Insoluble fiber may make IBS symptoms worse. Nuts. Beans. Vegetables like cauliflower, green beans, and potatoes.
Potatoes – russet, yellow-skinned, red-skinned and purple – have all been lab tested and contain no FODMAPS! This is great news for those of us preparing meals and working on meal planning.
Choose easier-to-digest proteins, such as eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, extra-firm tofu, and plain lactose-free greek yogurt. Lower-fat cooking methods, such as baking, roasting, steaming, boiling, and sautéing, can also help you avoid uncomfortable symptoms.
Refined sugar, fructose and the sugar substitute sorbitol are all common triggers. Chocolate is also a common trigger. Besides avoiding these foods, you should also avoid overeating, drink plenty of water and try eating lots of soluble fiber.
For many IBS community members, favorite trigger foods include red sauces, such as tomato and marinara sauces.
Increase the amount of fibre in your diet, for example: cereals, e.g. All Bran®, Bran Flakes®, Weetabix®, muesli, fruit and vegetables and brown bread. You must however drink plenty of water: 1-1½ litres a day. Eat your meals slowly and chew food thoroughly.
If you have IBS, we recommend you avoid cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage or salads containing these vegetables, such as coleslaw. We also suggest you limit your intake of artichoke, onions, leeks, garlic, and asparagus.
Eggs. Eggs digest easily and are a safe choice for people with IBS. Eggs can be enjoyed hard-boiled, soft-boiled, scrambled, or poached. Omelets and frittatas can be your meal of choice for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and make a great option when eating out in a restaurant.
Baked and Boiled Potatoes
Some people with IBS find cooked potatoes are easy to digest, which is good news because baked or boiled potatoes are a natural source of nutrients like potassium. Depending on how well a person with IBS tolerates fiber, the skin of the potato may need to be removed before it's cooked.
An allergy to potato is rare but possible. Those with an allergy to potato may experience various symptoms, including a rash, nausea, difficulty swallowing, and sneezing. A severe allergy to potato can lead to anaphylaxis.
Avocados contain FODMAPs that can trigger IBS symptoms and may be high, moderate, or low in FODMAPs depending on how much you eat. In terms of portion sizes, 1/8 of an avocado is considered low-FODMAP and should be safe to eat if you have IBS. Some people may be able to tolerate more.
Porridge has many benefits for your overall health, including gut health and IBS. It can be beneficial for both IBS-C and IBS-D. Porridge can be a great meal option, even on a low FODMAP diet. When preparing porridge make sure you use only low FODMAP ingredients if you are following a low FODMAP diet.
Cheese is a common food that people with IBS avoid, as it is thought to trigger symptoms. However, there is no definitive evidence that cheese is a trigger food for IBS. Some people with IBS can tolerate cheese without any problems, while others find that it makes their symptoms worse.
This means people with IBS can safely consume a serving of medium-sized firm yellow or green bananas daily without triggering gastrointestinal symptoms. However, ripe bananas, which have higher levels of fermentable carbohydrates called fructans, can trigger IBS symptoms in some people.
While medication can be helpful for specific symptoms of an IBS flare-up, dietary changes, probiotics, targeted supplements, and stress reduction are more effective for bringing the gut back into balance.
Probiotics have also proven beneficial in IBS patients by slowing down the transit time of the colon, reducing the average number of bowel movements per day, improving stool consistency, overall symptoms, and above all, the quality of life in these patients.
It is well known that dietary FODMAPs can trigger gut symptoms in people with IBS. However, as FODMAPs have their effects mostly in the small and large intestine, it usually takes at least 4 hours after eating a high FODMAP meal for FODMAP-related symptoms to occur (see blog on timing of symptoms here).
This is because chocolate, particularly milk chocolate, contains a lot of sugar, including lactose, milk proteins and fat – all of which can cause symptoms in susceptible persons. This is particularly true in persons who are lactose intolerant or who have conditions like IBS.
IBS is a very common disorder and scientific tests show that about 10% to 15% of people in the United States have it. IBS is more common in women with almost twice as many women having it than men.
There's no cure, but diet changes and medicines can often help control the symptoms. The exact cause is unknown – it's been linked to things like food passing through your gut too quickly or too slowly, oversensitive nerves in your gut, stress and a family history of IBS.