Identifying Trigger Foods/IBS Diet

[Maccapacca]

Asacol no longer enough and after rebounding off the steroids I'm now on my 3rd week of azathioprine

Asacol stopped working for me as well, been on Azathioprine for two years now, it's worth the initial side effects however hellish they are.

 

[zophiel]

my wife suffered for a while she went to specialist and was told to cut out lots of white foods, like white pasta, rice, bread, potatoes etc. She also stopped all processed pre made foods like lasagne, pizza etc

It was a starting point that worked.

 

[Sandycheeks]

I admit I have not really gone "all in" on this yet as I am waiting for blood results - tested for coeliac disease.
Also I had a table booked at Jamies italian in Liverpool for valentines day so knew I was going to cheat on the diet plan.
Would be gutted to find out that I didn't have to punish myself and it was that all along.

Regarding the swiss rolls etc...I have a sweet tooth that needs satisfying and need to look at other ways of getting that sweet treat after my evening meal.

I am wondering how people go on with eating a less varied diet...Do you have chicken and rice for breakfast, dinner and tea?
That sounds awful.

Ditch sugar, gluten onions and apples and see where you go. Or follow a fodmap plan and re introduce foods. Eat real whole foods not bread, mint clubs and swiss rolls.

I have pretty much stopped using sugar in tea now and have switched to honey.
I don't eat apples or onions.


I am making lifestyle changes which began in October by stopping smoking - I did switch to vaping though.
I now go to the gym.
I am watching my diet/intake.
Yes there are improvements to be made.

 

[boxman2000]

Regarding the swiss rolls etc...I have a sweet tooth that needs satisfying and need to look at other ways of getting that sweet treat after my evening meal.

I am wondering how people go on with eating a less varied diet...Do you have chicken and rice for breakfast, dinner and tea?
That sounds awful.

Given symptoms and health issues you have, it seems to me your biggest issue is will power.

I have genuinely seen some family members eating and drinking themselves into all sort sorts of medical issues. A cousin of mine has had type-2 diabetes for years and he has always had to use insulin for as long as I’ve known him. He has an appalling diet and refuses to believe that this has impacted on his health. He even drinks 2-3 cans of Diet Coke each day!!! He is under 40, almost blind, may have to have one of his hands amputated and has a serious heart condition.

Some other relatives have ongoing stomach and heart issues which has been directly linked to their diet. They are not well people, yet the doctors have been on at them for years to change.

It’s up to you quite honestly and you need to decide whether you are going to do what it takes to get the best (or even better) health level you can achieve, or whether you are going to just come up with excuses as to why you can’t as it’s boring or you have a sweet tooth and do what needs to be done.

To answer your question, yes I had chicken and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner and yes it was boring but it was only for a week or two and was a means to an end. Having to have the doctor come out to give me an injection in my side in order for my stomach spasms to ease enough that I wasn’t screaming the house down was a bit of a motivator.

I’m no health guru, I’m overweight by a stone or two and I’m trying to do something about it, but what I DO know is that too many people are willing to stay living with bad habits (whether exercise or diet) simply because they are too scared to change and/or too bone-idle to bother. It’s good you are making the effort with gym etc but keep at it and have another look at your diet.

If the symptoms you are experiencing are worth staying on your current ‘diet’ of mint clubs and swissroll then knock yourself out, if not then doing what it takes is completely in your hands.

 

[Sandycheeks]

*snip*
To answer your question, yes I had chicken and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner and yes it was boring but it was only for a week or two and was a means to an end.

What quantities though...
I have been eating 125g (cooked weight) of chicken breast with 200g rice (cooked weight)
I take thyroid meds at 06:45 and can't eat for min 30 mins so I usually have my porridge at 07:30.
Did you find you ate your breakfast later?

If the symptoms you are experiencing are worth staying on your current ‘diet’ of mint clubs and Swiss-roll then knock yourself out, if not then doing what it takes is completely in your hands.

Lol, makes it sound like my diet is just Mint clubs and Swiss-rolls... om nom!
I understand I should cut them out and was actually asking what you would do to satisfy a sweet tooth, what alternatives are there.
I am certainly not writing myself off because I crave something sweet.

I've never been a fan of fizzy drinks tbh so didn't need to cut those out.
My biggest hurdle will be cutting out my 6 or 7 cups of tea per day - I have switched out the sugar for honey though so at least I'm heading in the right direction.

 

[Sandycheeks]

Just to work out intake etc...
Age: 38
Height: 1890mm
Weight: 98.6 Kgs
BMI: 28.6 (done on one of those gym scales so possibly wrong?)
Activity level: 3 or 4 x 60 min gym sessions per week of 15mins cardio and 45mins strength.

Health-calc BMR calc says my BMR is 2015 kcals per day.
Also states my TDEE is 3323 kcals per day (average).

100 g of chicken breast = 145 kcal
50 g of uncooked wholegrain basmati = 175 kcal

My current portion of chicken and rice = 356 kcal.
3 x meals per day x 356 kcal = 1068 kcal

Therefore I would need to eat 3 x meals of 375g chicken / 150g rice.

That just sound wrong to me.

 

[Glaucus]

That's because you need healthy fats in there. Fat is essential.
Ditch the chicken breast and get skin on chicken thighs and use olive oil to cook.

 

[NickK]

When I had my initial "flare up" which was more like food poisoning (chinese takeaway) that then caused problems the most stable food I stuck with was potato. Then get stable, then add bits to that.. The Doctor basically said IBS but I thought it can vary what exactly appears as IBS can not be IBS..

Eventually I found that dairy (milk, cheese etc) over a certain amount gives me untold wind and that leaves me in pain that then removed that.. recently I found Quorn really gives me wind and serious pain (i.e. no sleep, rolling around) but then so does continental beer and hot chilli (although the last two are ok in my book.. but the beer is in moderation and chilli is a regular but not as hot as I used to eat). Oddly I think.. just a suspicion that I'm slightly allergic to sulphur when added in the yellowing of egg yokes, in wine as a preservative and other things. I think MSG isn't good for it either - it's a salt anyway..

I found that moving in with the missus and having a switch to things like pizza, quite fatty/sugary diet then caused me complications etc.. and I've not got to the point we're back to being at least semi healthy and cooking proper balanced meals. Which has helped.

I don't think I have "IBS" although that's the doctor's diagnosis but I think certain foods cause the 'fauna and flora' of the gut to produce too much wind and that causes physical pain/problems. Ok that was a bit too much info

My point is - find a stable carbohydrate that allows your guts to get to solid food again and then build on that .. if you find you relapse then give that food a break.

Also I found that exercise worked - kept everything moving.. so things didn't seize up I don't drink much and I don't really eat/drink sugary stuff.

I can eat chilli (I like hot curries!) and drink beer although typically it causes more of a problem than perhaps to a normal person... I just have to moderate it a little.

Oh.. Jalfrezi is your friend.. it's tomato + onion + chilli both blended and in chunks and stirfried with a little oil. There should be no butter, cream, sugar or milk in it (if there is then it's not a jalfrezi). Also Vindaloo is great but again there shouldn't be butter, milk or cream in it.

 

[~>Dg<~]

one key thing is to ask parents what foods set them off.

 

[Amp34]

Why not just not eat such food, cheaper and nicer.

Because that's a fairly significant pain.

Just because you can't eat something doesn't mean you don't want to eat beans on toast, biscuits, cake or a sandwich (or Pizza/pasta for that matter).

If you can't eat something, rather than deciding to change your diet because you want to lose weight (for example), cutting out what ends up pretty much the majority of most peoples diets is not something most want to do, especially when people suggest replacing perfectly nice food with "health" food, that normally tastes pretty grotty (moreso than the GF alternative). That said I've never been a particular fan of cake and most biscuits so never really missed those, it's thinks like bread, pasta and pizza that are the biggest issues.

Having been Gluten free for about 12 years now the biggest issue I have is lunch, especially when out and about. It invariably ends up as crisps/fruit/ham and/or cheese... Even most cereal bars have wheat in so can't be eaten.

i find it funny when people say "oh, gluten free, you must have a really health diet.". No, little different because as much as I eat healthily overall thinks like bread are replaced by crisps... A lot of GF food is less healthy than the non GF alternatives as well.

 

[boxman2000]

What quantities though...
I have been eating 125g (cooked weight) of chicken breast with 200g rice (cooked weight)
I take thyroid meds at 06:45 and can't eat for min 30 mins so I usually have my porridge at 07:30.
Did you find you ate your breakfast later?

Yes, sometimes I found I wasn't hungry in the morning at all. I would probably have 1 cup of rice a day (sorry, never weighed it).

Chicken did vary but probably equivalent to half a medium sized per day.

Added peas and other veg after IBS had settled down, just to give some variety.

If it doesn't then have to try an alternative to the rice.

Lol, makes it sound like my diet is just Mint clubs and Swiss-rolls... om nom!
I understand I should cut them out and was actually asking what you would do to satisfy a sweet tooth, what alternatives are there.
I am certainly not writing myself off because I crave something sweet

I know, it was a little tongue in cheek but it's something quite close to my heart given how much of an issue it was for me and how it impacted my life.

After a couple of weeks I think bananas were one of the first fruits I introduced which was nice and once I knew bread wasn't an issue. Oat based foods were ok after a while so my missus made some oat bars with dates and oats but were far too sweet for me.

 

[Sandycheeks]

Update.
I decided that I would cut out caffeine and now can't believe the difference it's made.
I am still drinking tea but using decaff Tetleys and so far so good.

As a test I have been eating all manner of rubbish for the last 2 or 3 days and still feel fine.

I am going to continue to eat less processed foods and keep using decaff teabags for a little while and see how things develop.

The chicken and rice diet is a killer...after a few days you loose all sense of taste and might as well be eating card.
I started adding chicken stockpots to the rice and it made things a little more bearable.

 

[spengos]

Good to see this thread. I'm going through all this at the moment as I've been suffering with my digestion for years now. Finally decided I need to do something about it and figure out what my triggers are.

I found something called the BRAT diet recommended online as a starting point. Bananas, white Rice, Apple sauce and finally white Toast. I managed to eat nothing but these 4 things for 3 days and it got my system pretty much back to normal. I'm now using it as a base to reset my gut before introducing foods(one at a time) to figure out what is giving me problems.

So far I've found cheese is a trigger for me. Which is a annoying as I love cheese.

Spicy food of any kind, although I've known about this one for a while.

Broccoli was the biggest surprise. Always have it when trying to eat clean but it gives me all the symptoms.

In general I seem to respond better to foods with soluble fibre rather than foods with insoluble fibre.

 

[Kosmiche]

I used to suffer from incapacitating IBS that would last hours, cutting out pepsi max fixed it for me.

 

[Mr-White]

I was ill last summer and became intolerable to certain foods I've been eating all my life. Bananas not only screwed my guts up it used to give me a really foggy head minutes after eating one and lasting for about 48 hours. Tests didn't show anything for bananas but I was told to stop eating dairy and yeast for a while and start taking probiotics to help fix the flora in my stomach.

MW

 

[TripleT]

Been on the toilet for the past hour as I had about 6 mcvites chocolate digestives last night at about 8pm. I like them so much though...

Mines strange in that the time is more important than anything else, if I have anything wheaty in the evening I suffer. Pizza in the afternoon I'm OK but in the the evening and I'm on the toilet.

Lager goes straight through me but spirits, cider and wine is fine. Never pinpointed it, just know what effects me.

 

[nst68]

My wife started following the FODMAP guidelines last week and it's made a real difference.

We used to use onions and garlic in about 80% of all the main meals and these are a BIG no-no on FODMAP.

Try cutting back on lactose as well, Arla do a range of lactose free milk, cream and cheese.