Diet for IBS management include what food to eat, what foods not to eat, what foods should eat with caution, how to eat, and how not to eat.
IBS foods and how do you eat them?
Eating balanced foods containing fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and milk products from grass fed cows is good for everyone including people with IBS. Low intake of oils & fats; prefer ghee, fish, nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils. Include plenty of fluids or water (six to eight glasses a day) such as soup, herbal teas, buttermilk, or juices.
For proper IBS management, you should discipline with your diet.
- What foods to eat, to manage IBS?
- What foods can eat with caution?
- How to eat for preventing IBS episodes?
- How not to eat?
IBS diet –What to eat?
It is important what you eat. The six simple rules of the IBS diet.
- Eat soluble fiber if your stomach is empty, and make soluble-fiber the major part of every meal and snack. Try eating 22 to 28 grams, but limit within 30 grams/day. Soluble fiber can help normalize bowel movement; it relieve both constipation and diarrhea. However, insoluble fiber can worsen diarrhea. People with IBS should increase soluble fiber by supplementing with psyllium (natural vegetable fiber) or by eating oats bran. Good sources of soluble fiber include rice, oatmeal, barley, quinoa, carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, beets, squash, pumpkins, mushrooms, chestnuts, bananas, mangoes, avocados, and papayas (act as digestive aids relieving gas and indigestion).
- Do not eat saturated fat on an empty stomach or without soluble fiber.
- Eliminate red meat, dairy products, fried foods, egg yolks, coffee, soda, and alcohol from your diet.
- Get enough essential fats (or EFAs) and healthy protein every day. Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs): Eating plenty of cod, herring, salmon, sardines, mackerel, and flaxseed oil can help aid digestion.
- Don’t keep your stomach empty: Do not go more than three hours without a meal or snack.
- Stick with foods that are wholesome, natural, locally grown, organic, and homemade. Eating too much of junk food, fast food, refined food, or highly processed food puts you on havoc with your digestive system.
IBS foods – eat with caution
Insoluble fiber foods rich in whole grains, which is a healthy diet; however, for people IBS need to eat insoluble fiber with caution. Good sources of insoluble fibers include whole-wheat products, green beans, seeds, nuts, melons, dates, prunes, grapes, raisins, cherries, pineapple, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples (peeled), beans & lentils (mashed or puréed), berries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, pears, oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes, greens, bell peppers, onions, garlic, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, sprouted seeds.
Problematic fruits and vegetables can be troublesome for people with IBS, this include Sulphur, acidic and fructose containing foods. Sulphur-containing foods – produces significant amount of gas in the GI tract, which trigger an IBS attack. Sulphur-containing foods are garlic, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, asparagus, leeks, and Brussels sprouts. Acidic foods – can also trigger IBS symptoms. Acidic foods are citrus fruits, vinegars, and tomatoes. Fructose containing foods – can cause gas, bloating, and diarrhea. Fructose containing foods are watermelon, apples, cherries, mango, pears, honey, maple syrup, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), Sorbitol, and Inulin.
IBS diet - How to eat?
It is important what you eat. It is also equally important how you eat?
- Eating smaller meals is important.
- Make sure chew food slowly and thoroughly. Gulping food quickly and eating on the go encourage swallowing too much air, leads to intestinal gas and severe symptoms. Additionally, it puts too much strain on your digestive system.
- Take time to savor and enjoy the food. This produces enough of digestive essences, thus proper digestion, absorption and evacuation.
- Eat when you are mind and environment is calm.
How not to eat?
- Large meals can put stress on your stomach’s ability to proper digestion of the foods. This creates undigested mush that feed gas forming bacteria and yeast causing excess of intestinal gas, pain, colic, spasm, etc.
- Eating late create noises, gurgles, and rumbling in the intestines that disturb your sleep and make you feel tired the next day.
- Eating allergic, intolerance, or sensitive foods can result in running nose, headache, gas trouble, and alternative constipation & diarrhea.
- Eating on a hurry will put strain on the digestive system, because of low mechanical digestion (mashing by teeth) and low saliva secretion and thus enzymes to digest the food properly.
- Do not eat when you are feeling anxious, anger, or depressed. Eating during stress put your digestive system in havoc. The calmer and happier when you eat, the better the food digested, absorbed, and eliminated.
A study found, a group of IBS sufferers strictly on an elimination diet for allergic foods had an 88% reduction in painful abdominal cramps, 90% less diarrhea, 65% less constipation, and 79% improvement in other allergy symptoms.