Tagged As: Irritable Bowel Syndrome Food To Eat
Question:
Most of you have problems with Tomato's. My problem is with Corn, or tomato paste, can't handle eating spaghetti and I miss it so much.
Answer:
It's not related to any particular food. Eat whatever you want. ...Of course, if you NOTICE a connection to a food, different foods can act as triggers. If milk always causes you stomach or bowel problems, try cutting out dairy for a while... Sorry for my silly, irrelevant post - I was worn out. I'd opened many posts and this was the first one that inspired a response. I'm feeling a little better this morning and thought I'd amplify, although I'll admit this is a risky enterprise at the best of times. I find myself feeling distinct alarm every time I notice someone is taking up a new dietary system. The only motivations I can think of are: a) We think we're eating all wrong or that our diets are lousy, rotten, poor, junky. A great number of foods - perfectly alright and certainly nutritious - are thought to be harmful, bad for people. The list of items sick people think ought to be banned is also very long. b) We think some foods make us fat. Anything we're unable to digest is liable to make us feel ill. Inability to digest a commonly accepted food is an individual thing, but the cause is always an individual inability to produce enough of the digestive substance that's supposed to catalyze that food or class of foods. Successful digestion always depends on successful secretion of the digestive substance required. Since good digestive function depends on good nervous system function, it seems reasonable to think that poor digestive function could be due to poor nervous system function. The simplest thing for people to do would be to read - or to get someone to help them read - Chapter XV of Earl Mindell's Vitamin Bible. This is the chapter entitled It's Not All In Your Mind. That ought to fetch some of us... In other words, indigestion isn't due to eating the wrong foods. Irritable bowel syndrome isn't due to eating the wrong foods. And nothing gives me a worse case of irritable brain/bowel that the constant claim that diet is curative. Diet is simply diet, and I personally think dieting is deadly. IBS and indigestion are but steps on the way to inflammatory bowel disease. In fact during the earlier stages of the disease, the really distressing periods would (if doctors ordered scoping) result in the very early diagnosis of IBD. With probably ridiculous results and terrible cost to individuals and the health care system. IBS is due to poor metabolic function, and so is obesity. Obviously one isn't going to fix poor metabolic function by adding or deleting foods. Obviously, if I were a practitioner of any kind I would recommend reading Chapter XV of Earl Mindell's Vitamin Bible. I would provide a general explanation of how the nervous system works to support digestive function. I would also provide a general explanation of how body cells work; how they are fed and watered and how they breathe. I would explain how oxygen gets into the body. I would explain nerves, nerve fibers and neurons and neurotransmitters and hormones in general terms and how these are completely dependant on protein that has to be gotten from food, and the successful digestion of that protein. It actually is quite simple. I suppose my idea of a good health adviser would be more like a teacher than a practitioner. Patients would be pupils or students. They'd come for a series of lesson/discussion sessions. One at a time. That is, not in groups, not classroom instruction, but one person at a time. I really don't believe in telling someone not to eat or drink something. For many of us one of the most harmful prohibitions and health beliefs is the one that says caffeine disturbs sleep. For those who have sleep apnea or myoclonus at night, or bruxism, or RLS, or simply thrash about, caffeine avoidance is possibly one of the silliest things such people can undertake. Thinking about this is of course a bit of a challenge, but it's pretty clear, after giving it a little thought, that thrashing, kicking, grinding one's teeth, and especially waking up gasping for air all parallel the kinds of compensatory behaviours people of all ages employ when metabolic function drops. When one's trying to sleep, it's natural to think one ought to be relaxed. However there could be such a thing as an *excess* of relaxation. One's nervous system could quit altogether; and indeed that's usually what happens when people pass away in their sleep. They just quit breathing and the fail-safe mechanism fails to wake them up. Obviously in this situation - especially if it gets serious and one has many symptoms, and wakens many times during the night, getting possibly two or three hours or even less - one isn't looking for relaxation. One is looking for *stimulation*. And that seems paradoxical, but it is not. I've said - I suppose a hundred times - we're sick. We tell our doctors we're sick. They believe us, but their argument is that it's not life threatening. Well, we're living in an age in which women as well as men expect to be able to earn their living; and earning one's living involves having one's brains in operating order. So we're sick. The question of how to get better is fraught with confusion. There are a million and one systems, prescriptions, proscriptions and all kinds of ideas. The rules for getting a good night's sleep (in my eyes) are ridiculous. If any one of these systems or approaches worked for us, *we would not have the problem*. Everyone would know just naturally you do this, that and the other, and you'll get a good night's sleep. This is just as silly as eat these and those foods, and don't eat these other foods, and you'll be right as rain, and won't have IBS any more. Stimulants are required before sleep in this kind of illness. The nervous system has to be firing fast enough to maintain vital functions while sleeping. Only in this way is sleep even possible. The amounts required are usually very small. However anything that will increase the oxygen bearing capacity of the blood - such as a single aspirin (taken with a little milk or cream or if one insists, Rice Dream or whatever) will be enough to secure a good night's sleep. We have to eat; so digestive aids and enzymes are important in combating IBS. Fiddling around with diet is hopeless - people should eat what they like. In general the pattern of FMS nervous system disturbance is very like ADD, ADHD or MBD. One can't really talk about digestion without talking about nervous system function. One can't even think or read (since one has to sit still to do this) without a stimulant. Trouble with sleeping and trouble with staying awake sound at first like two different things. However notice that one is seated when one zones out over a long post (like this one) and notice that one is lying down and at rest (!!!) when having one's apnea, RLS, bruxism (chomping and gnashing one's teeth) when trying to sleep at night. In other words, we ought to focus on the resemblances between sitting and lying down. In both cases there is a lack of kinetic activity - large muscle activity - that keeps the circulation circulation and the respiration respiring while one is active (or when one used to be active, as the case may be). This is why I suggest an evaluation for ADD as a first step in getting treatment. The second step in getting treatment - the process of finding the right stimulant and the right dosage (usually quite low) is often somewhat lengthy. When success is achieved in this first stage, the patient might forget all about the other projects in hand, because the main object in life is to get out there, hit the ball, earn one's living and Have a Life. Of course. However there's one little ray of hope. IBS doesn't go away just because one's brains are working better. And the energy has to come from somewhere, so while digestive function would improve - marginally - with treatment for ADD, there's still a reason to pursue the digestive aids and supplements that improve nervous system function. That way one might not have to take Adderoll for the rest of one's natural life. This probably looks off topic but I don't think so. IBS is functional which just means it's a problem due to nervous system dysfunction. Digestion could be disturbed for a number of reasons. It's always helpful to set up one's life so that one can be undisturbed. However I don't know many people who are able to manage that trick. Helping digestion seems like a good idea. Drinking pickle juice isn't nuts at all. We have body smarts, and that's an example of body smarts, aka good instincts. And because digestion is dependant on nervous system function, it seems a good idea to take supplements designed to improved nervous system function (in people with poor digestive function). ADD and celiac disease aren't that far apart, and ADD and IBS aren't that far apart either. We get lost very frequently in a welter of diagnostic terms and tests and test results and tend to lose sight of the larger (or the simpler) picture. Everything I've discussed in this post has to do with primary immune function. Nervous system function as it relates to digestive system function, and digestive system function are in toto the primary immune system. This is a principle in theoretical medicine. When doctors take their training they learn to talk patientese because patients have their own language to express their own ideas of what's what. When we talk about immunity and autoimmune disease, we are talking patientese. I promise you. The primary immune system (the nervous and digestive systems) are the body's first line of defense against illness. So a diagnosis of ADD isn't a psychiatric diagnosis except in terms of a diagnostic system that divides diseases into two classes. A disease is a disease is a disease. There's no such thing as a non-physical anything. Our thoughts and beliefs and ideas are quite another matter. That could work. But you could try something else, like taking lactosidase (Lactaid or...) and see how that works. No cheese? No cream? No milk? No yoghurt? Impossible to contemplate. What if one wound up having to read the list of ingredients to make certain there was no whey or such in it. I *do* believe that we can irritate IBS by the foods we eat. As far as dairy--first eliminate ALL dairy--yup even small amounts of whey--for a full six weeks. If you feel better--then try the lactase acid. I am ALLERGIC to dairy--I react to calcium caseinate-a milk protein-I do NOT eat any dairy. It is the most common food allergy in the world. If you eliminate dairy and don t feel any better--go ahead and eat dairy--but keep trying new foods to eliminate for a full 6 weeks each. If none of that makes you feel better--eat what you want. But, it is well worth trying to figure out if any food is a trigger for IBS or other health issue. Well, cutting it out for a while to see if it's really the trigger would be the first step, eh? And if it is, then find alternatives... The problem is when the trigger foods are those without such alternatives... I haven't been all that well... I keep trying to do a little so that no one will tell me I'm not trying or that I don't want to be well... they do anyway... but it keeps me sort of in a half-asleep, half-awake state permanently... Are you serious? Maybe you are joking, I haven't read the whole thread. The condition of ibs is there maybe because we have fibro but the trigger is most probably foods. I was nearly terminally ill with ibs until I experimented and found what was causing me problems, it turned out to be bread. And believe it or not I do not suffer from ibs at all any more, after 20 years of suffering, I was taking liquid opium. It was so damn simple to get rid of, I can't hardly believe it myself. But it is not a stretch to imagine that the digestive system is heavily influence by what we eat. You learn what you can eat! I've had IBS since the '60's and it's been very difficult for me to figure out what to eat and what not to eat. I went to the University of Wisconsin and my doctor who was a Professor at the school told me I had the worst case of IBS he had seen in a long time and he wanted to study me. It was a very painful time. But, I eventually found out by elimination just what my body could tolerate and it was mostly dairy products, beef, raw veg., raw, fruit, chocolate and a few others. So if I have any problems now, it's by my own doing and oh, how I crave a good hamburger once in awhile and I will eat one and boy do I get sick. I have learned that pork doesn't bother me as much as beef so I will have a pork patty instead. So, you really have to stop eating all food and just gradually add back to your diet and see what works! Good Luck! Takes time, but, it's worth it! Oh, I see where you're coming from, those who say we can cure fibro with diet. It is distressing, but we can't dismiss everything, that may aid us in one of the many painful conditions we have. As hot packs may sooth the pain a little and warm water exercise may help our muscles unstiffen a bit. Then paying some attention to our own very personal dietary peculiarities can aid us in control of this very debilitating condition. I found when I ate bread at night that I didn't sleep as well, and then notice that I was actually bloated, so I stopped it in the evenings, I started to sleep better because I was not so uncomfortable, then I gave it up all together, (the hell with substitutes) The IBS stopped so dramatically, that I still can't get over it. I can't tell you how this symptom made me suffer for so long. I don't know if it is gluten, wheat, or whatever, I just know if it looks like bread I didn't eat it. After 3 months, I tried some early in the day w/o too much trouble, so it's not like it's total taboo, but each of us should discover what may help us in this regard as well as all the other problems we deal with daily. And you are so right, there is no diet that eliminates the pain of fibro. But even there we should be watchful. Many of us have more morning stiffness after a wine and cheese tasting. So I guess, what I have found is, some foods do hurt us, but there are none that help us. Maybe broccoli, that cures everything. Okay, Nancy. I would agree to all this - even the elimination of an entire very valuable food group because of a real allergy to a particular protein such as casein - IF one were actually attempting to improve nervous system function by using the B vitamins as I and many others have suggested from time to time. I was utterly convinced of multitudinous allergies and intolerances - including to at least half of humanity - for years and years, until I began to use them. It was hard to figure out to do because of brainfog and difficulty in sitting reading Earl Mindell's Vitamin Bible. I've suggested to people that they read Chapter VI It's not all in your mind and that people really start taking seriously the idea of mind and body being one and the same entity, whole and entire. I posted recently to a thread on sensitivities to fragrances quoting a few lines from Earl Mindell's suggested remedy for allergies. I don't know if anyone tried it - pantothenic acid and vitamin C I think. I don't like being uncertain - who does - so I looked up my post, and here's the excerpt, just to make sure readers' minds are on what I think helps, which is B vitamins etcetera: From Earl Mindell's Vitamin Bible date of last copyright November 1991 page 47: PERSONAL ADVICE: If you frequently have tingling hands and feet, you might try increasing your pantothenic acid intake - in combination with other B vitamins. Pantothenic acid can help provide a defence against a stress situation that you foresee or are involved in. 1000 mg daily has been found effective in reducing the pain of arthritis, in some cases. If you suffer from allergies, relief could be just a vitamin B5 and C away. Try taking 1000 mg of each - with food - morning and evening. I see those freebies are still in there - someone might find them useful so I can't really bring myself to take them out. This approach to allergies was in his section on pantothenic acid - a neglected vitamin and sort of mysterious until sort of recently. No one really knew what it did, but it became clear it sort of did an awful lot of putting everything together with everything else. So it's a very valuable vitamin. I found though that I took it just once or twice and then for some reason didn't want to continue with the dosage. It was a funny way too, that I found out about this. It was because of an argument I was having with a friend. All I know is that I did this a couple of times and good-bye chemical sensitivities, good-bye itching and streaming eyes, nose, coughing, choking, no dogs, no cats, horrible cooking smells, anti-social attitude etcetera etcetera and so forth. In other words, I got part of my life back. And only two doses. I've taken pantothenic acid in the usual dosage ever since, and they've never, never come back since. But that's me, and I've taken vitamins - off and on - for a long time. We're talking about irritable bowel syndrome in this thread, and of course the foods eaten do affect the state of the bowel. That's not my point at all - people should just do what they like about food. However I always worry if someone says they're cutting out an entire food group rich with valuable proteins. Especially if people are vegetarian. I will admit protein can be gotten out of other sources - vegetable sources - but it must be hydrolyzed and at least somewhat treated (with soda, say) otherwise it turns into a protein cheat - it doesn't work as a protein in the human body because the digestive system can't break it down. I don't eat any food anymore without digestive aids. It's just automatic. I don't give a toot what people have to say about my taking a pill. I just ask for a glass of water if I'm out somewhere. No one notices anyway. My food allergies - which were many (can't eat this, can't eat that, can't eat the other thing) went away gradually when I started taking digestive aids. I wasn't particularly religious about it at first, and I wasn't enthusiastic about taking added acid (betain hydrochloride or glutamic acid hydrochloride) with my food, because I didn't want to have acid indigestion. I was one of those people who - when I found out that B-12 deficiency was connected with the use of acid suppressors - said ban all acid suppressors. I got howlingly excited about the whole thing every step of the way... Of course. What else puts interest into life, but a little argument about the right and the wrong way of doing things? Now I don't oppose the use of acid suppressors at all - in fact, it's a good idea, JUST AS LONG as people take supplemental acid with their food. By now the picture has cleared up in my mind well enough to be able to say that if you get your head wrapped around this rather confusing point, you could make a START on getting well. If you take your B vitamins etcetera and so forth. Because our digestion is wonky, we are obviously laid open to - what - poor nutrition (you waste an awful lot of food that way) and infections with all kinds of peculiar bugs because your food is supposed to be mixed with all kinds of digestive juices along the way. So supporting and feeding the nervous system seems like a good idea. Gradually you might see the improvement of digestive function. And maybe those casein-loving microorganisms that make your life so miserable in your acid-free stomach won't be quite so happy with your tummy as their home. The other way of going at this is to say okay, you're not eating casein-containing foods now, but take B vitamins to improve your digestive function, and use digestive aids, and maybe one of these days you'll find yourself enjoying a dish of strawberries and cream or a dish of ice-cream or whatever with the rest of the people. It's really too bad that it's such a common food allergy. Anyway, these two things have helped me - a lot. I don't just have IBS. I have Crohn's. But I can eat everything under the sun except for bread. I still don't eat bread or cakes. I can eat pie - I just have a couple of nibbles of the crust, complement the cook and eat the filling. I think of the crust as a kind of envelope or not really edible container. I don't know if this makes sense or not - of course if you are allergic to casein you certainly wouldn't want to try eating strawberries and cream. But you never know. I don't think it's easier to eliminate a whole food group. I think that's actually quite difficult and limiting. And when you get such overall, global good effects from taking nerve food and taking digestive aids, I just think it's good to add something rather than to subtract something. I'm personally very tolerant of people's wishes and beliefs about their diets, because it's everyone's right to figure out exactly what they want to eat and what they don't want to eat. I think the situation of children vis a vis their dogmatic parents is absolutely terrible. However if it comes to the actual facts, the truth is that we're short of protein (or we wouldn't be sick); we need to get protein (or we'll get sicker); we're short because we don't digest protein very well (which means we have to add hydrolyzed protein to our diets and use digestive aids); and we can't digest our protein very well because our nervous systems aren't working very well (so we need to take vitamins, especially the B vitamins). And I haven't said any of this was a magic cure, nota bene. But I'm satisfied that this is a beginning towards explaining our illness: why we're sick, and what we can hopefully begin to do about it. Obviously it's not easy. But! We're nothing if we're not stubborn. Enough of this blah, blah, blah, anyway. I've got a funny feeling no one believes me anyway, and I'm writing into a long, long tunnel. It's that tiny pinpoint of light at the end that spurs me on. Oh, I forgot to mention: I do eliminate a whole class of foods. Geez, durned fog. You see? I'm trying to put all this stuff together so that people won't wind up like me with their brains like Swiss cheese. I'm just worried about the elimination of very valuable protein and mineral containing foods. Of course they're no use if you can't digest those either. However I'm with Dot on this one. I do eliminate grain. Maybe if I were to take a bowl of porridge or something - I used to love Roman Meal - with two or maybe three capsules of glutamic acid hydrochloride, I'd succeed in getting a little nourishment from it, and wouldn't feel for the next few days as though I'd died and gone to the Other Place. But this is why I say - always - eat what you like, as long as it likes you. If a food bites back, okay, don't eat it. But take a close look at what's really going on if you find yourself cutting out really important foods. There are shellfish allergies. There are peanut allergies. I personally can't help feeling that if these things were investigated they'd be found to be caused by nasty little bugs that just happen to like whatever it is - peanuts, shellfish. OTOH, no one's going to risk finding out whether such an allergy wouldn't be avoided by eating shellfish with digestive aids. After all, look at me: the bare thought of what has happened in the past would deter me from eating any more than the tiniest amount of unprocessed wheat, rice, barley, oats, rye... But maybe I'm wrong in this too. Maybe I should try eating some grain-containing food with glutamic acid hydrochloride. I dunno. I really think I won't chance this one until I've had my cataracts removed and everything is all healed and in first class shape. So, Nancy, don't eat casein-containing foods. I agree. It would be quite dumb. But it makes for an interesting discussion at least. I believe ya, Deidre! I think you're on to something for sure. We all got sick because something in our bodies changed or was overwhelmed or something like that. None of us are suffering from a lack of Trazadone or antidepressants or Celebrex or whatever we take. If we were, where would we find the government's RDA list for them? Which is not to say they don't have a job to do, and for many of us they do it well, but IMHO they're a finger in the dike as far as finding out what the cause is. I think understanding your idea of trying to find the why and how are where the final answer will be found. So I guess, what I have found is, some foods do hurt us, but there are none that help us. Maybe broccoli, that cures everything. Not even broccoli works for me. And of course I love it. It kicks off the IBS. I have definitely decided that this disease really sucks when even broccoli is a no-no. I am now officially pouting. So there.
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