What is an IBS Diet?An IBS diet may not only relieve your symptoms, but may also help correct imbalances with in your digestive system to restore function. Ultimately you don't want to just reduce the symptoms, but get rid of the underlying cause.. right? If this is your goal, the best place to start, is to find your imbalance. Using a urinalysis to do a metabolic check up, you will discover whether or not you have imbalances in the intestines (dysbiosis ) or low HCl (hypochlorhydria )in your stomach. Starting here is the easiest, and most obvious first step. Eating a proper diet will help, but you will get much better results, if you correct the underlying imbalances as well. After replenishing intestinal flora (good bacteria) and re-establishing your HCl, there are some basic adjustments that you can make to reduce stress on your digestive system, and aid your system in its functioning. Most of these are not just good for an IBS diet, but are beneficial to your digestive system in general.
Do not over cook your foods Take your time while eating. Remember carbohydrate digestion begins in your mouth, so take your time and chew. Eating too much can stress your system Eating while stressed, or engaging in stressful activities while eating, such as driving, watching tv, arguing, working,and even thinking about work, or stressful events all can be harmful to digestion. Binge eating It is also important to know what not to eat as well. As a general rule, foods that congest the liver (in Chinese medicine terms) may make your IBS worse, and should be limited in your IBS diet. These include: Alcohol Greasy foods Drugs (do not discontinue prescription drugs) Processed foods Artificial sweeteners Chemicals, pesticides, additives, and pollution Foods that may help include: Raw foods (but don't over do it.) Apple cider vinagar Sour foods (such as lemon or lime in your water) Romaine lettuce Rye Asparagus Quinoa Mung beans Seaweeds Sprouts Cucumbers Chlorophyl rich foods Fiber. Even though many physicians usually recommend reducing fiber, historically speaking, cultures with less refined foods and more fiber suffer less intestinal problems. Fiber also acts by pushing food substances through the intestines, reducing the chance for "build up" in pockets in the intestines. Most people carry several pounds of undigested food in their intestines, so adding fiber in your diet is not just for the IBS diet. In Chinese medicine terms, the liver is very often involved in IBS. This could, roughly be translated as stress. Both internal and external stress. Most people are emotionally and mentally stressed. Of course this will add to the problem, so its normally recommended that you introduce some form of a stress coping activity to deal with the emotional/mental aspect. Another form of stress, is internal and physical. Many people have undiagnosed food allergies that not only stress your system, but may also cause adrenal fatigue, inflammation, auto immune disorders, head aches, depression, lethargy, brain fog, and a whole host of other problems. Almost everybody, I wish i could say "everybody" but since the whole world has not been tested, there may be one or two people out there... but almost everybody has some undiagnosed allergies. The reason you may not know about them is because they may take up to a few days before your body reacts to the allergen. When you think of an allergy, what do you think of? Most people say "sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, etc.." but there is much more. A great example came up recently. In talking with a physician I work with, he mentioned that at 35 yrs old, he was told he NEEDED a knee replacement because the cartilage was gone in his left knee. He was in pain, but didn't want the surgery, so he looked for a better way. Thankfully he did. He went on to pioneer delay food allergy testing. It turns out he was allergic to milk. When he removed that item, shortly after, the pain went away. He is now in his 60's, and skis with out pain, using his original equipment! Pretty amazing, but not that uncommon. The last type of stress I wish to discuss is chemical. We live in a world very different than it was 100 years ago, even 50 years ago. There are literally thousands of chemicals that get used in the production of our foods. In the lab, they are "proven" to be safe. Then again, I doubt anybody is feeding the lab rats thousands of these chemicals over a long period of time. They simply test one or two things at a time. When your body is ingesting more toxins than it can remove, the liver becomes stressed, and can not function as efficiently, digestive functions get impaired, and your body will either flush the system, and/or store toxins in an out of the way place, that has little blood flow. Have you ever seen a skinny person, with a lot of mid section fat? This is why it is important to detox. An IBS diet can help reduce the symptoms, and put you back on the road to better health, but an IBS diet is only part of the picture. What you put in, is important, but so is what you avoid. If you suffer from IBS, try the above suggestions, but in addition, visit the E-Clinic to get your metabolic test done. Discovering your imbalances can give you better results, and get you back on the road to health.
|
