*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.
I’ve suffered from IBS my entire life, with symptoms of an illness that, until recent years, I had no idea I had. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve turned my diet -and life- around.
I’m by no means an expert on the subject, but I hope that my experiences may inspire some of you to take a look at your lifestyle and, through trial and error, really learn how your own body reacts to certain foods and drinks, to help you on the road to a bloat-free life!
My reasons for going gluten-free
IBS
I’ve suffered from bloating, cramping and all sorts of trapped windy nastiness all my life.
From Lactulose to Buscopan, I tried all the meds I could get my hands on to alleviate the pain.
I was a formula-fed baby (soy is actually the devil, not the miracle health food marketers would have you believe), and growing up we ate a lot of sarnies for lunch and oven food for dinner, so looking back on all the chicken kievs, turkey dinosaurs and other processed goodies I was devouring, it’s really no wonder I had problems.
I also have an insane metabolism - at school I would eat a 6-bag pack of crisps on my morning break, eat multiple burgers and paninis at lunch, then come home and eat more crisps before dinner - pretty much every day.
I’ve been more or less the same size since I stopped growing over 10 years ago, and I could still eat that much rubbish now without putting anything extra on my 9st weight.
It costs so much money to sustain my freakishly thin body, but I was eating way too many carbs and not enough protein, oblivious to my own needs.
Low immune system
So I was eating hundreds of extra calories every day (not that I was counting) in food that I now know was giving me no nutritional value, and wondering why I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning.
My immune system was shot to pieces. I felt lethargic every day, was sick with hunger from the moment I woke up, was bloated and doubled over in pain a lot of the time, suffered from at least 2 or 3 fevers every year that would have me floored for days, and regularly suffered from UTIs as all that sugar just created a prime breeding ground for nasty bacteria to flourish.
The bloating after something as simple as a plate of pasta was immediate - but for some reason, even with the evidence staring me right in the face, like many people I never thought to look for alternatives.
Stress and depression
I thought for many years that my symptoms were psychosomatic and that my stomach cramps coincided with times of distress and anxiety.
Throughout most of my teenage years I was insomniac, on anti-depressants, and it got to a point where I started experiencing panic attacks, so I began seeing a hypnotherapist.
I only went for 3 sessions, but I grasped the concept fairly quickly. I learned that it was the subconscious fear of the panic attacks that would bring on the next one, so the effect of the attacks soon wore off.
I then took this reasoning and spent the next year or so training myself out of the other bad habits I had fallen into, mentally and physically.
I would consciously relax my stomach muscles, as it had become second nature for me to tense them up as a defence against the bloating and pain: bye bye flat tummy, hello muffin top (I kid, I kid! Kind of.).
I began to find it easier to fall asleep - and then, one day, I just decided to stop being depressed. I now suspect that this is most likely because of changes I made in my diet after reading this great article exploring the evidence that depression could actually be a symptom of inflammation in the body.
Basically, while I was at uni I stopped eating as many crisps and sweets and had started eating salmon most days with green beans and new potatoes, because it was the easiest meal I could make using the basic facilities in my university Halls.
So whether I was deficient in essential fatty acids or simply needed to reduce the inflammation by eating less crap, I’m not sure - but I’ve not been depressed since.
But despite sorting myself out, I was still having problems with my gut. I’d had all the tests for coeliac, diabetes, thyroid etc. - twice - and nothing was showing up, but I was convinced I was just being fobbed off with my “IBS” diagnosis.
It wasn’t until after I graduated from uni that I got talking to a coworker who had gone gluten and dairy free, and swore by her new diet.
I had been particularly ill in the weeks before I made the link - I’d been having a rather popular wheat-based cereal for breakfast and a sandwich and a half every night before bed from being so hungry. So it was then that I decided to give the whole GF lark a go.
How I gave up gluten
A lot of people with IBS wanting to try going gluten-free seem to fall at the first hurdle: giving up bread. And I think to myself: ‘Really?’.
Sure, lunches are a challenge when you can’t just grab a quick snack from the shops, and you can’t eat out care-free anymore.
But the other issues I had already overcome had taught me that I could put my mind to anything, and that the results so far had been worth it.
So to start with I cut out sandwiches and biscuits, replacing them with oaty things like porridge, which kept me feeling fuller for longer.
I was even trying Ryvita until I read the label (rye, duhhhh) - if there’s one thing this diet is teaching me, even to this day, it’s to always read the damn label.
It really helped that in the years leading up to this time my dad had stopped buying fizzy drinks, sweets and crisps, so I had already eliminated these from my diet, and he had also taught himself to cook us healthier meals from scratch which was a bonus.
The results
I’m always changing my diet in search of the right balance for me, and if you’re interested you might like to take a look at my latest posts on IBS to find out what I’m eating these days and how it’s improving my health, slowly but surely.
But back then, within a week of cutting out gluten I had more energy. I wasn’t waking up feeling starving, and my stomach wasn’t having me doubled over in pain.
Honestly, I noticed that much of a difference within one week.
I cannot describe how amazing it felt after so many years of agony and embarrassment.
Top tips for starting a gluten-free diet
Research, research, research
As you get to know me, you’ll come to see how much I loves me some Googling. Unlike when I started my gluten-free quest, which consisted of haphazard trial and error, try taking a look at the NHS entry on IBS, and recently I’ve discovered this very helpful website on IBS diets.
Start slow
I am terrible for running with an idea and making widespread changes to my lifestyle - whether it’s my food, hair care, job, house, even my groups of friends.
As I’ve grown older and wiser (shut it), I’ve realised that patience is key to improving your health and well-being - this all stemmed from waiting like a year for Graeme to notice that I liked him, and I s’pose that’s paid off 😉 so why not apply that to the other aspects of my life.
So just start small. Try cutting out bread at lunch, the number one baddy for most people, replacing it with leftovers from the night before (assuming it wasn’t a takeaway…).
Replace your wheaty breakfast cereals for eggs - my favourite way to eat them is in a frittata:
Don’t just switch to processed GF products
I know it’s a pain to completely change your habits and start cooking everything from scratch - but have you ever actually read the ingredients in gluten-free products? It’s fucking terrifying.
I know they’re getting tastier, I know you don’t get tummy ache when you eat them - but the amount of salt and sugar and who knows whatever other nastiness is going into GF products, and with “gluten-free” products being recalled, it just goes to show that we need to know what’s really going into the food we eat, and the easiest way to do that is to just prepare and eat whole foods in their unprocessed, natural, raw state.
Keep a food diary
Whilst doing all of this, keep a food diary to track what could be your trigger foods - or, more realistically, do what I do and find yourself a partner who has a better memory than you and can tell you what you ate for lunch three days ago.
Also, the simpler you go with your diet, the easier you’ll find it to identify those nasty foods - all this shit about needing “variety” is just getting in the way of realising what’s actually causing your woes (hint: it’s probably carbs. Trying counting your macros, you’ll be surprised by how much sugar and carbs you’re consuming).
*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.
Good luck my beautiful friends 🙂
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.