Foods To Avoid With IBS

by Zoe
(UK)

I am a woman in my early thirties and have suffered IBS for about ten years, but I did not realize for a long time that there were foods to avoid with IBS. I thought it was caused by stress and I think it is, but there are also foods that can bring on an attack.

I have always tried to eat quite healthily and my diet has included fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts. All three of these can cause an attack, especially broccoli and nuts.

I would keep unsalted nuts like Brazil and Hazel nuts in the kitchen to eat a handful each day. When I was younger, I could eat them without any problem, but when I read about IBS and went to my Doctors Surgery, the GP suggested that I keep a food diary to see if there was any relationship between my diet and the bad attacks and foods to avoid with IBS.

I found out over a period of time that some fruits would cause diarrhea, Broccoli would give me a bad stomach ache and wind, but nuts were the real trigger food. A few hours after eating them, I would be bloated, with a low stomach ache which sometimes sent me to bed. Although unsalted nuts are nutritious, eating them is not worth the pain and nausea.

It was a good idea to keep a food diary, because I would not have realized there was a connection between foods and my condition and that there were foods to avoid with IBS. I believed it was stress related and because I had eaten all those foods without a problem since a child, I did not think that they would trigger bowel spasms.
Through reading sites I have discovered that not every-one is triggered by the same foods, which is why I would recommend that every-one keep a diary of what they eat to see if something does affect them. If it does, it usually happens within a few hours.

Now, fruit, particularly berries (I drink real fruit juice or smoothies instead) Broccoli, Cauliflower, and nuts are foods to avoid with IBS for me. I can eat other vegetables like cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, fresh spinach etc without a problem. Every-one is different, so it is well worth keeping a note of your diet..