# How do I gain weight?



## oblio2346 (Nov 15, 2002)

I was recently diagnosed with IBS. I finally sought treatment after losing a considerable amount of weight - I'm down to 88 lbs from my normal 100-105 weight. Is there a healthy, ibs safe weight gain drink or something from a health food store that I can use to get more non-irritating calories in me? Eating is still frightening and I can't tolerate much solid food at one time. I used to get most of my calories from fat but that just won't work anymore.


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## CallMeColt (Oct 28, 2002)

Hi Oblio. I know how you feel there. I've lost about 17 lbs. (nearly all muscle) in the past 6 months. It's been hard getting enough calories to stay healthy while trying to avoid pain. Have you tried an elimination diet yet and found your trigger foods? You may need to start eating very few foods. Once the trigger foods are eliminated, you should start to feel better in a matter of days. Then, you can start adding foods back one at a time to see which foods you are intolerant to. I just started a program called LEAP a few days ago. It is a disease management dietary program which puts you on an elimination diet based on how your blood responds to different foods and chemicals. The least reactive foods are in your baseline diet until you start to feel better. Then, you start adding back foods into your diet one at a time (lowest level of reactivity first). Mike NoLomotil should be able to better describe the program to you when he sees this.After a while, you should be able to bring your calories up as you feel better... and hopefully allow you to regain weight. Word of caution...make sure once you are eating more calories again that you are weight training so you don't gain a lot of fat.







Take care.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Ensure, from the drug store, is generally well tolerated.It is designed to increase calories for people in delicate health. One way is if you have a list of safe foods then just increase by a spoonful the amount you eat in each serving. There may be something simlar at a health food store, but most of the gain weight bulk up stuff isn't aimed at people in ill health so I don't know how trigger free the tend to be.Sometimes adding back slowly and building up works better than doing anything drastic.K.


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## Julia37 (May 9, 2001)

I looked at Ensure once and as I remember it contained both milk and soy (neither of which I can have) as well as a lot of sugar (another no-no).It depends on what you're reactive to. For example, if you're reactive to dairy or sugar, meal supplements that are based on those will make you sick. Dairy is a very common cause of digestive problems. Try eliminating it for 2 weeks and see if your symptoms improve. This is how I learned I'm reactive to it, and it was my doctor's suggestion.You can use rice milk instead, and there's a rice dream ice cream dessert as well. there are also non-dairy cheeses. However, I do pretty well with nut butter instead of cheese.Good luck


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## Julia37 (May 9, 2001)

P.S. - If you can tolerate potatos I find those very soothing and satisfying. I microwave them with corn oil, celery salt, garlic powder (if I'm not going out







), and parsley flakes. I've also heard you can microwave sweet potatos, but I can't have those because I'm fructose sensitive.Another thing you could try is plain oatmeal.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

OBLIO:The underlying problem which is working against you is that every patient has a different profile of what foods and additives are safe for them and not safe for them.That means there is no universal safe product or diet. You have to isolate first what is safe for you, get on a plan get symptomatic relief, and when that is achieved and you have your true weight (many of us are carrying around some water weight that will be shed when we are antigen free)...THEN go on a weight-gain diet based on safe foods. Sometimes you just gain weight naturally after the water is shed simply due to the effect you "keep" more calories when the chronic diarrhea subsides (if that is your symptom set).I suggest these books can help:IBS: A DOCTORS PLAN FOR CHRONIC DIGESTIVE TROUBLESBy Gerard Guillory, M.D.; Vanessa Ameen, M.D.; Paul Donovan, M.D.; Jack Martin, Ph.D.http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/088...5731950/sr=2-2/ ref=sr_2_2/102-3369143-6824157[/URL]"FOOD ALLERGIES AND FOOD INTOLERANCE: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THEIR IDENTIFICTION AND TREATMENT", Professor Jonathan Brostoff , M.D.. Allergy, Immunology and Environmental Medicine, Kings' College, Londonhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/089...r=2-1/102-64875 08-3420903[/URL]MNL


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## oblio2346 (Nov 15, 2002)

I haven't had a chance to log on for a while but I want to thank everyone for their kind and thoughtful suggestions. I am holding my own at 90lbs and I'm getting pretty good at learning what I can eat safely (I ate a small bag of Snyder's pretzels the other day an thought I was going to die). I am happy to report I have a really cool doctor who actually listens to me,is open to my suggestions,is very supportive, and genuinely concerned about my health and quality of life.Thank you all again and of course if anyone discovers a safe 'magic bullet' for weight gain let me know.


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