Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Irritable Bowel Syndrome Diet

Question:
Can Poor Diet Cause Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)? Last year, while trying to beat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), I modified my diet and within two weeks most symptoms disappeared. However, I remember vividly that I felt a strange tenderness around the abdomen. It's difficult to explain other than to say it felt like the bowels and perhaps stomach were over-sensitive or hypersensitive. At this stage I could turn IBS on-and-off like a time-delayed switch. To turn IBS on, I had only to eat meals consisting of wheat, sugar and processed foods. Within days, the bloating, diarrhea and constipation returned. If I continued this diet the severity of the symptoms increased; and drugs made the symptoms worse. To reduce the symptoms, I switched my diet to small, highly nutritious meals, drank plenty of water and followed the other tips on my Website.www.IBS-Tips.co.uk The bowel/stomach tenderness or hypersensitivity persisted for a while. The only to get rid of it was to follow all the info on my site - small nutritious meals, drinking plenty of water, chewing properly, elimination of sugar, wheat, milk, processed foods, drugs, coffee, tea, alcohol, fizzy, etc, and use of various supplements. It took approximately 6-8 weeks to totally eliminate the hypersensitivity. When it was eliminated I tried to turn the IBS on again. But I couldn't do it! Even after eating total crap for several weeks! The only symptom I noticed while trying to turn the IBS on was a mild tenderness of the abdomen. So I believe that if I had continued this crap diet for another 4 or 5 weeks then eventually I would have developed IBS again. Now I can eat wheat, processed and other foods with no problems! However, I generally eat a very healthy diet. Some so-called authorities state that poor diet cannot cause irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, there are many doctors and nutritionists that treat IBS with a nutritional approach, and they have tremendous success. Our digestive systems didn't evolve on junk, fast or processed foods, and didn't evolve on coffee, tea, alcohol, or fizzy-pop, and didn't evolve on refined sugar, or excessive amounts wheat or milk! Our digestive systems evolved on organic fruits, vegetables, other plants and lean, organic meats. Our primary source of fluid was quality water. I believe the reason why IBS, and most other diseases and disorders, exist today is simple! We have switched our diets from healthy foods and fluids to unhealthy foods and fluids. The evidence to confirm this is overwhelming! Most diseases and disorders known to man can be linked to the consumption of unhealthy foods and fluids! So back to the main question of this article: Can Poor Diet Cause IBS? By poor diet I mean over- or even moderate consumption of processed, junk and fast foods, and refined sugar, wheat and milk, and fluids like coffee, tea, alcohol and fizzy pop; another significant factor is overuse of drugs. I believe the answer to the question is a big resounding YES! Poor diet can and does cause irritable bowel syndrome! Some people have robust digestive systems (DS) and they can seemingly eat anything without too many problems. However, others have more delicately balanced digestive systems (DS) and it's more important for them to eat only healthy foods and drink only healthy fluids, otherwise symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and stomach aches and cramps can develop. Likewise, some people can smoke, drink and eat crap throughout their lives and not develop cancer, but others on healthy diets and don't smoke do develop it. We are all susceptible to different diseases and disorders. I believe this is the case most IBS sufferers. Immediately before developing the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, they had a delicately balanced DS. However, stress from unhealthy foods and fluids lead to their DS becoming strained and resulted in persistent symptoms of diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, etc. I can prove this theory with myself! I know I have a delicately balanced digestive system. If I consumed unhealthy foods and fluids for about 2-3 months I would develop irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) again! Simply by over consuming processed, junk and fast foods, and drinking too much tea, coffee, alcohol, fizzy-pop and not drinking enough water and eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, I could turn irritable bowel syndrome on again! This is surely proof that poor diet can cause Irritable Bowel Syndrome! Conversely, the only way to cure IBS is via healthy foods and healthy fluids! Supplements can also help to improve the digestive system.

Answer:
Yes, your diet is what caused the IBS, but it had more to due w/Candida/yeast overgrowth than anything…What you described was a classic case of Candida, which is helped by modifying your diet w/less sugar, less processed foods, less caffeine, etc...Read up on it, if you haven't already, you will be surprised.   This may be true in this case, but Candida is not a widely accepted theory. Still a lot of controversy surrounding this one. Before this statement could be analyzed, one must first define what poor diet is. A diet deficient in certain vitamins will cause specific deficiency diseases. A diet is high in saturated fat is linked to athersclerosis, heart disease, and certain cancers. A diet low in fibers may be related to the development of diverticulosis. A diet in excess calories is associated with obesity.  (In most cases, diet isn't the only factor in the pathogenesis of these conditions.) With that said, however, I'm not sure how any particular diet could be responsible for IBS. The only information that comes close is the finding that Ugandans don't get IBS and they probably eat more fiber in a day than most IBSers who take fiber as a treatment do in a month! Still, this finding may be incidental, and I suspect that diet probably plays little or no role in IBS. For all other cultures studied, for example, IBS is about equally common.