What I Eat in a Day with IBS

By Elizabeth Alvarez

3 min read

When it comes to diet we are all so different in what we tolerate and don’t tolerate. Diet is truly individualized when it comes to IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) but I do still find it important to share. When we share we can inspire new ideas within each other and that is so valuable.

So I thought I would share what I eat in a day in hopes to offer new ideas to your daily food menu.

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Breakfast with IBS

Naturally, I will start with breakfast. I am a big breakfast girl. If I don’t eat a proper first meal, my entire day will be thrown off. My typical breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, sourdough toast with either butter or strawberry jelly and a handful of fruit on the side.

Typically for fruit I go for strawberries, kiwi, cantaloupe or a peeled apple. Those are my usuals and I just rotate them. I then take my supplements which at the moment consist of liquid vitamin d, L-glutamine, beef intestines, beef liver and sea moss.

Lunch and snacks with IBS

For lunch, I tend to gravitate towards a salad or leftovers from dinner the night before. When I make a salad it usually consists of the following: buttered lettuce which is my favorite kind of salad. Grilled chicken chopped into pieces. Sundried tomato, shredded cheese, tortilla strips for crunch and chopped potato. I then make a homemade salad dressing which consists of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic powder. I love this salad. It is filling and tastes awesome.

In late afternoon, I am always hungry so I snack. Either I reach for salted nuts, or I take a rice cake and spread almond butter on top. I love to snack on carrots dipped in ranch dressing. And sometimes I even make myself a smoothie.

If I do a smoothie it will consist of banana, strawberry, pineapple, organic milk, sea moss, honey and ice. I love this smoothie. It is refreshing and sweet. I recently read up on the benefits on sea moss and how it helps with digestion amongst the many other benefits so I’ve been incorporating it into my diet daily.

Dinner with IBS

Lastly for dinner, a go-to meal of mine is baked cod, grilled asparagus and mozzarella with chopped tomato drizzled with balsamic glaze. This meal is delicious and I always feel good after eating it. It doesn’t leave me bloated or feeling uncomfortable. It is light, refreshing and healthy—not to mention easy to make.

I bake the cod and season it with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Simultaneously, I bake the asparagus by coating it with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. While those items are baking, I cut up organic tomatoes and place fresh mozzarella slices on top of them. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and balsamic glaze and it’s all done. Easy yet bursting with flavor and satisfaction.

This is just a sliver of what I do eat. I also love baking chicken and making homemade mashed potatoes. Another meal I love is gluten free spaghetti with ground turkey meat sauce.

Finding food that works for you

Overall, it is important to find what foods work for you and your IBS symptoms. I know many of you will find this menu unproductive, but perhaps some will find it great and try it out some of these meal ideas. I will say, my IBS has been pretty stable so I am able to eat a wider range of foods than usual.

How about you, what is your go-to meal? Are you able to have any of these food items mentioned? Share below, we love to hear from you.

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The IrritableBowelSyndrome.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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Kim Dolce Moderator & Contributor
<inline-mention username="Elizabeth Alvarez" user-id="2297012"/> Your daily food selections sound tasty 😀 I'm so glad to know they are both enjoyable and set well in your gut. My goto foods are in transition right now. Between recently completing a 40-lb weight loss, recovering from a cold, starting an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety med (it's been a terrible year), cold and darkness beginning to really settle in, and more, I need to relearn my body. Wish me luck, lol!
hateibs Member
<inline-mention username="Elizabeth Alvarez" user-id="2297012"/> Your meal ideas sound so tasty and good, Elizabeth! I can't yet tolerate tomatoes in any form, and am not sure about any cheese, so what I can usually eat is much plainer than your tasty menu! But I do try to pack in as many nutritious foods as possible, depending on the day and how my IBS treats me. I am the opposite to you about breakfast. I am not really into breakfast, but nevertheless, do have one every day. I absolutely can't take a "proper" meal at that time of day. I have tried to, and weirdly the only times I have been able to eat an actual meal in the morning, have been times I was very deprived of sleep, or had not even slept all night (for other reasons, not IBS.) But generally it has to be a very light meal, not much more than a snack. I struggle with reintroducing fruits, so get no benefit from eating them, only problems. Instead I have discovered that nut butters seem okay for me, as does honey. So I have Italian ciabatta toasted bread, with nut butter, and another piece with salted butter, and another with honey. And sometimes I'll eat the nut butter straight from the jar with a spoon! That lasts me for hours. As I usually wake up about 8, eat breakfast about 10, and then have work to do outside, I have no desire for lunch, and couldn't really fit it in, as I only start to get hungry again about 4 -5pm. So I just wait for dinner, and have an early dinner. I am okay with a nice range of vegetables, so will have some steamed vegetables: maybe carrot, green beans, broccoli, or asparagus, sugar snap peas, or a choice of about 14 more. I can also eat salad, and find watercress, rocket, lettuce and avocado friendly to my tummy. I don't use any sauces or dressings, just pink Himalayan salt or sea salt as a seasoning. I have a large piece of baked fish which steams in the oven in a little water, so it's succulent. That's either cod, hake, haddock or salmon, but I can eat any fish. Or sometimes I have boiled eggs. Then I can eat potatoes (peeled and boiled) with butter, or rice (white or sometimes brown), pasta spirals (I like the "tricolore" ones) and 4 minute egg noodles. Sometimes I mash the potatoes and add just a few chopped chives or a little bit of finely chopped young kale leaves, and make them into patties, and bake them until browned. If I have pasta, I just mix the steamed vegetables with it, and pass on cheese or tomato sauces. If I have a flare up, the food is plainer than that until my tummy settles, and consists of just baked fish or boiled eggs, white rice, maybe a couple of lettuce leaves and some spinach. Later in the evening I often eat some chocolate (which suits me and I don't get bad effects from it) and sometimes a piece of lemon cake with a cup of china tea without milk.
1. Karina Moderator & Contributor
 <inline-mention username="hateibs" user-id="4146293"/> Thank you so much for sharing! Your food sounds delicious, too, and it's great that you can eat chocolate without symptoms! 😀 Karina (team member)