# Food and Constipation



## can.diem (Jan 3, 2017)

When I glanced at the other topics and I saw how few responses they had gotten, I admit I feel a little badly that there aren't more replies. It makes me wonder if there really is anything I can do or say that is helpful to others, or that holds any water (is that a pun?) in relation to the issues of other people.

In the beginning...

I was raised to eat the food that my family fed me. This was a heavy, heavy meat and cheese diet, with some peanut butter, and plenty of unhealthy fats. I grew up eating this type of food as a little girl. My body experienced periodic constipation that was extremely severe, but only when I had *cheese* or *peanut butter*. Those were the foods that would constipate me, but as long as I had them in moderation, constipation was not an issue. It's because I was fed those foods very often that I had retained a lot of fat. Being over weight most of my life, I was sick of feeling fat and sluggish and bogged down. I realized at that period in my life that I was a child, and because no one thought much of the way I was raised, I simply dealt with having that type of diet in my household.

In the middle...

When I started getting into my early twenties, I was upset and wanted to lose weight. Instead of dealing with random popular diets that I saw on TV, I went away from the mainstream and started to try a heavy meat-based diet. I did this because, frankly, I wanted to do whatever it took to be thinner, and I wasn't paying a lot of attention to calories, but I was focused on protein. Somehow, I ended figuring that that was what it would take for me to lose weight, and that avoiding carbs and eating protein would work. It did, but only a little. Not a lot. I was eating a very large amount of red meat and a very large amount of fish. Some chicken. Plainly cooked in either coconut oil or high-quality canola oil. No constipation issues, here.

In the end...

My body started to change a little bit, and I was happy about how I felt when I was thinner. Because I was curious about vegetarianism, and how people mentioned how they were able to lose tremendous amounts of weight, and how they could keep it all off, I decided I wanted to try it. Tinker around with my diet. Experimenting is what I did for a while, first with vegetarianism, and then with veganism. When I first went vegan, it was complicated because I have never been surrounded by people who were not staunch meat and egg eaters. I know that my body felt better after going vegan, and I enjoyed it. Eventually, I got into a healthy weight bracket, and I felt absolutely amazing. I was not overweight or even obese, and I was so happy that I wasn't in that category anymore. To this day, I miss the sensation of being vegan -- the sensation in my body, and how healthy I felt -- and I wish I could be vegan again.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, intense, chronic, and growing constipation came back into my life. This was around the time that I became vegan. It was a wonderful start, and my bowel movements were excellent, but then this constipation started to control my life. There were highly embarrassing times when I could only eat *condiments* and *vegetable broth*. I also had some vegetable juice, but I was always hungry, always miserable, and I always tried to eat, even though it would build up in my gut and I would get nauseous from backed-up stool. It was a nightmare and I became fairly afraid to eat, but also fairly afraid to starve.

Now, because I moved out of my parents house, I rent a room with a group of people who are still obsessive meat and egg eaters. It's a part of their life -- all diets have a massive impact on our lives, even on a social level, which is what I started to learn about food as I went from vegetarianism to veganism -- and they wouldn't change it for anything. If I had my way, I would be vegan and I wouldn't change that for anything. Right now, I'm only vegetarian because I've found that it's way too hard to live with other people and avoid dairy entirely. The people I have lived with and the people I live with aren't careful about food at all and have often ended up putting meat into meals they said had no meat in them, as well as dairy, and they think nothing of it. They have also told me that they couldn't dream of being vegetarian or vegan, and that they wish I would eat the meat that they cooked. They have also said I should just "eat around" the meat of the food they cook, and try to get me to eat foods that have had meat cooked into them. It's a daily issue because they want me to eat what everyone else eats, and I have been criticized for not eating eggs or pork. Total strangers have said that "everyone" has to eat a certain food, as if it's a rule that cannot be broken.

Food is life and life is food. This is the perspective that nearly everyone adheres to. It can be terrifying to face when having IBS.

The deal with my IBS-C is that I am constipated when I eat anything. The foods in my diet were naturally high-fiber, and eating them has done absolutely nothing to aid in my constipation. The story I get from doctors is that I am not eating enough fiber and that I'm dehydrated. Those two stories could not be further from the truth. Any food, at this point in my life, will constipate me, so the small amounts of peanut butter or cheese that I have eaten are no different than the broccoli or the apples that I've eaten. My body now processes all foods that I will allow into my body as foods that cannot exit my colon. I don't know how or why, and no matter how much water I drink, it does no good, whatsoever. *I am not* dehydrated and *I do not* lack fiber. Period. Essentially, the way solutions work are that they all work for a period, and then they immediately stop working. Then they don't work at all. Once in a while -- such as today -- I had taken some Ex-lax because I'm desperate. I might get some relief when I use it periodically, but if I use it on a regular basis, not only do I do harm to my body, but it also stops working and then nothing works.

Coffee. Amazingly, despite being told by doctors to avoid coffee, it's the only tool that has stuck with me right through the end. As long as I drink copious amounts of coffee every single day, I have had some mild to moderate bowel movements. This has shortened greatly and now coffee is losing it's power, but this is mostly because I drink a lot of it almost every single day. Now, I drink less because I'm sick of constantly having caffeine in my bloodstream. It's too much.

My mother has IBS-D. This has been a lifelong ailment for her, but she has managed it by eating cheese and peanut butter, which has helped to stop her up when she eats it in excess. The opposite is my issue, so I have had to severely limit these foods. That was for most of my life, but now, I can eat a bowl of steamed broccoli and my constipation is awful. Beans are a necessary food for vegetarians -- I hate meat and eggs, and as a kid, eating eggs would occasionally make me vomit for no particular reason, despite being made to eat whatever I was cooked -- so without those, I would lack protein and my hair would fall out. Been there. Beans are a necessity, and broccoli is a pretty important source of nutrients as well. Diets that limit any plant-based food make me extremely upset. One major reason is how powerful food is in our social lives, plus I already deal with symptoms from the foods *I know I need* to be eating. The stress is eating at me (that one is a pun, I know) and what's more, *my birthday* is coming up on the *25th*. The one place I wanted to eat a meal at was an Italian restaurant with amazing food. I also wanted some vegan raw cookie dough to eat instead of a birthday cake. That one, I would have ordered. (Vegan food is awesome and I would kill to be vegan again.)









There are some parts of this story that I missed, so I figure I will fill those in if I get any comments or questions about my post.

Thanks for reading. I know it's hard for all of us. This is hard for me to share because it's shameful and upsetting and I'm tired of having people tell me what to eat and how to eat it. The rage I've felt towards doctors is intense. My body isn't able to process a major function, and all I get are the same comments on repeat. I've done what I've done on my end, and there isn't anything else I can do. My next step of self-limitation is to go on a complete nutritional supplement diet and avoid any "normal foods" entirely. Not happy about that, and I will be incredibly miserable, but if it comes down to being pushed onto a FODMAP diet, there is a high chance I will do it. A massive chunk of my life is pretty much gone.

Fingers crossed that they try me out on lubiprostone and I can actually eat meals again. No plant-limiting diets. Praying that this works out that way because this is all too much for me.

Did I mention how badly I miss being vegan? *sigh*

-can.diem


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