They say you are what you eat. If that was a reality I’d be a weird cross between a juicy chicken breast with rice and peas and a bowl of garlicky gluten-free pasta with courgette and capers. And I think I’d be pretty happy with that right now.
You see, I love eating and I love food – which is a good thing because those things are kind of crucial to my job – but because I have IBS, finding stuff that I can eat is becoming more and more of a challenge.
I am intolerant to dairy so avoid cream, yoghurt, milk and cheese. I should probably stay away from chocolate but I have a sweet tooth and zilch willpower.
Over the past couple of months I noticed that my IBS would flare up if I ate acidic foods (apples, onions, tomatoes, peppers) or gluten, so I’ve slowly been whittling everything out. Now, I should point out that it’s probably not best to just cut a load of food groups from your life, but I got to a pretty low point where I suffered from a mix of the worst symptoms continuously and my doctors wouldn’t help at all.
Currently, instead of milk, I have lactose-free milk. When I crave bread or pasta – two of my all-time favourite foods – I go for the gluten-free versions. And instead of using onions or peppers, I use my trusty friends, garlic and chilli.
I took to Twitter the other day and both @Alice_Reeves and @Fliccy told me to check out the FODMAP diet as it had helped both of them. Now I hate the term diet, but when I checked it out I realised I was pretty much already following it without knowing. And it has definitely been helping.Alongside watching what I can and can’t eat, I’m now coming into the fourth week of my Symprove trial and am still astounded by the results. I think it’s miraculous the way I’ve gone from daily struggles to not noticing my IBS at all, and all because of one capful of the probiotic every morning. Symprove says to wait the full 12 weeks before you start really seeing the results, but for me right now, I’m not sure it can get any better.
Let me know what foods you can eat and what you avoid.
Read more:
How I Deal with My IBS on a Daily Basis8 Reasons Why Living with IBS Sucks Big Time
3 IBS-Friendly Breakfast Recipes to Try This Weekend
Image source: Someecards