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About Lactose Intolerance
Digestive Health - Smart Brief has a note that points to excellent information about what is happening when you have lactose intolerance. I have had varying levels of lactose intolerance for much of my life; this article tells about the stages of lactose intolerance. This is a better description than the statistic “25% (if true) of people with IBS are lactose intolerant.” Yes, maybe in a cross-section of people with IBS right now that is not incorrect. I pessimistically suggest that if this statistic that’s been casually quoted elsewhere is survey-based, then it should be calculated for each age-group with IBS, not for the whole batch of us.
Because the author of the article cited in Digestive Health - Smart Brief, Pamela Stuppy, gets it right, I’m more inclined to believe her.
Your Comments, Please
Have you had changes in lactose tolerance during your life, where once “milk and cookies” were great, and now, not so much? Please use the “comment” link to send in your comments.
December 19th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
IBS Diet |
no comments
Introduction
I would like to clarify the underlying principles to the IBS food recommendations that I make on ForMyTummy (FMT). When I first started ForMyTummy.com, over a year ago, I thought the principles were the same as, or similar to, those of Heather Van Vorous, of the HelpforIBS.com web site. Upon reflection, after a year of writing tips and recipes and articles, there are some specific features to my approach which can be stated as, ta-da!, the following Principles.
Principle 1
NEVER EAT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH
This means that when you wake up, the first thing you put into your mouth is a soluble fiber, such as Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™ or FiberSure ™. Later in the day, the first thing into your mouth will be either a small amount of gentle starch like rice or soy crackers, or another part of your daily dose of a Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS).
Principle 2
GET ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN FOOD SHOPPING
This is because you are in a learning process yourself. To try to tell someone else who is buying or preparing your food what it is that you want/need, and what has to be or not be on the food label is to create more interpersonal stress than you really need. Negotiate to be part of shopping trips, or change your food service (lunch place, wherever) to “vegan,” or ask for gift certificates to Amazon and lay in your own stock of oatmeal or soy noodle soup or something else that you like.
Principle 3
READ ALL FOOD LABELS IN THE STORE!
This means take your reading glasses with you to the grocery store, or read the food labels online–Amazon is pretty good at publishing the labels, and many product web pages have them available. You want to know two things:
- The list of ingredients, and
- The nutrition information, particularly carbohydrate and fiber content
Principles 4 and 5 are to be applied in sequence.
Principle 4
START WITH AN ELIMINATION DIET
This means that you begin by eliminating all foods that occur on the List of IBS Triggers. In addition, at the beginning you will avoid most fruits and vegetables, unless they are pureed (as in baby foods), or starchy, such as potatoes and sweet potatoes without skins and butter. In cutting out caffeine, cut your daily intake in half, in half again, and in half again if you are a heavy user. Then cut out all caffeine.
This also means that you will have to switch to available foods that are based on soy beans or rice. Rice is both binding and calming to the tummy; that means that if you have IBS-C, base your NEW diet on soy, and add small amounts of rice.
Principle 5
EMPHASIZE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR ADDED FOODS
This means that you build your NEW diet up from the “rescue” diet that eliminated fruits and vegetables, by cautiously adding new fruits and vegetables, preferably one at a time. Fruit should be skinned and cut up; vegetables should be steamed. Maybe you will try out steaming fruit as well–that’s my next experiment. See the New Food Pyramid for more information about a pyramid built on fruits and vegetables.
Principle 6
MOVE AND GROW
This means several things:
- Get off your duff and do something about your IBS, or
- Include physical exercise, or
- Grow thinner or fatter, whichever you need to do, or
- Move through the process of self-help for IBS and grow as a person.
Principle 7
ADD THESE TO YOUR NEW DIET
- Enough soluble fiber supplement (SFS)- See the Fiber 101 posts, starting with Fiber 101a, and the articles in the category “Prebiotics.”
- A good probiotic, Digestive Advantage-IBS ™ caplets or Align ™ caplets are ones that supply the probiotic in effective amounts; they are reviewed in the category “Probiotics.”
Principle 8
VARIATIONS
This means that you can pick from these principles according to the extent of your IBS “damage” in the slang sense. Principle 1, 2, and 3 apply to everyone, with 2 and 3 being ones you can take on gradually. The Principles 4 and 5 involve radical dietary change for most of us. You need to be really committed to change, really miserable with aspects of IBS, to take this on. Principles 6 and 7 should be added to Principles 1, 2, and 3 as well as used with the full dietary changes of 4 and 5.
COMMENTS?
How would you use these principles? Are there any others that you would want to express? Please comment using the Link below, that says “No Comments” if you are the first to write in–otherwise the linke says “1 Comment” or “2 Comments,” and so forth.
October 11th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
fiber, Probiotics, Soy Products, Prebiotics, IBS Diet |
2 comments
For some time there has been a Page Title — in the upper right hand corner of the header menu — called “Window Shopping.” If you clicked on it, you would see a browser window that goes directly to the Best Life International website, and their “Soy Amazing” ™ Meal Replacement shake.
That was it. No blurb, no explanation, just the browser window.
I have now added several more browser windows, for products mentioned here that are not available at Amazon.com. The full list of products:
Two soy shakes mentioned here:
-
Soy Amazing Meal Replacement Shake, ™ from BestLife International–high soluble fiber content, high protein
- Revival Soy ™ Chocolate Daydream Shake — no fiber content, high protein.
Two probiotics for IBS reviewed here–windows to their web sites.
- Ganeden Digestive Advantage - IBS ™: currently serializing a review.
- Align. ™ Series of reviews, completed.
Use the Google site search, or the Category listings, for more information.
September 25th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Breakfast, fiber, Chocolate, Revival Soy, Probiotics, Food for IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS food, Align, Soy Products, Soy Amazing, Online sources, BestLifeInternational, Digestive Advantage - IBS, IBS Diet |
2 comments
Puroast is one of a few brands of low acid coffee. Since coffee is my “Essential Food Group” and since my tummy is now pretty stable, I ordered it and tried it a couple of times, using 1/2 measure Puroast and 3/2 measure Rocamojo Soy Coffee. Both were in mocha flavor, and the resulting chocolate flavor was nice. No adverse effects on my stable tummy with one 12 oz. cup, each five days apart. I haven’t tested the “second-day rule” with this, though, so beware.
I’d welcome a guest review for this product; no freebies, but here is an announcement of their sale, with a promo code, that I received in the mail. So, for me and sixty of my good friends or so, here’s the sale:
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September 20th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
coffee, general, IBS, IBS-C, Soy Coffee, IBS Diet |
no comments
Naturally Controlling IBS
Amid a group of generally excellent suggestions for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) from Andrew Weil, M.D., there comes the following classic description of how the “Food Diary” suggestion from your doctor is supposed to work.
How a Food Journal Works
A food journal: Most people with IBS say their symptoms worsen after eating certain foods. Write down what, when, and how much you eat in a notebook. Check it for patterns that indicate food-related triggers. In a British study, people with IBS were sensitive to wheat, beef, pork, and lamb. Alcohol, caffeine, and fatty foods are other common culprits; if any seem to bother you, eliminate each for a week or two to see if you improve.
Food-Diary Problems
There are a couple of problems with the food diary–beyond the fact that I’ve only ever been willing to do a food diary for IBS just once.
Logical?
For one thing, Weil makes this suggestion:
Alcohol, caffeine, and fatty foods are other common culprits; if any seem to bother you, eliminate each for a week or two to see if you improve.
So you eliminate one food that’s a trigger and keep on eating all the others? To be a little bit silly here, because of course our bodies don’t act in a logical fashion, but the thinking seems a little bit off. If you have ten triggers for IBS, and eliminate one, won’t your IBS still be triggered by triggers two through ten?
Grouped Triggers
At least that’s more or less what I found: I was already a vegetarian; stopped the somewhat possible things containing lactose and switched to soy milk, stopped soda, caffeine, egg yolks,
For me, I eliminated everything on the triggers list except artificial sweeteners, and still had symptoms–about half of what they were before, but still . . . I really didn’t think artificial sweeteners belonged, particularly Splenda ™. Besides, what would I use to satisfy my sweet tooth if I gave them up? I tried switching out artificial sweeteners, as Weil suggests, and did notice some difference between them.
So I stopped artificial sweeteners, too. And my IBS was under control at last.
The Point Is
What I am suggesting here is that many, many of us think we have tried the dietary approach and it hasn’t worked. We have eliminated each food in turn, and sometimes noticed a difference. So there are maybe two foods that we think we can’t eat, that are triggers for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Yet actually, there are four or five or eight or ten. We just never stopped enough of the foods all at once to notice the difference.
Elimination Diet
Yes. I am advocating the total elimination of all the foods on the “IBS Triggers” page. After a couple of weeks on an elimination diet, then cautiously add back one food, one of the “essential food groups” as one blogger has called them, sardonically. Add something back that you miss. Take it slowly, because you have reached an IBS-free (or almost) equilibrium, a platform on which to build.
Just One More Thing!
Sometimes there is “just one more thing!”
For me, wheat, only about 10% of a normal diet–it comes under the IBS second-day rule. For some people, plain wheat doesn’t work, but sourdough does.
Conclusion
Do not stop taking your Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS), or your probiotic. Also remember the two life rules for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: “Never eat on an empty stomach,” and “Never drink anything with ice in it.”
You’ll do fine!
September 16th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Sweetener, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS Triggers, IBS Diet |
no comments
I have been fixing up the inner workings of For My Tummy. This involved going back over two months of posts, and that gave me the chance to notice that I had posted once on two rules for IBS, here. And then, ten days or so before that, I had posted on the one rule for IBS.
The rules in reverse order are:
-
Never Drink Ice Water
- Never Eat on an Empty Stomach
- The Second-Day Rule<
“The Second-Day Rule” needs a little explaining. If you try a new food and have no problems with it on the first day, don’t scarf it up on the second day, thinking “Oh, boy. Now it’s okay to eat xyz!” It will come back to bite you. In other words, some foods–like the IBS triggers–are ok for one day at a time, but not for day-in, day-out use.
Taken together, the three rules make life sound like hard work for people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. That’s true! I don’t want to coat it with Stevia to make it easier to swallow–actually Stevia would taste bitter if you used it in that way! What I want to do is to give you some sign posts so that what is happening in terms of Irritable Bowel Symptoms, whether constipation or diarrhea or cramps or alternating stuff–so that these symptoms make some kind of sense and potentially can be controlled.
September 12th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Gastrocolic Reflex, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS Triggers, IBS-C, IBS-D, IBS Diet, IBS Symptoms |
no comments
Policy Decision
I wanted to add a link or two for spelt to ForMyTummy’s Amazon Page. Is spelt gluten-free? I had thought so, but a little research revealed that it is not. Because gluten in spelt is different from the gluten in wheat, I will include some spelt products on the Amazon Pages.
Gluten
Most of what are mentioned here as IBS-diet-worthy foods are free of the known triggers that affect us. In the case of spelt, which contains gluten, I am making an exception.
- Spelt, as a grain, is similar to wheat; therefore it has gluten.
- Spelt, as a grain, has a different kind of gluten in it.
People with celiac disease are completely unable to process anything with gluten; most of us with IBS find that restricting foods with gluten in them make our tummies happier. So if I (with IBS) can keep my diet down to 10% to 25% of
the usual gluten “load” in the average American diet, I will generally do ok. Your mileage on gluten may vary. (That’s abbreviated YMMV, in forum-speak.)
Information on Spelt
I stumbled upon a fascinating and informative web page from Doves Farm in doing research on the spelt + gluten issue. They are in the United Kingdom (UK), so their products will not make it into my Amazon Page(s). Nevertheless, their web site has a great deal of information about grains and special diets, about organic and gluten-free products.
This is important why? –Because earlier I published a recipe for tuna melt for IBS, that was built on bread made of spelt. I had assumed then that spelt was gluten-free, not classed with wheat. It turns out that it is a cousin of wheat, with differences in flavor and kind of gluten. To recap; while people with Celiac Disease are completely unable to tolerate gluten in any form, that doesn’t (necessarily) apply to people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome who are wheat intolerant.
Also a voice for organic foods
The Doves Farm site mentioned above is also an advocate for organic foods. If you are negotiating a food budget to deal with IBS, the higher cost of organic foods versus traditionally farmed foods may add a point of disagreement. Therefore, I’m not going to come down on both feet with a strong recommendation for organic foods.
Feedback
Do you agree with the policy on foods containing gluten for this site? If not, would you suggest a complete ban? A stricter ban? Let me know with a comment. Your comment will count toward the September Top Commenter award. This is a good thing.
September 9th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
IBS food, IBS Diet |
no comments
Hummus: What is it?
Hummus is a food of Near Eastern origin that is traditionally used in a filling “sandwich” of pita bread, falafel balls, shredded lettuce and perhaps other vegetables. Hummus has the function of holding all these elements together, or at least flavoring them. The thicker the hummus the more it holds together; the thinner the hummus, the more it flavors–and drips.
It is made of mashed or ground chickpeas (=garbanzo beans), often with ground sesame seeds (tahini); in general, hummus serves as a dip for pita bread or vegetables. It may contain lemon juice or garlic flavoring, so reading labels is advised.
Where to find it?
The best hummus I have had recently came from a small neighborhood Near Eastern store. In the very varied neighborhood in which I live, hummus can be found in the two big grocery stores, also. I would think that Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods chains would carry it. It comes in cans and in dip containers. You could also find it in Hispanic-themed groceries, or make it yourself from canned garbanzo beans (=chickpeas).
Why is it good for IBS?
The packaged hummus without lemon juice or citric acid is good for building alternative meals for (us) people with IBS. You can use it directly as a substitute for mayonnaise–no eggs, no oil. I use it with a 3 oz. can of tuna as a quick lunch, or put it on rice cakes to moisten the dry chew.
How would you use it?
Let me know how you do use, or would use, hummus. No reward this time, except that sending a comment will count toward “top commenter” recognition for September.
September 9th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Food for IBS, IBS food, IBS Diet |
no comments
In addition to the sporadic items in the category I have called “IBS Food” on For My Tummy, there are some other sources for food recipes. Heather’s Newsletters at HelpforIBS.com offer a large selection, as does her book Eating for IBS. I have just added an appetizing website with recipes for people with food intolerances–gluten as well as others–http://surefoodsliving.com/
August 30th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
Food for IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS food, IBS Diet |
no comments
Terminology Problems
The discussion about appropriate types of fiber in the therapy of Irritable Bowel Syndrome is hampered by a number of misconceptions about fiber. What has been holding me up in writing a simple Fiber 101b post, the second part of the primer on fiber, has been the need to explain several distinctions among types of fiber, that is so much of what I mean when I say fiber.
These are some the terms used on this and other sites:
-
Dietary Fiber
- Insoluble Fiber (IF)
- Soluble Fiber (SF)
- Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS)
- TV ads for “Fiber”
Putting the explanation of terms into an article, I think, will make your eyes glaze over. That will happen if what I say is in conflict with what you know. So, this is the fiber glossary, the words and terms for talking about fiber. Some of what is on this page will be new to your understanding of fiber.
Glossary
Fiber
Not a specific term. It doesn’t describe the food, or the supplements, that supply fiber. It may be used to describe a daily amount of fiber.
Dietary Fiber
This is more specific. It is part of the break down of the carbohydrates count in a nutrition label. The other part of the carbohydrate count is sugars. Dietary fiber contributes only a small amount of energy/calories, because it is the residue from plant foods. Recommended daily allowances are talking about measurable totals of different kinds of dietary fiber.
Soluble Fiber (SF)
Soluble Fiber comes from plants that are sources of gums used in the preparation of foods, as thickeners, for example. In Heather’s system of Eating for IBS, soluble fiber is also starches that are found in rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, and are useful to put the gastrocolic reflex to sleep before eating a (more-or-less) regular meal.
Soluble Fiber Supplements (SFS)
Soluble Fiber Supplements are commercially available varieties of the first kind of SF above, the plants that produce gums that dissolve completely in water. Some examples are guar gum used in the old Benefiber ™, acacia gum used in Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, and inulin from chicory root, sometimes used as a sweetener, and the only ingredient in FiberSure ™.
Insoluble Fiber (IF)
This is plant materials–fibers–that do not dissolve in water. Insoluble fiber is what used to be called “roughage.” It is usually what we understand doctors to be saying when they say “Increase fiber.” My bad example is Metamucil ™, which is made from psyllium (a kind of seed) husks. They add bulk to the stool, hastening its movement through the intestines. Bran and various crunchy, rough cereals are sources of insoluble fiber (IF); also raw vegetables such as carrots. The skins and seeds of fruit and vegetables are other sources, as are nuts. This is what doctors still give as the kind of stuff to eat as part of a “high fiber diet.”
None of these things is easily tolerated by a person with IBS.
TV Ads for “Fiber”
In the United States there is an ad for FiberCon caplets, ™ which are “Calcium polycarbophil 625 mg equivalent to 500 mg polycarbophil.” Their labeling suggests that the caplets should not be used more than 7 days without a doctor’s approval. The ingredient is the same as that in Equalactin ™. The interesting point is the way the ads play on the popular conception of a “high fiber diet,” and suggest that such a diet is impossible to follow because we’d be eating fiber all day. So, why not take their caplets? Well, because polycarbophil is a “bulk-forming” laxative–roughage, or IF–and may give some problems to people with IBS.
NOTE
In the past, in the archived posts on this blog, I have used SF and SFS interchangeably, meaning supplements. Heather’s site also has used the terms interchangeably in the past, in the meaning of both supplements and the soluble element of starches such as rice and potatoes, and bananas.
Neither of us is technically wrong, just different. SF, including both starches and SFS, is PREbiotic, a growing medium for the good bacteria that we call PRObiotics.
August 21st, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
fiber, IBS therapy, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Prebiotics, IBS Diet, IBS Symptoms |
one comment
Read the following in conjunction with the Page on this blog called IBS Triggers.
I’ve just added the blog “Confessions of a Bathroom Dweller” to the list of links. The author has a post on not going the extra mile, “Sprite is an Essential Food Group!”
In part, she says:
Someone found my little corner of the blog word by typing in:
“is sprite bad for people with IBS”
ahhh….someone after my own heart. You see, I know carbonation is “bad” for people with IBS. My brain knows that it is not smart to intentionally consume something that will add air to my system. But of everything I have had to give up or modify to deal with my IBS, Sprite is the ONE thing I REFUSE to give up.
For me, it’s coffee–well, at least some coffee. Not very much. About 1/4 of a cup, mixed with mocha soy, but some.
OK. We all do it, we all pay a price.
What we could do:
- Cut down the amount - just one Sprite, ™ less than one cup of coffee spread throughout the day
- Diminish the effect - let the Sprite ™ go flat before you drink it, mix the coffee with non-coffee compatibles
- Share it so you eat or drink less
- Make it with substitutes - soymilk instead of milk,
- Chew it carefully (pecans, almonds) or grind it up
- Use it in powdered form - powdered cocoa, not chocolate, not even dark chocolate with no dairy and no sweetener
- Give it up for IBS control?
What’s your favorite dodge on the “essential food groups” plaint?
August 5th, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
coffee, Chocolate, humor, Food for IBS, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS Triggers, IBS food, IBS Diet |
2 comments
Changes in Protein Intake
Adopting a dietary approach to managing Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) means radically changing your sources of protein. No more red meat or scrambled eggs, for example. No more chicken or turkey dark meat, and no more four glasses of milk.
Examples of Alternative Protein
Soymilk can vary in protein content from a low of 3 grams to a high of 11 or 12 grams. I don’t have a handy milk carton to make a comparison.
There are 21 grams of protein in a 3 oz. can of salmon, and 16 grams of protein in a salmon fillet - go figure. A 6 oz. can of tuna has 13 grams of protein.
Good Level of Protein
You need dietary ways to maintain a good level of protein. What is a good level? Think 40 to 60 grams of protein every day for adults, depending on body weight and stress level. By stress level, I mean still growing, pregnant or lactating, or elderly. Weight lifting makes efficient use of protein, so a larger amount is not needed. Endurance training requires relatively more protein.
High Fiber plus Enough Protein
While the gradual shift to a high soluble fiber diet is critical in the therapy of IBS, the needs of your body for protein should not be neglected.
August 3rd, 2007
Posted by
tummyblogger |
IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS therapy, IBS food, Digesting Information, IBS Diet |
no comments
