How to Change Your Eating Habits if You Have Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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.