What to Eat With IBS: 5 Tips

What should you eat to help you prevent painful symptoms when you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome? Knowing what NOT to eat is just as important as learning what to eat with IBS.

So here are some tips…

1) Eat soluble fiber foods. Soluble fiber soothes your intestines whether you have IBS with constipation or diarrhea. These foods include:
bananas, avocado,
peeled apples,
mango and papaya,
white rice, rice pasta,
white bread,
oats, barley, buckwheat
quinoa,
mushrooms,
chestnuts,
winter squash, pumpkin,
most root vegetables,
potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes.

2) Eat soluble fibre foods BEFORE you eat other foods. So eat your parsnips or squash or whatever first, before you eat your chicken and salad (if you tolerate salad.)

3) Avoid dairy. I know, I know, everyone gets all freaked out about this because dairy products taste good and we’ve all been brainwashed to believe that if you don’t eat them, you’ll end up with osteoporosis. NOT true! A study of 78,000 women by Harvard University showed that the dairy-consumers had MORE fracture risk.

But back to digestion and what to eat with IBS. Milk products are the TOP problem food when you have digestive trouble. Even if you’re not lactose intolerant, the protein in milk can cause you pain, gas and spasms. Ouch!

There’s a theory that the reason dairy is the top problem food is because of pasteurizing. This basically means cooking it until it’s dead. So that kills off all the natural enzymes in dairy that would help you digest it. In countries where they don’t pasteurize milk, they apparently don’t have IBS either.

BTW, I’m sure you already know this, but eggs are not dairy. Only milk from cows, goats and sheep counts as dairy products. So, cheese, ice cream, milk chocolate, yogurt, kefir, whipping cream and anything else that contains milk or cream.

4) Are fats and oils part of what to eat with IBS? Absolutely. You need some essential fatty acids or your body won’t work properly. (Neither will your brain.) Omega 3’s are destroyed by cooking and processing. You can get your omegas from ground flax seed or soaked chia and then you get the soluble fiber benefits too.

Otherwise, go light on eating fatty foods, especially if you have diarrhea. Dr. D.S. Khalsa says that fat – especially animal fat – makes the colon contract because of a hormone called cholecystokin.

So if you’re prone to spasms in the gut, watch out for fatty foods like bacon, hamburgers, scalloped potatoes, etc. Deep-fried fats are especially challenging for your body to digest so avoid the French fries, tempura, and batter-fried anything.

5) Eat fruit alone, not with other foods. Fruit goes through your system fast because it’s mostly water and natural sugar (and a few vitamins.) If you eat it after a meal, as dessert, you’re asking for gas and bloating because it will tend to ferment the food you’ve already eaten.

So eat fruit either 30 minutes before a meal, or 2 hours afterwards. Bananas may be an exception to this because they contain a lot of starch. You may be okay mixing them with starchy foods like oatmeal but definitely do NOT mix acid fruits like strawberries with cereal or other starchy carbos unless you want explosions.

By the way, there's more great information about food and IBS in our special report "Unlocking the Mystery of IBS." Along with that you'll get insider details about the top 5 triggers of IBS... including the one thing nobody has told you that is likely keeping you from getting better - and how to deal with it to resolve your symptoms. Simply put your email address in the box on the right for instant access to this special IBS information.

We'd love to hear more about your experience of eating with IBS or your favourite IBS recipes. Leave a comment below - first name only (your email will not show) and click on the Share button to share this article with your friends.