Changing Up the Diet

Has anyone ever heard that if you continue to do the same exercise routine over and over, that your body will get used to it and will refuse to give you continued results? This is true, I’ve experienced this first hand when I USED to spend time in the gym. You may say ‘Any exercise is better than no exercise,’ and you would be right. Even the smallest amount of physical activity is better than none. But, what we are talking about here is optimizing results and I realized the other day that I had been basically eating the same IBS-friendly diet for a pretty long time now. While I certainly feel better than when I started learning about how to eat with IBS, I have noticed some stagnation, not only in how I feel about what I’m eating, but the results that I am seeing. Yes, I am stable right now. But, it always seems like a matter of time until the next flare up. I seem to remember thinking that the time between flares was much longer when I began my diet. I guess I’ve just been wondering if changing the foods within the healthy diet periodically would be of some benefit. As usual...an experiment.

I hate IBS. And IBS hates me.

So, I should say up front that I am not the kind of person who has a hard time with eating the same thing every day or simple, slight variations. I know this drives a lot of people nuts. I’m also sure that many of you are much better cooks than me and have a much easier time coming up with lovely variations for our IBS-friendly foods. I have mentioned that I am sorta kinda doing a combination GFCF/FODMAP diet, which has worked out nicely for the most part. I have narrowed down the four or five meals I like a lot and just kind of…accept it. I think we can do better than that. This brings me to the idea of changing the diet to…uh…confuse the IBS. I have found IBS to be an incredibly intelligent adversary. It seems to adjust to changes in your body relatively quickly, characterized by several weeks of positive reaction to a dietary or exercise change, only to respond with a massive attack of the bowels. I hate IBS. And, IBS hates me. Anyway, back to business. As I’ve said before, I am no dietitian by any stretch and hence, my approach to diet consists of a wonderful list of low FODMAP foods and my knowledge of the GFCF diet (we had my son on this diet to improve certain aspects of his Autism).

All I did, was replaced most of the foods that I have been eating regularly and replaced them with something else I liked from the list. Easy Peasy… I feel as though the change has been a good one, it has renewed a certain desire to cook and I know my body recognizes the change. I also have a tendency to believe that discipline is the key to success in all things and don’t allow for much flexibility. So, this new bit of flexibility and change is good for me. I’m curious how many of you stick to the same EXACT foods out of fear that anything new, even if it is healthy, will screw up your routine? All that said, I am curious to see in the coming weeks to see what effect the modified diet has on my IBS. My plan is to change again after a certain amount of time to see how this all works. Stay tuned for updates.