*Edit April 2017* See my latest post about my IBS here - at time of writing I’m 60 days symptom-free and I’ve done it 100% through diet.
Welcome to part two of my quest for a bloat-free tum - in my first post I explained why I decided to give up gluten, and how little by little you can trial and error your way to understanding your own gut.
Here, I’m going to catch you up on the last year or so of my life and how I’ve come to be about 90% (edit: 70%, oh how little I knew!) of the way to tummy nirvana.
The gluten-free craze may be popular with supermarkets and restaurants right now, but it’s certainly not a quick fix or an answer to all your prayers, what with all the questionable ingredients that can be found in processed gluten-free foods to replicate the taste and texture of ‘normal’ foods, not to mention all those recalled “gluten-free” products from the supermarkets.
Yikes.
The main thing I’ve come to realise, however, is that gluten isn’t the only culprit for many of us. In fact, I can even tolerate the odd bit of gluten these days, so long as I don’t go nuts (we’re talking about making your own food from scratch using organic flours and properly fermenting them here, like sour dough bread - and that’s once in a blue moon).
Way back when I first cut out gluten, I was still noticing some cramping pains - about 20 minutes after my daily cup of tea… It was through cutting out gluten that I realised I was also intolerant to caffeine, d’oh!
I switched to decaf straight away - something else that many people seem to struggle with - but I can’t tell the difference in taste, and I never drank tea for the caffeine anyway.
Fun fact: the only cup of caffeinated coffee I have had since that day - through a mix-up - sent me into a full-on allergic reaction.
Stomach cramps, hyperventilating, sweats, headache, nausea, the lot.
It’s amazing how your body reacts after a good detox! I also now avoid chocolate in case of any caffeine content - which my skin thanks me for, even if the rest of me is devastated.
So, it’s not just gluten that’s the problem - for me, anyway. I’ve also limited processed food in general - and it hasn’t stopped there.
Trying the FODMAP-friendly diet
Since that life-changing decision 5 years ago, I’ve been experimenting, tweaking and learning what my body does and doesn’t like.
I’ve cut out all processed foods from my diet, normal and gluten free, as I’ve come to realise that I (and many, many other humans… just sayin’) just can’t handle the rubbish companies put in our food - trans fats, hydrogenated oils, processed soy - which is the devil.
It was only in the last year that I discovered the next phase in my journey - the FODMAP diet. Graeme and I were cooking all our meals from scratch, making smoothies - like, we were being soo healthy. But our stomachs were feeling worse than ever.
So Graeme decided to do a bit of research, and quickly came across this page on an IBS website detailing the FODMAP Food List.
“But I thought gluten was the problem! What the heck are FODMAPs?!” I hear you cry.
Simply put, they are short chain carbohydrates commonly found in the modern western diet that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine.
I won’t pretend to be an expert though, so if you’re interested in the science, follow my favourite mantra: ‘Google it’!
Anyway, what I’ve learned is that even if you think you’re being healthy eating lots of fruit and veg etc., some of these foods can actually be working against your body, and with a few simple changes you can identify which ones are disagreeing with you and start to really turn things around.
We’re still trying to work a lot of the foods from the FODMAP list into and out of our diet - even though we cook our food from scratch, it’s still a huge challenge changing our trusted recipes.
The one thing I will absolutely agree with, though: if you suffer from any IBS symptoms, try cutting onion and maybe even garlic out from everything you eat.
I can actually tell how far my gut has come in repairing the damage done to it over the years, because whenever I inadvertently eat onion now, my small intestine tears and I get all kinds of problems like cramps, bloat, wind, even bleeding (soz for the TMI, I just want to be as honest and helpful as I can).
It’s been a bit like the coffee incident for me - detoxing my body and then going back to something that was damaging me for so many years seems to show up the effects almost instantly.
Still hungry? Try beans and pulses
I’m also trying to help my metabolism and raging hanger (you read that right) through the addition of lentils and beans to our staple meals - spaghetti bolognese, risotto, curry, chili con carne and soups.
After all those years of going “Beans and pulses yeah yeah blah blah whatever,” I can safely say I’m a total convert
It takes seconds to open up a tin of beans and chuck them into the pan, and - depending on what you use obviously, read the label/check the FODMAP list! - this gives you all the extra protein and fibre you need.
Tee hee: I was buying great big bags of beans, soaking them overnight and then cooking them for hours and hours every weekend, before I suggested giving in and just buying the tinned stuff. G responded with total disbelief and exasperation: “You can do that???”
Uhhhh this was such a terrible idea, soz. I told you I wasn’t an expert. Too much fibre, too much fermenting in my gut, too much pain.
Again, it’s all about experimenting, and as it turns out, grains and beans of any kind just don’t agree with me at all.
Eating out: Gluten-free AND FODMAP-friendly?!
Going to restaurants is now the biggest challenge I face - we eat out a lot less than we used to, like once or twice a month if that, and when we do I just eat a lot of meat with maybe a little salad - despite the growing mountain of evidence that sugar is the killer and not fat, people are still stuck in this weird way of thinking that meat and saturated fat is bad for us - yeah, try telling that to my gut.
Remember - you can read all the studies and “expert” opinions you like, you alone are your n=1 experiment, and my n=1 experiment tells me that too much fibre and too many carbs was hugely diminishing my quality of life, whereas my gut thrives on meat and animal fat.
So, what’s next?
I actually made an incredibly radical change to my diet in February 2017 which, as it’s so far so good, I’ll be writing about after a 60 or so day trial period.
So far - no bloating, no blood sugar rollercoasters, no cramps, no constipation, no spot breakouts, no afternoon slumps, no mood swings, no PMS… no nothing.
Watch this space and join me on Instagram if you’d like to be around when I get around to publishing that post…
*Edit April 2017* See my latest post about my IBS here - at time of writing I’m 60 days symptom-free and I’ve done it 100% through diet.
Disclaimer
• Your life and health are your own responsibility.
• Your decisions to act (or not act) based on information or advice anyone provides you—including me—are your own responsibility.