Having trouble narrowing down which foods to avoid for IBS?
Watch this video to learn where to look to help you find out.
For the most helpful information you'll find about IBS online, subscribe to my channel
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If you're pulling out your hair trying to figure out all of your food triggers,
by the end of this video, you'll learn what you've been missing and you'll know what to
do next.
I'm Wendy Leung: Holistic Health & Happiness Coach, Licensed Acupuncturist,
and powerhouse IBS conqueror.
It took me a really long time to figure out my IBS alone.
I teach my clients how to look for the right answers and now I'm helping you too.
We're finishing off my series on the effect of different food groups on your
IBS symptoms.
We're zooming out today so we can see the entire picture.
One of the things about IBS is that everyone's food triggers are different, just like everyone's
IBS symptoms are different, which makes it really hard and impossible, actually, to create
a list of good and bad foods that works for everyone.
In this entire series, I've pointed out the major IBS triggers that you should
avoid in each food group.
Dairy, sugar, and alcohol.
All of it.
Meat.
It depends on the circumstances.
Veggies.
Cruciferous, onion family, beans, and legumes.
And, we also know that any foods that will create extra gas like carbonated drinks or
chewing gum will also aggravate your symptoms.
But the only way for you to really know your personal food triggers is to do
some deep diving into your diet and figure it out for yourself by process of elimination.
Are you clear on all your IBS food triggers?
Let me know by dropping a yes or a no in the comments below.
So, while I can't give you a list of all the IBS foods to avoid this episode,
I'm going to teach you an easier way to recognize them and then next episode, we're going to
talk about what to do when you can't avoid eating them.
Sound good?
Okay.
So, for a second I want you to completely forget about how we've categorized food.
I want you to throw the cards in the air, let them drop, land, and then, let's re-categorize.
If you've been watching my channel, then you know that from a Traditional Chinese
medicine perspective, or TCM (for short), the digestive system is like a campfire.
If we feed it the right fuel, it'll process it into nutrients and energy for the rest
of your body.
But with IBS, your gut is weak, which means your fire is already burning low,
so when it comes to choosing foods, you need to pay attention and make sure that you're
choosing foods that are just not nutritious, but also easy to digest.
We want to make it as easy as possible for your gut to do its job and create nutrients
to support gut healing.
So, what are these new categories of food that we want to make sure we're avoiding.
Number one, cold foods.
Think of that low burning campfire again.
What happens if you pour a bunch of ice on it?
It goes out, right?
The same goes for your digestive system.
When you eat cold temperature food, your gut needs to work extra hard just to warm it up,
even before it starts to digest it.
So when you're choosing your meals, swap out the cold, straight from the frig
meals and opt for warm, room temperature food and drink instead.
Number two.
Greasy foods.
In the episode about sugar and IBS, I mentioned that sweets and cookies cause sluggishness
in the gut producing what we call dampness and phlegm, which actually prevents your gut
from doing its job instead of helping to heal it.
Greasy foods are also considered damp and phlegmy, which is why even healthy
people feel a little gross and sluggish after eating them.
So, if you can do you best to cook your meals at home, then you can reduce the amount of
grease that's in your meals.
Number three.
Chewy foods.
Chewy foods are just harder to digest.
If they're hard on your teeth, they're also hard on your gut.
That's why some meats cause more problems than others because they're tougher to break
down.
Number four.
Raw foods.
Raw foods have a tendency to be both hard to digest, i.e., kale salad and eaten cold,
which means they are a double no-no for your IBS.
No matter what health blogs tell you, eating daily salads isn't healthy for anyone, but
especially not if your gut is already weak.
Opt for warm, cooked vegetables instead.
And number five, dry and hard foods.
When we eat snacks, we tend to grab crunchy, dry, pre-packaged crackers, granola bars,
chips, et cetera.
If we don't take the time to chew them properly, they'll be harder to process for your gut
too.
If you're looking for alternate snack sources, homemade berry or fruit compote
or fruit and date bars can be a good alternative.
So, to recap, the types of food you want to avoid with IBS are, number one.
Cold food.
Number two.
Greasy foods.
Number three.
Chewy food.
Number four.
Raw foods, and number five, dry and hard foods.
If this starting to sound like I've cut out most of the things in your diet, if you want
a little bit more help to know what you can actually eat, sign up for my newsletter and
I will send you a mini-recipe book, right to your inbox.
The link is in the description box below.
I want to make an important note here and that's to remember that your IBS isn't all
about food and digestion.
You might find that you have trouble figuring out your food triggers because sometimes they'll
flare up your symptoms and other times, they won't, and that's because there's a key part
missing.
I talk all about that in my free online class and you can sign up for that
and learn how to navigate the other part of your IBS by using the link in the description
box below.
Alright,
If you found this video helpful, make sure that you let me know by liking it below.
Drop a comment with the word helpful.
Let me know what your biggest takeaway was and also make sure that you share this with
your fellow IBS conquerors because we want to spread the word that IBS is not a forever
thing and I can help you guys beat this together.
I've got a million more things to share with you about all things IBS, so
make sure that you stay tuned, you subscribe to my channel and that you hit that bell so
that you're notified every Friday when a new video is posted.