IBS triggers - What triggers IBS?

Eat REGULAR meals, DON’T miss meals as bowel likes REGULARITY

DON’T over eat as this can trigger IBS symptoms.

SMALLand REGULAR meals maybe more beneficial

AVOID alcohol, caffeine related drinks (including tea, coffee and fizzy drinks such as cola). These are all Irritable Bowel Syndrome trigger foods.

Spicy foods such as curries, peppers, chillies, onions, garlic, acidic vinegar containing foods. These are well known IBS triggers to avoid.

Specific Diets To Prevent Your IBS Triggers

I've already mentioned that there are certain diets that are common to specific types of IBS. I would now like to expand on this and show you what diet's are best for your IBS:

If you suffer from diarrhea and wind

You need to make sure your diet is low in fibre diet. If your symptoms don't settle with this you can also start an exclusion diet and I will explain this latter.

If you suffer from diarrhea and constipation

You need to make sure your diet is high in fiber. Again, if this doesn't work you can then look at an exclusion diet (more later).

If you suffer from constipation

You diet needs to be high in fibre. If you have a lot of bloating or wind either with or before this, you will need to change to a low fibre diet instead. If the diet doesn't work on its own, you will need to add in laxatives as well.

Common Points To All IBS DIETS

All of the above recommended IBS diets should contain protein. Don't avoid fresh meats, poultry and eggs, at least not initially. Excluding protein can lead to nutritional deficiency, so this will need addressing by a dietician if it becomes an issue.

If you feel that one or more of the above are IBS triggers, you need to refer to your food diary. Care does need to be taken when avoiding these foods, but you may find its only certain protein containing foods that are an issue.

---

Low Fibre Foods

• White bread rather than brown or granary breads

• White Pasta and white rice, but avoid wholemeal which is one of the well known IBS triggers

• Cereals that don’t contain high fibre. Examples would include corn flakes and rice cereal

• White flour containing foods

• Fresh fruit and juices, but avoid skins and seeds

• Vegetables, NOT beans, pulses or corn. Remove skin from potatoes and other skinned vegetables as these can be Irritable Bowel Syndrome trigger foods.

---

High Fibre

High fibre diets for IBS should incorporate variations of the following:• Brown bread and granary bread

• Wholemeal pasta and brown rice

• High fibre cereals

• Brown flour containing foods

• Fruit with skins left on

• Vegetables including beans, pulses, corn and jacket potato

---

Exclusion diet - Avoid Those IBS Triggers!

If the above diets are ineffective for you then the only way of finding out the right foods for you is to look at an exclusion diet. This needs to be done in conjunction with your food diary and can take several months to work out with a lot of hard work and application.

Take in the following foods:

• Meats – fresh meat and poultry (not processed meats,burgers or sausages)

• Fresh fish – NOT not fried or battered

• Vegetables – ALL vegetables, but avoid SKINNED potatoes, garlic, onions and peppers which are well known IBS triggers

• Fruits – ALL fruits except citrus fruits such as lemon, lime and orange

• Rice containing cereals only

• Dairy – AVOID ALL dairy containing products such as milk, butter, yoghurt. Use soya substitutes only.

• Drinks – ONLY have water, non-citrus drinks and herbal teas. AVOID the common IBS triggers such as alcohol, tea, coffee and carbonated drinks

Use your food diary to make a note of what makes your symptoms better and which ones don't. You can then create diets with variations of these foods.

Once everything is working for you, you can then start reintroducing some of the foods. If anything triggers your IBS then avoid this.

A FODMAP Diet

A relatively new concept in preventing IBS triggers is the FODMAP diet. This is based on avoidance of certain fruits and vegetables in combination with a gluten free diet and lactose free diet. You can read more about this diet by going to the FODMAP diet page

Certain foods in your diet seem to increase bloating and wind.

Examples of these foods include nuts, dried fruits, baked beans, pulses, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. Fizzy beers (Lagers) and carbonated drinks such as cola drinks and Lemonade can also make symptoms worse and you should look at avoiding these if wind or bloating symptoms are an issue to you.