Grumpy gut cooking - Seeking resources and recipes for IBD and IBS

A dear friend of mine has been dealing with IBS for years. While I was a student in one of her nutrition classes, I introduced her to the GAPS diet, which began a journey of new studies into how to heal her gut and others. She finally has gotten to the point where she has found relief and understanding of how to help others. If you try all of these suggestions on this thread (which are excellent) but are still having issues, you might try contacting Darla at http://realnutritionconcepts.com/.

The thing I've figured out after 3 years is that it is all very individual to the person and how they eat and live. You'll need to experiment and test foods, possibly do an elimination diet.

For me, I never have been diagnosed but I have a cousin with Celiacs and I have always had digestive system issues. Around three years ago I had an esophagus spasm that sent me to the hospital. After that, I went to the doctor and he recommended the FODMAP diet for that and the other issues I'd been having. I started adding foods back in after two months but I need to keep onions, garlic and wheat completely out of my diet.

The other odd thing I noticed is that I need a certain amount of fatty red meat in my diet to not be sick. I had ground venison that I'd been cooking with canola oil and I'd been eating it for months but still had issues. I started eating bacon, saving the fat and cooking the venison in it. Huge difference. I now cook and bake almost all of my own food because it's cheaper and easier than buying stuff in the store. Even things like gluten free granola bars can still make me sick. My grocery store runs now mostly consist of spices, dairy products and rice. I also put away a lot from my garden and local farms.

At the end of the day, you need to sit down, meal plan, track how you feel and what works and doesn't work. Good luck!

Canola, corn and soybean oils are all bad. Heavily processed, goes rancid easily, chemical defenses from their source material, just too different from the fats we evolved with, etc. Olive and coconut oils are usually OK though olives are bad if you're histamine sensitive and coconut is bad if you're salicylate (aspirin) sensitive. Animal fats are almost always good. Bacon fat, tallow, lard... good stuff. I'd pay up for fats from pasture-raised livestock but I'm picky. Tastes better to me too.

Here are my experiences with  Low FODMAP diet.   I have IBS symptoms due to digestive motility issues due to a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

There is no one size fits all even with a Low FODMAP diet.  Monash University in Australia is the leading research team on testing foods for the type of sugars and if they trigger symptoms. They have a very useful phone app and I have found it is worth the $9.00.  It even has a bunch of Permie favorite foods in it and they are always adding more foods to the data base.  It does not have a lot of prepackaged food made for the US market so it is really only useful to people who cook from scratch.
https://www.monashfodmap.com/

Low FODMAP diets are an elimination diet to figure out what naturally occurring sugars trigger symptoms.   Figuring out your serving sizes and which foods bother you is going to take time and it is worth doing.    I have had to completely changed the way I cook due to having problems with some all to common cooking ingredients including garlic, onions, dextrose, wheat, soy, corn, locust bean gum, lactose, tapioca startch and so many fruits and veggies. The nice thing about the Monash App is it gave me a nice list of things to add to my diet too.  
I have used the app to change my vegetable garden to grow a wider variety of low FODMAP foods and herbs.  I have also increased my food preservation so I can keep the safe to eat foods on hand.    

In terms of cooking I have found modifying Paleo ricipes tends to be the easiest.  They already cut out a large amount of hi FODMAP foods and don't tend to use prepackaged ingredients.  Here is one site that combines Low FODMAP with Paleo.   https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/low-fodmap-paleo-meal-ideas-for-breakfast-lunch-dinner/      

Natasha Flue wrote:The thing I've figured out after 3 years is that it is all very individual to the person and how they eat and live. You'll need to experiment and test foods, possibly do an elimination diet.

For me, I never have been diagnosed but I have a cousin with Celiacs and I have always had digestive system issues. Around three years ago I had an esophagus spasm that sent me to the hospital. After that, I went to the doctor and he recommended the FODMAP diet for that and the other issues I'd been having. I started adding foods back in after two months but I need to keep onions, garlic and wheat completely out of my diet.

The other odd thing I noticed is that I need a certain amount of fatty red meat in my diet to not be sick. I had ground venison that I'd been cooking with canola oil and I'd been eating it for months but still had issues. I started eating bacon, saving the fat and cooking the venison in it. Huge difference. I now cook and bake almost all of my own food because it's cheaper and easier than buying stuff in the store. Even things like gluten free granola bars can still make me sick. My grocery store runs now mostly consist of spices, dairy products and rice. I also put away a lot from my garden and local farms.

At the end of the day, you need to sit down, meal plan, track how you feel and what works and doesn't work. Good luck!

THIS.

IBS is a moving target, and what one person can eat, another can't. The first thing you need to do is keep a food and symptom diary. Track everything you eat. And track your symptoms, whether GI or not. Besides diarrhea, constipation, and GERD, IBS can manifest as insomnia and weird joint pains.

For instance, a poster above mentioned Heather's Tummy products. The peppermint capsules worked for me for about two weeks -  then I started reacting to them. The acacia has been working great for me for the past 3 months. Her diet recommendations, however, would put me doubled up on the floor. I know this because I've done the elimination diet routine, and I know what does "it" to me. BTW, fermented foods absolutely cause symptoms for me. You are just going to have to experiment on yourself and learn your own gut. And, be aware as you do this, that what works and doesn't work today for you now will likely be different 5 years from now.

For me, the Low FODMAPS approach works. It is a more lenient protocol than GAPS or a couple of the other protocols mentioned, so I recommend that anyone exploring a diet approach start with Low FODMAPS. The book to start with is The Complete Low FODMAP Diet by Sue Shepherd and Peter Gibson. It explains the theory and research behind the diet, describes a recommended elimination diet, and offers recipes. This protocol was developed by Monash University in Australia, which has on ongoing research program. If this diet works for you, there is an app, which is continually updated with the results of their latest research.

If Low FODMAPS doesn't work for you, then try one of the stricter diets.

Note, I've never been formally diagnosed with IBS. That's because to get that diagnosis, I'd have to have a gluten test to rule out celiac. And in order to get that gluten test, I'd have to eat wheat every day for six weeks. There is NO WAY I am going to do that, wheat being the food that I react to the most. I think I probably react to both wheat sugars (fructans) and wheat protein (gluten). Milk is also a probable double whammy, with people reacting to either the FODMAP sugars and/or the protein casein. If you haven't stopped eating wheat yet, I recommend you get tested for celiac first, and then try an elimination diet. IBS is not thought to permanently damage your gut. Celiac and Crohn's do. If the FODMAPS didn't manage my symptoms as well as it does, I'd probably bite the bullet, start eating wheat again, and get the celiac test. But thankfully, I've talked myself out of that!

I wasn't told to eat wheat everyday for 6 weeks to get tested for celiac. It was the first test the doctor's did, same day as my appointment.

I do agree that IBS triggers are highly individualized. I have to watch the fiber, a moderate amount is good, a large amount is very bad, and a steady supply, about the same amount everyday is best, no ups and downs. And some types of fiber are easier than others.

But other than fiber, I can eat a varied diet, meat, dairy, eggs, wheat etc. I wouldn't want to live without dairy, I would be so unhappy.

Hi folks,

My first post to these forums. My heart goes out to those suffering health problems. Many years ago, (2 years after my wife and I were married) my wife was diagnosed with Crones disease. Back then, I was one of the masses who simply trusted that ‘doctors must know best.’  

I simply had no idea how wrong that notion was.. and how could I? The average person will NOT run into the right information using ‘lamestream’ channels of information.

25-27 years later looking backward? I have left few rocks unturned, perhaps fewer rabbit holes unexplored. The more I dug the more I found... and what it all revealed? While we were sleeping on, the world changed.

We can discuss cause and effect for days... but I promise you. That every human problem is our own making, and you show me a problem that does not stem from a decline in human values.

Aside from ‘How’ we got here. Here we are. And what we are going to do about something, must consider how we got here if we are ever going to turn things around. This is why I love the ‘Perma-culture’ outlook.

Back to Crones as a point in specifics;  My wife and I back then, did what we were told, she took the drugs and we trusted. For 2 years they ‘treated’ the Crones disease in what was an attempt to make the symptoms tolerable. They failed... miserably, and she began wasting away, unable to hold anything down. We were in and out of the hospital. I had to shut down my business I was in the hospital so much with her and she almost died a few times. It all culminated one morning I awoke and found her gone from the bedroom. I got up and went downstairs and found her on the kitchen floor writhing in pain. I went to her and she was in so much pain she flinched away. She as crying... not a cry because your sad or upset over something. A cry that resonated your entire soul, she begged to die..   I do not have to tell you how helpless I felt. I would have fought 20 men if that is what it took, and I tell you I would willed my way to come out on top. I would have traded places in an instant.... what I could NOT do is help her. I noticed she could not bend her arms or legs. I called Mass General in Boston MA. (Where she had been going for ‘treatment.’) They told to stop giving her the medication. That moment, was the beginning of a what would be a growing awareness.

I have always been a person that wants to know the Truth of any matter and if it is inconvenient so be it. They told me her muscles had become toxic and the body was shunting the medication (TOXINS) into the joint spaces. (Because there is space to shove them). Thus her inability to bend her joints. (Remember this point because it is revealing).

We rushed her to Boston and they did an emergency resection. Removing the most inflamed part of her intenstine. When the day came to take her home we felt some relief, thinking finally this was behind us. However, we were wrong again. The physician called out to us as we pushed the double doors open to leave. He said matter of factly; “ If your going to have kids have them now.”

I froze, turned and said; “ Why did you say that? You just did surgery diid’nt you fix the problem?”   The Doctor replied; “no, we just cut out the worst area, if your planning on children you better have them now before it comes back. She does not want to be pregnant when it returns.”

Needless to say, we were stunned...  

I had, had enough. The most common answer to my questions had been ‘we dont know.’     If you dont know anything then why am I going to you for answers?! I left there went to the head of the Crones foundation (Unannounced) and demanded to know the causation. The President at first acted sheepish, like it was some sort of joke. I was not laughing... but stared at him very intently. He then replied, ok. Well, its the body reacting to something it thinks is there but we can not detect.   So, again; ‘we don’t know.’ I asked him and you believe that?  I turned and left the office realizing that if we were going to beat this the responsiblity was ours.

I have never looked back, I have never stopped digging.

For those that do not have the time, I am going to give you the results of my research. My wife, has been Crones FREE. With NO symptoms and NO reoccurrence. We have 4 beautiful and healthy children. We are not concerned with the classification of disease by the name of Crones. We give it NO thought.

The answer to this problem is as much about perspective as it is awareness.

Do not underestimate the approach.

The proverb says; ‘The shrewed one, sees the calamity and conceals himself while the inexperienced continue along and suffer the consequences.

Another: ‘Knowledge is for a protection the same as money, but the advantage of knowledge is it can preserve alive its owner.

Another: ‘The happy heart is the life of the fleshly organism.


I could go on. But do not underestimate the wisdom in those texts. For they give you the ability to begin viewing the world we live in the right way.


The body: The body exists in perfect health... in perfect balance.   Get the sense of that statement.  We use the term in EMS stasis. Balance. But we dont really see this for how important it really is.

The bodies balance is the key here.  Your focus is to restore balance. Consider, you purchase a car... you drive it for months and then realize what the VSA button is Or other feature. Some dont know how to change a tire. Understand why its important to rotate tires periodically. That the engine must remain in ‘tune.’  

We are often even worse when it comes to knowing our own bodies.

The criteria to eat is basically this;  ‘It LOOK GOOD ME EAT’, IT TASTE GOOD, ME EAT MORE’.   Not allot of thought there.

Add to this the place we find ourselves today; Food has become ‘designer food’ a comodity so shelf stable, so contaminated with chemicals, coloring, food additives, that it is not fair to call it food. It is less correct to think it can support balance or any resemblance of health.

You have heard the expression; ‘You are what you eat’.  This is one of those profound statements that has a barge of wisdom behind it. Most do not take the time to truly get the point. Sacrates said; “ Put on a table what a man eats and I will pick him out of the crowd.’  

So, Crones Disease like all the ‘diseases’ are human classifications of symptoms. Motive? To perpetually ‘TREAT’ a persons symptoms whilst making a handsome profit doing it. Never curing, no. That does not make business sense.

All illness (outside trauma) can be traced to toxemia. Even genetic birth defects are often the cause of infant exposure to neuro toxins via the placenta (which at one time was thought to filter out toxins, they know now that is far from the truth).

My efforts thus far have been to attempt to get you too see where you are in all this. You must understand that what you lack is balance.

The body exists in perfect health in perfect balance.

You MUST identify ALL toxins that are NOT naturally bio available to humans and avoid them! That means, you must get very familiar with what true food is. Whole Foods, uncontaminated. Organic fruits and vegetables? Absolutely, if that is all you have access too!   Wait, what do I mean by that?

EVER PRODUCT HAS A STORY. KNOW the story BEFORE you ingest it!  

I have had clients ask me about certain products. I do my homework. But just because I endorse a product today does not mean I will tomorrow. You must police what and where your food comes from. Growing your own is best if you can, so you can focus on your soil. Just because a product was grown without chemicals does not mean it was grown in balance soil. Depleted soil = depleted product= depleted body=imbalance.

The human body is extremely TOXIC in todays world. Illness is as a result of toxins. (OR toxemia)
Toxins can be Chemicals various additives, heavy metals, virus, bacteria, mold or fungus (candida is very common in US and can take up to 6 months to chelate) or a combination of them. (Today most of us have all the above in one level or another)

Ok, so here is how the body responds to toxins.

Increase toxins: Body processes them via the liver (Step 1) We are being exposed to medications and chemicals that are NOT naturally bio available to humans. The liver as NOT designed to handle these substances. Almost ALL medication are TOXIC by their very nature This is why they impact the liver so severely.

Step 2 The liver is easily overwhelmed because its dealing with the American diet and what has now become understood as fatty liver disease. The causation of further symptoms classified as diabetes which then become heart disease as the body continues to break down under the onslaught. The liver cant keep up, the thyroid at this point should regulate the toxins by stimulating the edrenals subsequently the kidneys join the effort in filtering out toxins through the urine. This system is more easily overwhelmed with the powerful toxins we are being exposed too so the Thyroid directs the toxins out through the skin. Step (3)

Now let me clarify a few points here.

The System I just mentioned is how the body compensates for contaminants coming into the body. Should not our first defense be to use your brains and identify WHAT the toxins are and avoid them?!  (For those scratching their heads the answer is yes) Emphatically yes!  

‘Johnny! Yelled his mother. ‘Get that out of your mouth you dont know where its been!’  (Johnny had just picked up a lollipop he had found on the sidewalk). Today, as long as they sell it we will eat it never knowing ‘where our food has been’ or ‘comes from’ or what it truly ‘is.’

So, lets take a look at the inner environment of our bodies. Because my dear perma-culture minded peeps they or very much the same. Very much about diversity and symbiotic relationships, about balance.

When toxins increase in the human body. The body naturally tries to remove them. (Detox them) to maintain what? Thats right balance.

When toxins increase the body tissues become more acidic. The bodies pH literally will drop and with it the cells voltage will drop. And like an alkaline batter you will begin to feel lethargic, no energy. This is amplified with dehydration, drinking pasteurized homogenized dairy (creates acids at 50:1 ratio), sugar, sodas (poison), meat, fried foods, packaged processed foods, MEDICATIONS! (Care to guess how much acid is created by chemo or radiation?).

Along its toxins this increased acid is in itself toxic to the body.

Each cell gives off its own waste... stop thinking of cells like they are a simply a clear bubble with a dot in the middle. The human celll is so complex it has been said there is more going on in single human cell than an entire human city. So, increase your perspective. A city functions, it gives off waste This waste is take out of the cell and dropped into the space between cells referred to as the ‘intercostal space’ This is connected to the lymphatic system which is a series of vasclature which connects all your glands and lypmnodes. There is no pump however as with the circulatory system. This system of irrigation only works via movement.

Which brings me to another statement. Living things move. Healthy things move. MORE!

So first step is protect yourself part. Identify the sources of toxins and make a definite plan to avoid them.

For those of us who have spent years building up toxins into your tissues and consuming toxic medications to cover the systmptoms. Well, passive then later more active detox regiments can help chelate them from the body.

Bentonite clay is in my mind something we ought to be doing on a regular basis. We simply can not avoid toxins all together.

After the defend yourself part there is the NOURISH yourself part.

Think of it this way... perfect health is found in perfect balance. Then every nutrient, vitamin, mineral etc would also be present at optimal levels. Are they?

You cant cheat here. The best source for these is our food. You can not substitute a synthetic product and think it will function the same as the body extracting it from Whole Foods.

The entire perspective is not had to understand. Its both simple and complex because the body is so complex.  

Expression that make you not think do not help. Think of the body as it truly is; a marvelous biological machine designed with wisdom far beyond our own. Its designed for balance and will naturall seek it if we give it half a chance. To think it simply evolved randomly defeats us before we even begin. This is NOT happenstance friends You dont catch diabetes (Or crones) from planting daisies in the dirt.

It is cause and effect. Change the causation.... the effects (or symptoms) will leave in the order they came.

Someone here mentioned stress... they are correct. Stress evokes acid and can turn a system acidic in as little as 2 minutes. This is why natural disasters and War for instance cause so much misery and we see sickness take their toll. Acid weakens the immune system. Weakened immune system can not fight things of well. We were designed to live peacefully. That is part of balance....  our environment.

Ok, well... enough for now. Will be happy to dial things down even more.

It has been my experience though, it is not that we can not arrive at the truth of any matter. Its getting people to even want it that is the paradigm of greater complexity we face today. Apathy... and then we begin to see behavior and then we see the lack of values... it all stems from the decline in good values.

jacque greenleaf wrote:  Note, I've never been formally diagnosed with IBS. That's because to get that diagnosis, I'd have to have a gluten test to rule out celiac. And in order to get that gluten test, I'd have to eat wheat every day for six weeks. There is NO WAY I am going to do that, wheat being the food that I react to the most. I think I probably react to both wheat sugars (fructans) and wheat protein (gluten).

This is why I will not get tested or even mention my problems to the Dr.  I have always eaten low carb until the last two years when I added somethings to my diet and the symptoms showed up.

Milk is also a probable double whammy, with people reacting to either the FODMAP sugars and/or the protein casein. If you haven't stopped eating wheat yet, I recommend you get tested for celiac first, and then try an elimination diet. IBS is not thought to permanently damage your gut. Celiac and Crohn's do. If the FODMAPS didn't manage my symptoms as well as it does, I'd probably bite the bullet, start eating wheat again, and get the celiac test. But thankfully, I've talked myself out of that!

I just try to watch what I eat.

Stacy Witscher wrote:I wasn't told to eat wheat everyday for 6 weeks to get tested for celiac. It was the first test the doctor's did, same day as my appointment.

"If the person being tested has not consumed any gluten for several weeks to months prior to testing, then celiac disease tests may be negative." https://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/celiac-disease/tab/test

Not sure what test you had. But the standard celiac test is for blood anti-bodies, and those anti-bodies are only present if you've been eating wheat/gluten. Maybe the doctor just asked you whether you'd been eating wheat.

Stacy Witscher wrote:I do agree that IBS triggers are highly individualized. I have to watch the fiber, a moderate amount is good, a large amount is very bad, and a steady supply, about the same amount everyday is best, no ups and downs. And some types of fiber are easier than others.

But other than fiber, I can eat a varied diet, meat, dairy, eggs, wheat etc. I wouldn't want to live without dairy, I would be so unhappy.

I'm envious. Sometimes thinking about a grilled cheese sandwich can bring me nearly to tears!

No wheat. No dairy. No chocolate. No pome fruits. No stone fruits. No onions. No mustard.

Now that still leaves me plenty of great stuff to eat. But boy howdy, how I do miss cheese and real bread and apples.

I have found the fodmap diet to be extremely helpful in reducing my IBS symptoms, along with finding my food triggers (for example, I am lactose intolerant & am finding I have allergies to certain herbs.) Just a blanket eat/don't eat 'veggies/fruit/grains/' etc hasn't been particularly helpful because some (like carrots or grapes) are perfectly fine for me, while others (like onions or apples) leave me in pain/brain fog/horrible poops. Even the ripeness level can change a food from safe to unsafe. I don't have a lot of budget, so I use online resources, but the Monash University App is the main resource people use and it is fairly inexpensive and the only accurate source, outside of this spreadsheet I found on a fodmap subreddit: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aDeHiIYbPdd355BBQrxr7rz7xPIc0KEKQw-ADFQ6wUc/  

I have found added relief from other dietary changes as well, such as incorporating certain fermented foods (like ginger & carrots) in my diet and avoiding nightshades as well. Also, being mindful of the times I am eating. I cannot eat within the 3 hours before bed without pain in the morning either. I have definitely had to re-learn how to cook, which has been mostly good for me as it involves a lot more fresh & nutritious ingredients & less processed foods.

I have IBS-D. Had it about five years now. I cannot help you with recipes, but I have created a herbal concoction that has allowed me to cut my usage of Lomotil by about 60%...if that would be of any interest. As for foods, I would suggest you avoid GMOs as much as possible. I will never be able to prove it, but I much suspect that to be the cause of both my GERD and IBS-D.

I might also suggest buying high quality aloe Vera plant cutting small piece morning and night. Scrap out gel and put in your smoothie or food as it will help heal your gut like it works on new skin. It only works 4 hours after cut from plant unless you freeze to stabilize. Also raw milk as high in the things that heal as long as cows not fed GMO

Natasha Flue wrote:
The thing I've figured out after 3 years is that it is all very individual to the person and how they eat and live. You'll need to experiment and test foods, possibly do an elimination diet.  

This is actually the thing that started my rabbit hole permie experience. I knew a gastroenterologist about ten years ago. I was having the gut spasms and gas, and this was not normal for me. The trigger was probably a trip to central America, and there are known correlations between IBS and campylobacter, which is quite possibly what I got (who the heck knows). Anyhow, he told me to do a FODMAP diet, and of course I didn't listen. After another week or two, I thought I would try it. It was not complete resolution but very improved.

He told me "It is almost impossible to get people to change their diet. But people will always take a pill." This guy was pretty smart about the state of the doctor/patient relationship and an excellent clinician. Basically, medicine has devolved from an advisory field to interventional. I don't know if this is cause or effect, it may be that often there are interventions that are pretty good that require little effort from the patient, or if patients have become more passive in general and that is all they will accept. Either way, that is why medical training tends toward interventional approaches rather than advisory. I am not doing a dive into that rat's nest.

So you must listen to your own body.

A thought experiment- what is cuisine? In my opinion (not sure I am original here) it is the art of making something that is not nutrient dense taste nutrient dense. Pasta is pretty much carbs with insoluble fiber and some lectins that prevent you from getting the minerals and proteins. It is a lousy basis for a diet. Add in some olive oil, salt, tomato, cheese and you have hit all the taste receptors- sweet (carbs), salty, savory, umami and fat. But it is still mostly low-density starch. Just tastes nutrient dense.

Take instead a soup with meat, tomatoes and potatoes (or squash), herbs, root crops, etc. Same receptors tell you this is good stuff, but it took planning and effort.

BUT your body knows it got cheated with the pasta the last time. There are hormones released from the GI tract when taste buds are activated, preparing to process all the nutrients that follow a nutrient dense meal. Blood sugar is stored, bowels are prepped for a long digestive process. But the bowels are done in 45 minutes with the starch bomb and the GI tract is still in absorption mode. The bacteria can chow down really fast and have turned your human gut into a ruminant gut, and all those organic acids and byproducts are now where they shouldn't be, in your bloodstream.

People have called this "leaky gut", but I see it as a natural byproduct of lying to your GI tract. Same with artificial sweeteners (including the natural ones). Taste triggers a cascade of preparation. Look up the ghrelin pathway if you don't believe me.

So I quit lying to my gut, and we made peace. I found some triggers (the usual) that make it bad, but mostly after a few months (!) of very restrictive eating (which tasted like crap, but did not oversell what I was sending downstream), I started introducing nutrient dense foods. No cheating. Fat with protein (fat taste is a trigger for upcoming protein digestion), low/no salt added, no monster size fruit. Interestingly apples seemed to be a big problem, but I can eat crabapples no problem. Lots of herbs. No grains at all.

What I noticed was that gas is an unusual feature in the GI tract other than swallowed air. If you eat something and get gas/cramps, you should pay attention. Prepare it differently or avoid.

Drowsiness- if you feel sleepy/dopey or irritable after some item, it is likely to be blood sugar related. There is some evidence to the opioid receptor for wheat components, but I don't think that is settled.

Bowel change- loose stools mean your GI tract cannot or will not extract the moisture. This could be to prevent a certain level of a compound through dilution (like ethanol) or because the normal squeezing motion is impaired. Either way, probably not a desired diet component.

Diarrhea- the GI tract figured the loss of nutrients was worth it, some toxin identified, or would be produced if the substrate was around for bacteria to work on it.

I would be shocked if IBS was one entity, I think it is many, just like cancer. I think many times it is either lying to your gut, or not listening to it. It is GREAT to see people taking ownership, there is no one who can do the detective work half as well as you can. Interestingly, I have found that I can eat rice without a problem, kefir (but not most milk/cheese), and some pulses- but only if soaked. OK, so be it. I don't want to be at war with my GI tract!

My wife uses the Against All Grains cookbook, which is quite good. The author is a trained chef, and shows some substitutions and uses ingredients that are not too crazy. Personally I don't need to have something that looks like bread at every meal, but if you want to make muffins or pizza or something those recipes are quite good. I could just eat soup pretty much daily and be happy, but that book works toward the preferences of people used to traditional cuisine.

My daughters cancer began with IBS. Nutrients are absorbed in small intestine and she was losing them. Anyway she takes five of these daily and does not have problems but if she would change her diet I'm sure it would make a difference.

DETAILS INGREDIENTS CLAIMS
Product Details
Naturally gluten-free.

GI-Zyme capsules were formulated to help improve digestion.*

Ingredients
Functional

Alpha-galactosidase
Amylase
Beet fiber (root)
Cellulase
Fennel (seed)
Ginger (root)
Invertase
Lactase
Lipase
Peppermint (leaf)
Peptidase
Protease 3.0
Protease 4.5
Protease 6.0
Formulation

I was just listening to one of these videos of Athena and Dr. Morse.  She has a couple more on youtube, but she is a very private person, and if you want to hear her full story you'll probably need to listen to all her videos to glean everything you can from them.  As I was listening to the video it reminded me of this topic, and I felt like it would be worth sharing for all the people who are suffering, confused, and still searching.  This is just one person's story out of the many thousands of people out there who have overcome their conditions following this path.

edit:  I literally just found that she has a youtube channel titled Emerald Cafe.

If anyone is struggling and find all of this info is overwhelming, there is a dead simple thing that is worth trying.  Eat only meat, drink only water.  Your grumpy gut will thank you.  Letting you all know it's World Carnivore Month and a perfect time to start healing.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/163527891074530/

Stacy Witscher wrote:I'm not for or against raw as a rule. Some things I can tolerate raw and others not so much. In some foods, the nutrients are more available if cooked. As others have said, these things can be very individual. Fiber is something I need to watch, the daily recommended allowance of 25-35 grams a day works well for me, but anything over that and I'm in agony.  Many people make kefir with store milk. I would think that raw would be better, but store kefir is better than nothing,

I don't have Crohn's disease, but I have to ask, who doesn't rinse their dishes? Maybe those people who fill the sink to rinse all the dishes, and after the first plate, the rinse water contains soap? But this is more typical in a professional 3-sink system.

It can be, that minute amounts od soap still cling to the dishes. For example, some say to avoid glycerin in the toothpaste, because it would take 27 rinses to rinse all glycerin off, and it prevents our saliva from remineralizing teeth daily, which it supposed to do. Maybe it would take many rinses to wash all the traces of the soap?

I came here from a search for FODMAPS and wanted to ask R. Ranson how she's doing.
Then I saw this and fell down the rabbit hole.

Kate Muller wrote:Here are my experiences with  Low FODMAP diet.   I have IBS symptoms due to digestive motility issues due to a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

I just today decided I'm going to put on my big girl pants and pursue treatment for the last 6 months of stomachaches. Pain worse than kidney stones, diagnosis of ulcers, then just "colic", i.e. no understanding, diagnosis, or solution. I'm so tired of having stomach/gut aches all the time. I figure in the meantime I would look at FODMAPs.
I also have Ehlers-Danlos. Just found out about 2 years ago, my siblings and I and my mom all do, and we pursued it to explain my sister's (many, very involved) medical problems. But now it is popping up in the most bizarre corners of my life and explaining SO MUCH (my constant heart palpitations and low blood pressure, anxiety issues, and now maybe my gut issue as well).

2nd message because editing button seems to be down (everyone deserves a break sometimes, right):
the idea of not eating garlic and onion scares the pants off of me. I have seriously thought about buddhist monastic life but that was the one aspect that made me say "mmm, maybe later." I am trying to think logically and remember there are SO MANY other things out there to put in my mouth, why is this so important?
That said, I have printed out the guidelines and went to my local fruits-and-nuts store and was pleasantly surprised to find sorghum and teff!

So coming back for an update (and to see how long it has been):
in the last three weeks I have had an endoscopy/biopsy, which showed that I still have ulcers but no H pýlori. I also have been diagnosed with IBS-mixed.
I've also been playing with FODMAPS over the past few weeks and finding that it really, really does make a difference.  
I feel like my ulcer is not the problem here (it will go away eventually), but rather my feel-like-i'm-about-to-birth-an-alien intestines. I don't think I am going to take acid reducing medication, as last time that made my gut feel so much worse. The gut is my priority right now.
I've found that some things that really worried me I can still eat (onions, garlic, apples). Other things (erva mate tea, dairy) I didn't expect the strong reaction they provoke. And wheat, wow. If I want an instant stomachache, flour is the way there.
I also finally got back to the gym today. And probably unsurprisingly, it was the first day I had no stomachache until very late in the day. I feel optimistic.