Paleo diet and IBS page

[drheather]

Any readers here with IBS, and if so how do you manage Paleo eating with these symptoms? After almost a year of Primal eating I've started having trouble with my veggie heavy diet. Trying to limit pasta and bread but these do seem to calm my system somewhat. Thanks!

[solstice]

I've struggled with IBS but havent had an issue in years thankfully. Stay away from the gluten...maybe dairy too? Perhaps less veggies and more protein/meat? That's my diet. Trying not to do much with starchy veggies especially and have laid off on the cruciferous ones (which I LOVE---but tend to give me digestive distress, somewhat)

[Primate]

I had IBS issues until I went Primal. Completely cut out all grains and have had no issues since. Literally cleared up in like 3 days.

[drheather]

Thanks. I'll give it a try-had been off gluten before this started a month ago. My GI appointment isn't for 3 more weeks so am experimenting with diet until then. Adding back potatoes and reducing green veggies seems to help a little. I already do minimal dairy. This has gotten really annoying, will try anything to kick it!

[magicmerl]

If you cut out the wheat *before* your GI appointment, they are much less likely to diagnose wheat as being one of the culprits.

Just saying.

[Warmbear]

I had IBS and as was mentioned, 3 days in it was gone. I avoid all grains, sugars etc. every time I sneak a nibble of bready goodness, I get the cramps and the farts and 3 days of high pressure jets of .... well you get the idea.

[Blackcatbone]

Look into FODMAPS. You'll likely have to cut back on many veggies, although it's trial and error. The best way to figure it out is to do an elimination diet then add stuff back in.

[BestBetter]

I've had IBS on and off for 6+ years. The two biggest triggers that make it resurface are travelling or going low-carb. I could never figure out why the 'better' my diet got, the worse the IBS was - I've literally gone more than 2 months at a time with no BM (my husband didn't believe me until we lived together and he witnessed it first hand). I'd get terrible pain and bloating after eating avocado and meat dishes and lots of veggies, and I was always like 'WTF!!!" I definitely got worse after going Paleo, which was such a kicker. Then, I figured out why.

Since I've typed some pretty extensive posts on this topic, I'm going to cut an paste my previous responses below, with a link to to the thread:


I've have 6+ years of experience with constipation and abdominal pain/bloating..went to gastroenterolosists, took just about every OTC laxative and old wives remedy (prunes, etc...) and increased my already reasonably high level of fiber, none of which helped, and fiber in particular made me consistently WORSE.

It wasn't until I discovered the gutsense website and started reading about how damaging fiber is that I understood what was going on with my digestive system. I highly recommend reading FIBER MENACE if you are serious about improving your long term digestive health.

I was hooked on the CW nonsense that fiber was healthy, until I realized that it made no sense - by definition, fiber is INDIGESTIBLE to the human system. We do not have the enzyme, cellulase, which breaks this down. As a result, fiber must be fermented in our guts, which can lead to gas, bloating, inflammation...

In a nutshell, the best things you can do are:

1) Reduce fiber (ESPECIALLY INsoluable fiber). The Fiber Menace recommendation is a max of 10-15g/daily, unless you have a serious acute problem, in which case you'd want it as close to zero as possible.

2) Take a good quality probiotic, eat plenty of fermented/cultured foods like yogurt, kim chee, etc...

3) Make sure you are eating enough good quality animal fat.

4) You may want to supplement with L-Glutamine, if you suspect you have leaky gut/digestive inflammation issues.

***Remember, this isn't a quick fix, and it will likely take weeks or months to heal, depending on how much damage you've got. Don't give up if your BM aren't perfect within a few days!

5) Hydro-C. This is a gentle form of Vitamin C - I ordered it from the gutsense website. It stimulates BM, but with none of the bad effects from laxatives like gas and bloating, and it is not addictive at all. It was the first thing I tried that actually consistently works - it has been a godsend suring the process of healing my IBS.

I've been doing all of the above and I've actually made dramatic improvement in healing my chronic constipation/IBS, which I never could have done without the info from gutsense.

Anyone who claims you need fiber is completely misinformed.

Your problems may not be as severe as mine, but damage from excessive fiber takes years to accumulate, and it's better to fix the situation before it gets past the point of no return. Fiber Menace does a beautiful job of explaining why people experience constipation when switching to low-carb diets, and why increasing fiber 'seems' to fix the problem, at least short term.

The links below have lots of great information:

GUT FLORA

Gut Sense: How to reverse and prevent constipation in children and adults

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread60555-2.html

[abc123]

There are different types of IBS.. Do you experience constipation, or does food simply run right through you?

[drheather]

Food runs right through. I love veggies and eat a lot of them, which probably creates the fiber issue mentioned above. Not to be too grossly descriptive but veggies are going through unprocessed. I travel a lot for work, including international travel, so my diet depends on what I can get where I am which probably isn't helping.