Do you know what triggers your IBS flares?
IBS triggers vary from person to person... food, stress, medication, hormones, changes in gut microbiota, genetics, etc. What have you noticed triggers flares for you, and what do you do to mitigate (or reduce) the severity?
At one time I thought it might be certain weather conditions. I'm not sure of that, as there are times when a certain weather condition that appeared to trigger a flare up in the past for me, suddenly doesn't!
But consistently, I find high fibre "healthy" foods do it for me. (I have IBS-D predominantly.) I can eat some of those foods and can often manage 3 portions of steamed vegetables a day. But that's my limit. And some vegetables (such as carrots or beetroot, celery etc) have a laxative effect where others don't.
The other foods I eat with the veg have to be low or even zero fibre for that to work out, such as boiled eggs, or baked fish or even canned fish.
Peeled boiled or baked potatoes also often trigger a mild flare up. I have no idea why, when I daren't, and don't, eat the skins. I am more or less stuck with white basmati rice or toasted ciabatta or panini bread. Even pasta or noodles can be unfriendly sometimes.
And yet there are random times I can eat fibre foods such as brown rice, nuts, carrots, beetroot, even cabbage etc and be fine. Times like that can last for days to weeks sometimes.
So basically for me it's "any foods that are great for constipation and are considered healthy for the gut for most people" can be my worst enemies.
Thank you so much for sharing! I feel your last sentence so much. Whenever something is supposed to be good for constipation, I stay far, far away from it. And anything that can cause constipation usually works well for me.
How have you been feeling lately?
Karina (team member)I feel the same way. I have Ibs-m but mostly ibs-d so I’m always looking for foods that are going to move slowly. But I find those foods can get boring.
Yes exactly. You understand!! It's amazing how so many people don't. People often tell me I shouldn't eat "white" foods like rice, bread etc. Yet I know I'll feel much better and healthier if I do !
I once looked up "food that can cause constipation" on google, desperately trying to find things I could eat. And, as searches go, I was directed to all the advice about eating lots of fibre etc, or the BRAT diet on the other hand which is no good for me because bananas act as a laxative on me too. It's good though that by trial and error I did find a lot of foods (some of them actually high FODMAPS!) that did suit me.
I'm not too bad. Dentist and audiologist are preoccupying me more than IBS at the moment! Though IBS does put in a small guest appearance sometimes haha ! Oh the joys....
I hope you had a nice Christmas and new year, and your tummy isn't too bad right now?I had googled that too in the past, haha! But you're so right, it's more about trial and error than following something we find on google. The BRAT diet is okay for me, as long as I stick to gluten-free bread, but white rice and chicken is still so much better.
I hope you'll get the dentist and audiologist issues resolved soon! Are you able to get appointments where you live or do you have to drive far for them?
My IBS had been okay but is acting up a bit now. Nothing too bad though, thank you for asking!
Karina (team member)
Yes, I think we find out what particularly suits our own gut. I am OK with gluten, but apart from toast, white rice seems to be the only carb that is consistently OK for me. Then proteins. I can eat any fish at all, and eggs,
I can have unpredictable results with potatoes (even with no skins and plain boiled or baked in tinfoil.) I've had slightly negative results with pasta spirals and cous cous too. No idea why because as I said, I'm not gluten sensitive.
I am just grateful I CAN eat vegetables, and can often manage 3 portions a day.
For the audiologist it was in a town about 6 miles drive away. My dentist is 15 miles away, in one of the loveliest villages actually! So in one way it will be nice to go there again. But next time it will be a drilling! Yuck.... I will go for a nice walk there afterwards with a numb face, and that's something to look forward to.
Here's hoping your recent downturn with IBS won't last very long. Maybe a change in the weather had an effect? It was bitter cold here with snow and ice recently, and now it's suddenly changed to 13C in the night!!3 portions of vegetables a day is great! I can only eat vegetables on good days, except for carrots which seem to be okay in general. Carbs, however, are all fine for me, except maybe quinoa.
I'm glad you have something to look forward to after your dentist appointment. Going to the dentist is unpleasant in general and drilling is even worse. 🙁 Will it be the last appointment or do you have others after that?
You're right, we had the same weather change here, so maybe that's what affected me! Did you see any change in your symptoms because of the weather?
Karina (team member)
It's so weird how we can all be so different. Quinoa (which I love) is a bit too high-fibre for me and I'm better on rice. Carrots are the same (though I love those too!) Sometimes I can eat carrots, and sometimes not, but they are inclined to have a slight laxative effect on me, which nowadays is magnified, whereas in the past the effect was only slight, and healthy.
I do better on green beans, spinach, young kale leaves, sugar snap peas, Pak Choi, and oddly, little Gem lettuce (which is high in insoluble fibre apparently!) but I only have 2 or 3 leaves. Watercress is fine for me, as is peeled cucumber and slices of avocado, but not TOO much of that. I eat freshly picked steamed Nettle leaves but can't have those at the moment as I'm waiting for the Spring growth. Sometimes I can eat steamed peeled celery. Broccoli (florets only and not stems) also seem to work.
I am working on fruit because my body for some strange reason seems to process fruit as "poison". So I am trying the silliest small amounts to try to train my gut. I mean 2 or 3 blueberries, 2 or 3 peeled grapes , and see where that takes me and whether my gut will adapt. If I try bananas, that always means some drama the next morning! Even if I eat them on the greenish side as recommended in the low Fodmap diet. I haven't got to oranges yet but would dearly like to eat them again, plus apples!
But I did manage some toasted sunflower seeds for weeks on end, plus smooth natural peanut butter with no additives.
The only thing that happened with the bitter cold weather was my lower back (in the pelvic joints just above sacro-iliac area) was incredibly painful each morning so I could literally hardly move. Yet once I'd been for a #2, the pain eased up greatly. It has been a little better since the weather flipped to unseasonably warm for January. I love the frost and snow too but it did a number on my lower back. Not sure how IBS is connected but it probably is.
Take care, and I hope your slight down time at the moment with your IBS will be a passing thing!
