Wendy Leung: Which veggies are bad, and which are safe, for your IBS?
Watch this video to find out.
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If you're confused about which vegetables to avoid with your IBS, by the end of this
video, you'll have some helpful tips to help you plan your meals.
Wendy Leung: Holistic Health & Happiness Coach, Licensed Acupuncturist, and Powerhouse
IBS Conqueror.
And I struggled when I had to give up delicious veggies, too.
Seriously.
I teach my clients how to make healthy meals without triggering their IBS, and now I'm
sharing with you, too.
I'm continuing my series on the affect of different food groups on your IBS.
And today, we're talking veggies.
Full disclosure, I love veggies.
And one of the very first IBS food triggers that I discovered for myself back in the day
was broccoli.
It took me a while to really wrap my brain around it, because broccoli's supposed to
be healthy for you, right?
But every time I ate it, I got terrible bloating and stabbing pains, and so I had to cut it
out of my diet.
And you might think I'm weird, but I used to get cravings for it all the time, but eventually
I got used to not eating it.
Which veggies are your worst IBS enemy?
Let me know in the comments below.
Veggies are delicious and nutritious, but some of them can really wreak havoc on your
IBS gut.
And some might be okay in some circumstances, but not in others.
Confused?
Keep watching, and I'll tell you what I mean.
I mentioned last week that there isn't really a list of good and bad IBS meats, because
everybody's food triggers are different.
Ditto for veggies.
But there are definitely some that cause issues for most people, and that's because they cause
gas, bloating, cramping pain, which are things that you can get whether you have IBSC or
IBSD or IBS Pain Predominant.
So here are those veggies that you wanna look out for.
Number one, cruciferous veggies.
These are some of the healthiest veggies around, but they're known to cause gas during digestion.
My number one enemies were broccoli and cauliflower.
And no matter how I ate them, in salads, in soups, grilled, steamed, they always made
me keel over in pain.
Cauliflower's having a moment these days.
It's being used as a carbs substitute in pasta and rice dishes, but if you've got IBS, steer
clear, because it'll flare up your symptoms in a major way.
Now, not all cruciferous veggies might bother you.
I never had a problem with bok choy, Napa cabbage, with Watercress, but I definitely
stayed away from regular cabbage and Brussels Sprouts.
Radishes and turnips fall into this category, too, so make sure you're careful around them,
as well.
The thing is, the only way to truly know which veggies in this category bother you is by
tracking your meals against your symptoms, so that you know which foods personally affect
your IBS.
I know that this can be confusing to set up on your own, so I've got an IBS digestion
tracker.
And if you sign up for my newsletter, I will send it right to your inbox.
The link is below in the description box.
IBS veggie enemy number two, Allium veggies, aka the onion family.
When I was struggling with my IBS, it took me a while to figure this one out, because
onions and garlic are in almost anything.
Even if they're not used as a major ingredient, they're often times used for flavoring, so
they're really hard to detect.
And, they can be pretty hard to avoid.
But onions, garlic, scallion, leek and chives can create extra gas and bloating in the intestine,
so when you're tracking your triggers, make sure you watch out for these hidden ingredients.
IBS veggie enemy number three, beans and legumes.
There's a running joke that beans make you farty, and for the average person, that might
be funny.
But if you've got IBS, this means your bloating, your cramping pain, and your farting is gonna
be attacking much worse.
So even though these foods are high in fiber and high in protein, they're definitely on
the list of IBS no-nos.
This category includes lentils and chick peas, too, so your humus snack, it does double damage
with the chick peas and the garlic together, so make sure that you cut that one out.
IBS enemy number four, raw and cold veggies.
When I said earlier that some veggies are okay in some circumstances, this is what I
meant.
Some veggies are okay for your IBS gut when cooked, but will flare up your symptoms when
they're eaten raw.
You may remember me saying that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM for short, our digestive
system is like a campfire.
And with a weak IBS gut, the campfire is burning low.
It's important to feed it food that's easy to digest so it can process it into nutrients
without overworking the fire or putting it out altogether.
In TCM nutrition, both foods with cold properties and foods that are actually cold, i.e. frozen
or straight from the fridge, will put out the digestive fire so it won't be able to
process the food.
Similarly, raw foods are also difficult to digest, so your weak gut can't properly process
them, either.
So no more salads or crunchy carrots and celery sticks.
No matter how much we've been told that these foods are healthy, they are not IBS friendly
snacks.
Consider making an onion free veggie soup instead.
This warm, simple cooked meal will be equally nutritious, but easier to digest so your IBS
gut will not sound the alarm.
So to recap, here are four types of veggies that IBS guts should watch out for.
Number one, cruciferous vegetables.
Number two, Allium vegetables, aka the onion family.
Number three, beans and legumes.
And number four, raw and cold veggies.
It's important to remember that it is going to take a bit of time for you to figure out
what your personal safe foods are, but I did mention earlier that I do have a tool that
can help you figure out what your personal triggers are, and if you subscribe to my newsletter,
then I will send you the IBS digestion tracker right to your inbox.
The link is in the description box below.
Now, if you've already tried tracking your diet before, but you still feel overwhelmed
and confused, check out the links below, too, because you can learn about my coaching program,
"Conquer IBS: Reignite Your Life", where I help you deep-dive through your symptoms and
your triggers to teach you everything you need to know to be able to put your IBS behind
you for good.
Just follow the link if you want me to help you directly.
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And also, share this with your fellow IBS conquerors, because I want to spread the word
that IBS is not a forever thing, so we can beat this together in 2019.
I've got so much more to share with you about all things IBS, so make sure that you are
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