very important I think, is that I now start my day with a glass of Citrucel. Heather wrote that it's one of the single most important things you can do. (or Metamucil) And so easy!I have a mid morning snack, usually of homemade quick bread. I make them with only egg whites now and replace half the oil with applesauce. Skip the raisins. Lunch I have a kind of bland turkey on either a kaiser roll or Italian bread sandwich, with mustard. It's boring but I can live with that for now. Add in some pretzels if you want. Mid afternoon I usually have a soy yogurt. Stonyfield makes a good one. Or a banana is a great snack. Applesauce too. Or a bagel with Tofutti cream cheese. During the day I have at least 2 cups of peppermint tea and usually take a peppermint capsule (enteric coated) between all meals. For dinner I don't have a routine yet but Sushi is great. I've also had chicken and rice and last night went out for dinner. Before I start the meal I take 2 enzyme tablets, recommended by my GI doctor. Mine are SpectraZyme. He said to take them before a difficult meal but I'm taking them for every dinner right now. Later in the evening I might have a snack but usually just another peppermint tea. So the changes? I've been having only 1-2 BM's per day, used to have 4 or even more on a bad day. My stomach is much more settled and there's much less rumbling and discomfort. (I never really got cramps or pains so can't address that.) I have a bit more energy too. Bottom line, if this keeps up I'm going to be pretty happy! I think the Citrucel keeps the number of BMs down; I even sometimes feel slightly constipated but it's not a problem. Changing my diet to be soluble fiber based has probably kept my stomach much happier. And the enzymes may or may not be helping, not sure about that yet. The worst thing right now is that as I mentioned, as soon as I start to get hungry I notice a bad feeling. So that's my story for now. I'll update in another 5 days if things continue the same; sooner if they change. Hope you find it helpful.


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## Yarm (Sep 18, 2010)

Good for you. It sounds like you're figuring out your food issues. I have a question: Why no egg yolks? I eat a lot of eggs (two a day) and I always eat the yolk to make sure I get the nutrients such as iron.


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## drinal (Feb 13, 2011)

Yarm, the diet requires almost no fat, and egg yolks have a high fat content. That said, the diet suggests that everyone is different and some people can tolerate what other people cannot. So what I'm doing is starting off as strictly as possible, then I'll add back in and test a few things, including egg yolks. Because I miss them! But I may still keep them out of some of my baking, to reduce my fat intake. Update on my progress - doing great actually. I'm sticking to the things I outlined above. Though this past weekend I did have scrambled eggs, including the yolk, with no problem. The only sign of a problem was the morning after I ate Dominoes pizza. A big no-no. I used my enzymes during the meal, but first thing the next morning I was queasy. It was also a high stress morning so I can't be sure of the exact cause, but will probably avoid pizza for a while. I went to the circus Sunday and knowing I couldn't eat any of their food, and that I didn't want to allow myself to get too hungry because that causes discomfort, I brought my homemade banana bread as a snack.







Felt fine. Net-net, still very pleased at the results of this regimen. I can feel the IBS lurking, but I'm keeping it at bay for now.


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## drinal (Feb 13, 2011)

...another update. I guess I got cocky because I've been feeling so well. Last night I made pasta with spaghetti sauce. Felt fine last night but woke up to diarrhea today. Then today at lunch I went with office folks for a falafel. My stomach is churning! Hasn't done that in well over a week. So I think the new regimen is working, and it's just that I went off it and had too much tomato and then the high fat content in the falafel that set me off today. Sigh, back to my turkey sandwiches.


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## drinal (Feb 13, 2011)

Another update here, I've been on this new regimen for 6 weeks now. I'm feeling better every week. In fact so much so that I can go off it a little for a dinner here and there, take my enzymes, and feel fine. So to recap: I eat very little fat, no red meats, almost no dairy, and a base diet of soluble fiber. I take Citrucel every day, or Fibercon if I'm traveling, use enzymes with trickier meals, and use some peppermint but I don't think that matters much. I eat veggies only after some soluble fibers and little to no multi grains. I have way less gas, much less to almost no bloating, and just a little D. I really feel like I'm managing this now and I have control. Hurrah!


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## snowyowl74 (May 1, 2011)

Thank you so much for posting this! I was diagnosed with IBS on Apr. 8 and am navigating my way through everything. I won't share my whole story, but I picked up two of Heather Van Vorous' books from the library last week. I just finished "The First Year IBS" and have started to incorporate some of her diet strategies. I've definitely noticed an improvement! I'm not symptom free, but feeling WAY better (and I have not been following it to the letter yet). It was really getting out of control... I'm getting ready to start reading "Eating for IBS" and hope to completely incorporate her diet methods within the next few days.Like you, I think I'm going to go hard core with the plan and then slowly see if I can tolerate some of the trigger foods. I'm going to miss my coffee, pop, dairy, and chocolate, but if it makes me feel better, it will be well worth it.It's great to see this post and know that there are others out there that it's worked for other than those she cites in her testimonials on her website and in the books.Thanks again!


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