IBS TummyChow - How to Start

The following is adapted, with permission, from a forum post and a page by
Tummyblogger.

This page is about how to start on the IBS Diet. If you have IBS-C (with constipation)
you may have become dependent on laxatives; if you have IBS-D (with diarrhea) you
may depend on Immodium. In both cases it will help at the beginning if you eliminate
many of the things you usually eat, and rely on soy milk shakes, soy cheeses, and
vegan items in general. Then add back chicken (if you are not a vegetarian) and fish.
Dairy is out, as are most of the other trigger foods.

TO BEGIN
Any group of foods by itself (excluding obvious trigger foods) may be okay for IBS -
that’s why a meal is okay one day and produces cramps or D the next. See the post
on the gastrocolic reflex at ForMyTummy. A key suggestion is, start every meal with a
“serving” of soluble fiber. I love Heather’s Acacia fiber, but if you don’t have it on
hand, either order it here, or get Benefiber, which is all guar gum, or a fiber
supplement that is 100% inulin. If you know what your fiber intake has been every day,
and you are not on any laxatives, divide your daily fiber intake into as many meals as
you usually have. Match it to the dose / fiber content on the label of your chosen brand
of fiber. Then take that fiber dose for every meal, before you start to eat, and before
you drink anything. Do not use fiber supplements like Metamucil, which has insoluble
fiber as well as soluble fiber. Give away any Metamucil or similar stuff, or throw it
away

If you don’t know how much fiber you have been getting every day, get Equalactin
(also over the counter), and take two tablets four or five times a day, for a week or so.
That is so you don't jump from almost no fiber to twice or three times as much; and
also so you don't drop from a certain dosage of fiber down to the basic soluble fiber
dosage.

Don’t drink anything before you take the Equalactin; drink water that is room
temperature or only as cold as water from the cold water tap, after you take the
Equalactin. Then eat.

If you have been taking laxatives regularly, don’t stop all at once and switch to these
dietary recommendations. Instead, begin a regimen of soluble fiber (Acacia, inulin,
Benefiber) and slowly increase it. Count your daily fiber intake. When you have three
or four days at about 15 gms. of fiber a day, gradually start decreasing your use of
laxatives. At the same time, gradually increase the amount of fiber you take, up to
between 25 and 30 gms. a day. At that point, you should be off the laxatives, and
finding that with fiber, your body (with some adjustments) will begin to be regular on
its own.

Pay attention to what you drink, also. Substitute soy milk for dairy; get soy cheese,
rather than dairy cheese. Also, look out for citric acid, on the label of drinks, sodas
and powders particularly. Instead, use herbal teas that are unlikely to produce citric
acid.

Many recommendations on Heather's web site are wonderful. As others have also
observed, these recommendations work better for D, and for people who are skinny
because of D. It is heavy on carbohydrates, especially rice. Rice, as far as I can see
by checking fiber tables, is not a soluble fiber. If you have to go out to eat, steer
people to a Chinese restaurant and have rice and tofu in a sauce. In that case, taking
rice to start does make the meal tolerable. It isn’t going to do anything for your
constipation two days down the road–just prevent immediate bloating and pain.

People will try to scare you about soy; don’t let them. Most of the world lives on soy,
and the most long-lived people eat soy every day.

Ordering from Heather’s website is super fast; you can also order her products and
others from Amazon.com–for example, if someone gives you a gift certificate for a
birthday, or Thanksgiving, or the holidays.

Last, but probably first in causing cramps, is the gastrocolic reflex. Heather
enlightened me about this one; it means that food or drink doesn’t have to work its
way through your digestive system to the colon before causing pain or gas or
bloating. Certain things will trigger this reflex, particularly on an empty stomach, and
suddenly, there you are, doubled over. Avoid dairy, caffeine, citric acid, tannic acid,
acidic coffee (like instant), iced or even cold drinks, and perhaps broccoli.