This post discusses my recent health issues. I am not a doctor or dietician and I am not offering any advice, just my own experiences. If you are suffering from any of these symptoms please seek advice from a professional.
Also note that I discuss my bowel habits so I won’t be offended if you choose not to read it!
Around May of this year I started to suffer with some really unpleasant gastro-intestinal issues. In truth, I had actually been suffering with very mild versions of these symptoms for at least six months prior to May, but then all of a sudden they started to get much worse.
After an unexplained bout of severe nausea that lasted two days in late May, I never truly felt well. I was suffering from gas, bloating, constipation, tiredness, constant stomach pain, an inability to sleep properly and dizzy spells. On paper it doesn’t sound that bad but living with it day to day was horrible. I was so bloated that I felt as though I looked pregnant and like I had a bowling ball in my stomach. Every time I ate I suffered really embarrassing obnoxious gas. I constantly felt as though I needed to defecate but couldn’t. I had a constant pain in my stomach that was made worse by both eating and being hungry. I would get dizzy and faint in the afternoon. I was constantly tired and yet couldn’t sleep through the night. I felt truly awful.
For the first few weeks I thought I was just unwell and waited for it to pass. However, when I was still feeling rotten a couple of months later I decided to visit the doctor to make sure there wasn’t anything really wrong with me. I explained my symptoms and after consideration she decided that I probably had Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and was convinced it wasn’t anything serious, which was a big relief. What she didn’t offer was any help as to how I could start to feel better – just a prescription for mass quantities of Fybogel (a fibre supplement) to ease constipation.
Although the Fybogel did work to move my bowels, it made every other symptom much worse so I decided to do my own research into the condition. After reading books in my local library and searching the internet I discovered there are certain foods that are recommended for those suffering from IBS-C (the IBS variant with constipation). As it turns out I was doing it all wrong.
Where I was committed to eating the typical healthy diet – whole grains and lots of fruit and vegetables – the recommended diet for IBS-C sufferers is practically the reverse. No wonder I felt so bad! Through my own research I have discovered that I should be eating a low fibre diet which includes the following, to prevent my IBS causing me any problems:
• White bread rather than brown or granary;
• Pasta and rice, but NOT wholemeal;
• Cereals that don’t contain high fibre. Examples include Corn Flakes and rice cereal;
• White flour containing foods;
• Fresh fruit and juices, but avoid skins and seeds;
• Vegetables, but NOT beans, pulses or corn. The skin should be removed from potatoes and other skinned vegetables as these can be Irritable Bowel Syndrome trigger foods.
Certain foods can also increase the amount of bloating and wind. Notorious examples of these foods include nuts, dried fruits, baked beans, pulses, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. Fizzy beers and carbonated drinks such as cola can also make symptoms worse.
When I discovered this information I was a little conflicted. I have spent a long time building up a healthy diet for myself and I was reluctant to give it up. It seemed as though I had to reverse my healthy habits and go back to eating white, nutritionally devoid, simple carbohydrates and less fruit and vegetables in order to minimise the amount of fibre in my diet. This is a complete contradiction of the healthy eating messages pedalled in the media, so for a while I resisted making a change. I continued to eat healthy whole grains and lots of fruit and vegetables and I continued to feel worse. After a while though it was all starting to wear me down and I decided to commit to changing my diet. The experience has been nothing but positive.
Since removing whole grains and cutting back on the amount of vegetables I eat, particularly raw vegetables, I started slowly but surely to feel better. Each day was a slight improvement on the previous one and now I have got to the point where I pretty much feel normal. I no longer worry about how I am going to feel after eating, whether I will be able to sleep or how much pain I can expect to feel on any given day. I feel much more like myself again and I am really enjoying it.
Currently I have cut out all whole grains, nuts and nut butters (sob!), dried fruit, beans and pulses, corn and raw vegetables from my diet. There is also evidence to suggest that dairy and caffeine aggravate IBS so I have reduced my consumption of these. I don’t plan to never eat these foods again but rather hope to be able to reintroduce them in quantities that don’t cause me any problems.
So it would appear that healthy eating messages are not always straightforward. If I continued to follow standard advice about what makes a healthy diet then I would most likely still be suffering. The simple fact of the matter is that diet is a very individual thing and each person has to make up their own mind about what is right for them. Some people may thrive eating meat while others relish being vegan; some can eat copious amounts of fruit and vegetables while others have to eat less and some people favour sweet foods while others prefer savoury.
While I don’t think the healthy eating advice advocated by both the government and health care professionals is wrong in any way, I do think that it is up to each person to make choices that have a positive impact on their body. For most people, eating whole grains will have such an effect but for me, at this moment in time, it simply doesn’t work. I am now embracing a new diet that might last a few months or it may last forever but one thing is clear: I will be guided only by what my body wants and I will not eat foods, healthy or otherwise, that make me feel bad.
