IBS Diet: Manage Symptoms with Food & Lifestyle Changes

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has no cure, but modifying your diet and limiting stress are two of the best weapons for battling symptoms.

Things You'll Need

• Journals
• low-fat, high-fiber diet

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Instructions

• 1

  Modify your intake of dairy products (especially those from milk,) which can aggrivate an irritable bowel. Many IBS patients find that yogurt doesn't bother their bowels.

• 2

  Eat dietary fiber: whole-grain breads and cereals, fruits and most vegetables. Fiber helps to mildly distend the colon, which seems to reduce colonic spasms.

• 3

  Eat enough fiber so that your bowel movements are soft, formed and easy to pass without straining, but avoid over-the-counter high-fiber supplements, which may cause bloating and increased bowel irritability.

• 4

  Avoid large meals, which cause the bowel to become overly distended and hyperactive. Instead, choose several small meals throughout the day to keep your GI tract more in balance.

• 5

  Avoid apple and grape juice if you suffer from a great deal of flatulence; also pass up the chocolate, caffeine, alcohol and sorbitol (an artificial sweetener found in some dietetic products.)

• 6

  Stay away from high-fat foods. Fat is a strong stimulus of the colonic contractions that aggravate the irritability of the bowel.

• 7

  Avoid gas-forming foods, such as beans and cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, turnips and brussels sprouts.)

• 8

  Practice moderation and selectivity when eating. For example, don't slurp down two milkshakes on an empty stomach or sit in front of the TV eating half a jar of pickles and a bag of pork rinds.

• 9

  Keep a food journal, and write down which foods cause you intestinal distress for at least a month. Look for patterns, and avoid the offenders. Share your findings with your doctor.