Essential Tips For Maintaining a Good Irritable Bowel Syndrome Diet
Irritable bowel syndrome or IBS is a condition that is known to have many different symptoms with many different causes.
There is little that we know or understand about what triggers IBS and there is as yet no definitive cure for it.
Thus, the main method used for treating IBS is to address the symptoms themselves.
The symptoms of IBS are often triggered by the food that IBS patients consume.
The food itself is not the cause of the IBS; it merely sets off an attack of the symptoms, which include diarrhea, bloating and constipation.
All IBS patients need to go on a diet that is especially designed to reduce the symptoms they experience.
However, this diet varies from patient to patient.
A single diet plan may work on one IBS patient but may not work on others.
Despite all these, IBS patients can rely on some general guidelines that can help them come up with a specific diet that will reduce their symptoms.
There is really no set explanation as to why certain foods trigger certain reactions in the digestive tract, but getting rid of certain food types from an IBS patient's diet can definitely help ease the condition and reduce the likelihood of attacks.
Here are some of these guidelines.
1.
Avoid large meals.
Large meals can create stress and compaction in the stomach, thus triggering either constipation or diarrhea.
Some doctors advise IBS patients to take in several small meals a day rather than three regular meals to help ease the pain of IBS.
2.
Eliminate fat from the diet.
Fatty foods are hard to digest and it takes time for the stomach to break it down.
Because it takes the stomach more time to digest fatty foods, this period of time becomes a window for intestinal bacteria to feed on them and produce intestinal gas, which can aggravate IBS symptoms.
Intestinal gas created from fatty foods also takes a long time to travel from the stomach to the small intestine, and the pain that produces can be excruciating.
3.
Consume more greens.
Vegetables, fruits, wheat-based products, beans and other produce give a boon that IBS patients need: dietary fiber.
Fiber helps a lot in easing symptoms of IBS, especially abdominal pain and constipation.
Dietary fiber helps improve the condition of the stool and makes it easier for the body to move the bowels more smoothly and painlessly.
4.
Avoid dairy products.
Lactose intolerance is a symptom that many IBS patients have.
Thus, it is better for them to stay away from milk and other dairy products to avoid triggering IBS symptoms.
A patient's awareness of which food types to eat and which food types to stay away from can greatly help in controlling symptoms of IBS.
A proper IBS diet cannot exactly be called a cure for IBS but it is certainly an effective form of treatment.
There is little that we know or understand about what triggers IBS and there is as yet no definitive cure for it.
Thus, the main method used for treating IBS is to address the symptoms themselves.
The symptoms of IBS are often triggered by the food that IBS patients consume.
The food itself is not the cause of the IBS; it merely sets off an attack of the symptoms, which include diarrhea, bloating and constipation.
All IBS patients need to go on a diet that is especially designed to reduce the symptoms they experience.
However, this diet varies from patient to patient.
A single diet plan may work on one IBS patient but may not work on others.
Despite all these, IBS patients can rely on some general guidelines that can help them come up with a specific diet that will reduce their symptoms.
There is really no set explanation as to why certain foods trigger certain reactions in the digestive tract, but getting rid of certain food types from an IBS patient's diet can definitely help ease the condition and reduce the likelihood of attacks.
Here are some of these guidelines.
1.
Avoid large meals.
Large meals can create stress and compaction in the stomach, thus triggering either constipation or diarrhea.
Some doctors advise IBS patients to take in several small meals a day rather than three regular meals to help ease the pain of IBS.
2.
Eliminate fat from the diet.
Fatty foods are hard to digest and it takes time for the stomach to break it down.
Because it takes the stomach more time to digest fatty foods, this period of time becomes a window for intestinal bacteria to feed on them and produce intestinal gas, which can aggravate IBS symptoms.
Intestinal gas created from fatty foods also takes a long time to travel from the stomach to the small intestine, and the pain that produces can be excruciating.
3.
Consume more greens.
Vegetables, fruits, wheat-based products, beans and other produce give a boon that IBS patients need: dietary fiber.
Fiber helps a lot in easing symptoms of IBS, especially abdominal pain and constipation.
Dietary fiber helps improve the condition of the stool and makes it easier for the body to move the bowels more smoothly and painlessly.
4.
Avoid dairy products.
Lactose intolerance is a symptom that many IBS patients have.
Thus, it is better for them to stay away from milk and other dairy products to avoid triggering IBS symptoms.
A patient's awareness of which food types to eat and which food types to stay away from can greatly help in controlling symptoms of IBS.
A proper IBS diet cannot exactly be called a cure for IBS but it is certainly an effective form of treatment.
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