dietary downer

[coffeetime]

No matter how great the rest of my body feels when I'm eating fewer carbs and more protein and vegetables, my guts HATE it. My IBS has gotten so much worse in the past two years. I'm now on yet another medication to try to control it, but the thing that helps the most is just not eating anything with fiber, especially vegetable fiber. Low-fiber vegetables include cucumbers and zucchini. (Before anyone asks, yes, I've been tested for celiac disease and I've been thoroughly examined inside for IBD, and I don't have those things.)

I was sort of limping by and still eating other things that I really love, like kale (well cooked), carrots, a few bites of sweet potato (any more than that and I'd pay), green beans, spinach, gai lan, bell peppers...all the good stuff. But then I came down with norovirus and couldn't eat much of anything for a couple of days, and it went on and on for most of a week during which I survived on toast and frozen french fries (anything I could keep down/in, really). I saw my doctor near the end of this period, for the purpose of discussing new meds and getting the prescription, and he said that if I'm unable to tolerate the meds I could "consider the Atkins diet." ACK. I think this will actually not work for me, because Atkins allows all kinds of stuff that my gut won't tolerate, such as broccoli and garlic. Later I talked with a sympathetic co-worker who has similar IBS and she let me know some of her diet survival skills, which include eating no vegetables except lettuce, spinach and carrots, extremely small amounts of fat, and lots of white refined carbs, because even brown rice or a slice of wheat toast gives her hellacious pain. Is this my next step? My husband, a biologist, points out that I'll "get cancer" eating like this.

I just want to have a nice chopped salad and a big piece of fish; is it so much to ask? Apparently it is, because a meal like that means 24+ hours of cramps, pain, gas that stays in my clothes for up to an hour, and numerous runs to the bathroom. Imodium slows but does not stop it. This makes a lot of activities hard, such as working my office job (my poor co-workers, OMG) and going to the gym (hard to deadlift if you've got the runs). So ever since I got sick, even though I'm not in bed anymore, I've continued eating like an invalid: toast, pretzels, rice, baked potatoes (no skin), cheese and yogurt. I tried eating an egg and ended up with nausea for an hour. I made a burger one night and was up half the night dealing with the side effects. So, essentially sick-people food. Eating like this, I have almost no pain, and no other symptoms.

The thing that bugs me the most: how am I going to maintain a healthy weight and muscle mass as I get older (I'm 48 now) and get stronger, if I have to live on white carbs and cheese? I have seen several dietitians in the past few years, all of whom have answered, "Gosh, I don't know."

Comments

[natmerc]

That sounds incredibly hard to manage. You have my sympathies. I think finding a good dietician versed in IBS would be essential for short and long term management as most doctor's don't have enough training in nutritional support.

Luckily for humans, as omnivores, we can exist and survive on a wide variety of diets. Our bodies can make muscle from fat and carbs and most foods (even potatoes) contain protein.

Since you posted to ask -- I'd suggest using an app like "food allergy detective" to get a better list of what's tolerated (I know IBS isn't the same, but the app's a symptom tracker) and as for the trying to get more antioxidants, I'd talk to a dietician about what sweetmeats (organ meats) may be tolerated if you're open to trying them. Sweetmeats are way more nutritious than muscle meat and can have more vitamins, etc. than vegetables and fruits. It's why many hunter-gatherer societies can survive and thrive.

[lyorn]

Oh, that is so annoying.

You have been seeing enough doctors about this, with little effect -- am I reading that right?

I would suggest, eat what becomes you. Everything else won't make you healthier, and probably won't help you become more athletic or maintain your weight. You'll "get cancer" if you don't make youself sick? Sorry to say that, but your husband has a strange sense of humour.

Sometimes one can start with things one likes but cannot digest well in small doeses, well-cooked and well-chewed. Maybe some specific supplements can help, either help you digest, or make up for lack of micronutrients throuh a limited diet. A good nutritionist might be able to help. There are a lot of snakes oil salespersons out there, unfortunatly.

AFAIK keeping muscle mass is more a thing of training and of sufficient food than of optimizing macronutrients (unless you are competing). Cheese, especially half- or low fat cheeses and sour milk cheeses have a lot of protein. Potatoes, well, whole peoples have been living on a diet of mostly-potatoes, as plant-based protein source they are not bad.

I have a link to a web page, in German, unfortunately, where you can have your diet analyzed to the last micronutrient. There has to be something similar in English. You could use it to get most out of those things you can eat.

I seem to remember reading some, hm, kind of "tough gal"-approach to IBS on gokaleo, but I cannot seem to find it anymore. Might be worth looking for it.

Take it slow, don't hurt yourself by eating things your body is not ready for, and, sometimes it gets better if you do not force it.

ETA: Wasn't at gokaleo, was at Your Eatopia: Tummy Troubles. I cannot evaluate the quality of the source, so just throwing it in here.

[mongrelheart]

*hugs* That sounds extremely frustrating. Just wanted to mention that I've heard a lot lately about something called the GAPS diet, do you know of it? From what I understand it's a dietary protocol to help heal damaged and/or very irritated guts, involving low fiber and bone broth. Chris Kresser talks about it on his podcast often. His website has a lot of info about digestive issues & there's also a user forum there that might be helpful.

[rydra_wong]

Before anyone asks, yes, I've been tested for celiac disease

FWIW, it's increasingly looking as if non-celiac gluten sensitivity may be a real entity:

http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/glutenintolerance/a/Gluten-Intolerance-Research.htm

(Obviously you may already have established that gluten isn't a problem for you.)

My husband, a biologist, points out that I'll "get cancer" eating like this.

Apparently evidence on that now seems to be more equivocal than previously thought:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/fiber-health-benefits-11/fiber-cancer

The protective effects of fibre seem to be specific to cancers of the digestive tract, and even then, it's not clear.

So if you find you need a low-fibre diet long-term, it's not a sentence of doom.

So ever since I got sick, even though I'm not in bed anymore, I've continued eating like an invalid

How long have you been recovered for? Maybe your digestive tract is still recovering from the norovirus and needs the "invalid diet" for a while longer while it heals, but will then allow you to get back to your previous less-restrictive diet.

The thing that bugs me the most: how am I going to maintain a healthy weight and muscle mass as I get older (I'm 48 now) and get stronger, if I have to live on white carbs and cheese?

Can you tolerate whey or other protein powders at all?

And cheese and yoghurt can be good protein sources. I particularly love Greek (strained) yoghurt; much higher protein, serious creaminess, and friendly bacteria. It's the basis of my standard breakfast.

You might need to take a multivitamin supplement and watch out for micronutrients you may be missing. It seems like getting enough "good fats" may be the biggest problem.