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A diet for IBS sufferers

Posted on Oct 20th 2006 4:26PM by Martha Edwards
Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss
As someone who's been involved in a life-long struggle against an annoying, painful and frankly embarrassing condition called Irritable Bowel Syndrome, I am constantly keeping my eye out for new ideas on how to lessen the symptoms that sometimes seem to dominate my life. I recently came across the IBS diet, constructed by fellow sufferer Heather Van Vorous.

Most approaches to digestive problems that I've found have encouraged sufferers to find out what their trigger foods are by the process of elimination (cutting an item, such a wheat, out of your diet for a week or so,) and then take that food out of their diet altogether. This new approach, however, claims that all foods high in fat, insoluble fiber, caffeine, alcohol and carbonation are trigger foods. She doesn't believe in elimination of certain foods but encourages us to learn about these triggers and when or when not to eat them. Insoluble fiber, she says, is really hard on people with IBS and should only be consumed with caution and large amounts of soluble fiber.
Insoluble fiber includes most vegetables, whole grains, beans and lentils. That's pretty much my whole diet. I think the diet is worth trying out (anything is, as other people with IBS know), but it will take some adjusting too. Soluble fiber includes white bread (preferably preservative-free), something I haven't eaten in years.

I encourage you to take a look at the diet and let me know what you think, IBS or not.

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