I recently was trying to find photos of me back from my IBS days with my bloated Buddha belly. It turns out I deleted them all. Every single one.
I used to be so self-conscience of it. Even though I worked out like crazy I looked 5 months pregnant. It was frustrating and embarrassing especially because I thought I was eating so healthy! I had a smoothie every morning with whole grain bread, ate lots of salads and vegetables, dedicated to my greens powder, etc. But I was still bloated!
Turns out I was eating several of the foods listed below...
Refined Sugar: like white sugar, brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup etc. Refined sugar feeds the bad bacteria in the gut who tend to off gas a lot!
Processed foods: These are foods our great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food (things you cannot pronounce on an ingredients list). Our body does not know what to do with these and really struggles to digest them.
Raw food: This is one of those food categories that usually shock my clients when I tell them to limit their raw foods (including veggies). Raw foods are actually quite difficult for a compromised IBS gut to digest.
FODMAP Foods: These are fermentable sugars that normally our tummies should be able to handle but my friends with IBS may struggle with. Look up a full FODMAP food list but a few examples are: apples, onions and garlic
Carrageenan: This is a food stabilizer that can be found in dairy free milks, yogurt, ice cream, etc. It is one of the biggest reasons why I am not a fan of most store bought nut milks like almond, cashew or coconut.
Dairy: It’s estimated that 65 – 75% of the world’s population is lactose intolerant which means they are physically incapable of digestion the milk sugar leading to gas, bloating and sometimes abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Gluten: Even a healthy gut doesn’t digest gluten so imagine what it does to our temperamental IBS tummies
Stress: Ok, I know this one isn't a food, but it's super duper important when it comes to bloating! If our body feels like it is in some kind of danger it will suppress digestion allowing food to ferment in our bellies and create lots of gas and bloating. (ps: a bear or over scheduling ourselves is looked at in the same way)
Luckily the 21 Day IBS Treatment Program gives you a full meal plan with happy tummy foods so that you can stop managing your IBS and start healing!
