Low Fibre diet for IBS

Hi Joanne. I'm on a low fat, low carb veggie diet which was a nightmare! I bought the Carbs and Cals book which is brilliant at helping you work out what and how much of what you can eat. It also lists the amount of fibre for everything - my friend not diabetic but with IBS has now bought a copy too and swears by it! Carbs and Cals, by Cheyette and Balolia.
Good luck, Sue xxxx

Hi,

I will tag @Winnie53 and @Indy51 because they have some great sources of info on this kind of thing.

Your consultant seems pretty behind the times. The latest thinking on IBS is that is usually caused by an overgrowth of bacteria - and it is carbohydrates that feed bacteria. The fibres to be wary of are the fermentable types. You may find the following information on FODMAPS helpful:

http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/

Wheat in particular is a FODMAP that seems to affect a lot of people.

My IBS has been mostly under control since starting a LCHF real food diet - as has my blood glucose.

All the best,

Joanne, I have a pre-ulcerative colitis condition, so Indy51 is your go to person for IBS. The diet that works best for my condition is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet... http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/ I mostly use the "Legal/Illegal List" for guidance on what to eat and not eat. I'm able to do the LCHF diet too, no problem. I think the same would be true doing FODMAPS and LCHF diet too.

A website I've spent a lot of time on is http://scdlifestyle.com/ but their website must be down tonight, because I can't bring it up. Lots of info there too and I think one of the two founders of the website has IBS.

The other website I found is for IBS and it looked like it might be helpful... http://www.helpforibs.com/messageboards/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php They have a discussion board too. Perhaps you could ask questions there.

Joanne, do you know what foods you don't tolerate well?

Heading out to a lecture on The Elimination Diet with nutritionist and author Tom Malterre. Be back in a few hours. Sorry you're going through this.

Really interesting lecture tonight. IBS was once of the problems referred to throughout the evening. It sounds like the goal is to identify and eliminate the foods that are driving the inflammation, identify and address nutritional deficiencies, and take probiotics. It's not that simple of course but that's basically what needs to happen. Doing it is more complex.

The one thing that really stuck with me tonight was how critical it is to have adequate levels of Vitamin D in the body at all times. Without it, inflammation processes are not able to shut off within 48 hours following an inflammatory causing event. Wish I didn't have to go to bed and get up so early in the morning. Will try to write more in the next month or so about this. If the FODMAPS diet is followed, in time, it will be possible to eat the foods causing the inflammation again after the gut flora becomes diverse enough and the body has had enough time to heal. Getting the acid levels in the stomach restored to normal is also part of this process. Adequate magnesium levels are also very important because it's required for more than 300 processes within the body.

I've been on a low FODMAP diet for over a year now and it has almost eliminated what were debilitating IBS attacks. I didn't know about the vitamin D thing though.

Indy51 said:

Your consultant seems pretty behind the times. The latest thinking on IBS is that is usually caused by an overgrowth of bacteria - and it is carbohydrates that feed bacteria. The fibres to be wary of are the fermentable types. You may find the following information on FODMAPS helpful:

http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/

Wheat in particular is a FODMAP that seems to affect a lot of people.

My IBS has been mostly under control since starting a LCHF real food diet - as has my blood glucose.

All the best,

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Totally agree...

Vitamin d3 is available as a supplement though.

I take D3 everyday and have good levels (i work outside all day though).

My consultant told me he originally thought I had IBS but the shapes test proved differently. (Slow colonic transt)

Eliminating all grain and eating totally non processed foods has completely reversed my bad stomach problems.

Wheat was the first thing I cut out. My stomach reduced in size enormously within a few days. We now use spelt flour for baking bread and I have no problems with that.

grillbatry said:

Thanks so much everyone - your advice is most helpful and although I only signed up to the Forum yesterday, I already feel part of the community.

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Oh, welcome too!!!

grillbatry said:

Diagnosed with Type 2 only 6 weeks ago but today I've been told by a hospital consultant to eat a low fibre diet for my IBS. The leaflet he's given me says to eat white bread, rice, pasta and only 2 veggies a day. Almost everything in the 'avoid' column is what the diabetes nurse told me to eat, and everything in the 'eat' column is what I was supposed to avoid! Does anyone else have any experience of trying to eat a low fibre diabetic diet? I can't find much information on the web. Thanks. Joanne

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Incidentally, I assumed that you were T2 and it just made me wonder if you had been given metformin?

I'm on iphone so can't get to see any details on whether people are T1 or T2....so apologies if I am wrong. Just that uf you had been given metformin it can also cause bad stomachs....

This is a follow up on the resources I posted earlier on this topic...

Last night I was reading on Heather's Help For IBS website, and after reading a description of the diet, I realized that it's heavy on grains, which makes no sense to me, and is not good for those of us who have diabetes. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) and FODMAPS diet is much more appropriate for those who are also on the LCHF diet. That said, she does sell some products that might be helpful, so it may still be worth a look.

There's one more website that I forgot to mention that discusses the Elemental Diet - (a liquid diet used to rest the colon for a number of weeks before beginning to reintroduce food) - that is used by those who are very, very ill - (I would encourage anyone with IBD or IBS to try the SCD or FODMAPS diet first).

The Elemental Diet and Natural Supplement Plan is described at http://www.listentoyourgut.com I have one of Jini Patel Thompson's books, The IBD Remission Diet. I believe the first chapter can be downloaded from the website for free.

Last night I spent some time sampling chapters of the book, then went onto her website where I found more information, videos too, in addition to the diet and plan, that I personally found helpful.

This might be of interest to some of you...

In chapter 5, she lists five foods that triggered a return of symptoms as one food a day was re-introduced during a study on Crohn's patients: "Wheat was the highest offender (69%), then dairy products (48%), followed by yeast (31%), corn (24%) and potato (17%)." She added that "60% of people who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy.". As for dairy, some tolerate cream, butter and cheese made from raw, not pasteurized, cow's milk. And those that don't tolerate dairy from cows, sometimes tolerate dairy from goats.

What I like most about Jini's approach is that she only uses natural foods and supplements, nothing artificial. Also, that she developed this diet and plan as a treatment for herself after years of traditional medical treatments that didn't work, and a lot of research, trial and error. Originally diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, she states that she has "remained drug and surgery-free for over 20 years."