My IBS Triggers, Part 2

For someone who has this issue, you already feel different. You see the looks you get when you have to run to the bathroom. You feel the stares as you make your way back after your 3rd or 4th trip in an hour. I know I have had coworkers upset due to my absence or inability to help out more because of a bad day. This isn’t how it always is though.

Taking steps to control my IBS

The good days do happen. It may feel like they are few and far between especially lately. I just tell myself to get through the bad ones and take advantage of the good ones. As aggravating as it feels, I still keep a food journal and symptoms journal to see if I can find a connection. This has helped a lot for me lately.

As the years have gone on I have always been told to avoid most fruits and vegetables and to incorporate more meats into my diet. Again with being a weird case this has had the opposite effect on my body. Meat tends to cause me more problems than it does help. For a southern girl who grew with meat being the main staple in our meals, this has been a hard thing to cope with.

Noticing new health issues

This year I knew I required a change. I like to feel like I have a little control in my life. COVID-19 has really opened my eyes. I work in the healthcare field so stress for me is a constant. There just is not a way for me to get around that so I decided to focus on my diet. I’m at the point other medical issues are starting to pop up. Some due to unknown reasons but most are due to my weight.

With my thyroid not functioning, my stomach not digesting food or most medications, and turning any digested food straight to fat this has made losing weight for me extremely hard. There is a light to the end of the tunnel though for me at least. In the last few months, I decided to take a different approach to eating. I have been doing the opposite of the recommended diet.

Plant-based eating

I have two really close friends who are vegan. I have always been drawn to this way of eating for reasons other than my need to try something different for my IBS-D. While being out of work for a bit I made the drive to Tennessee to stay with one of them. Natalie who I have mentioned in previous articles again went above and beyond to make my transition easy. Bridget (my vegan friend in Illinois) has been a Godsend as well.

After just 1 week of whole food plant-based eating, I have felt much better. It hasn’t cured my IBS but it has made the bad days a little more bearable. The key to this is to not give up and keep trying new things. Just because one diet doesn’t work for you doesn’t mean the next one won’t.

Have you found something that works to help keep the bad days not as bad?