Real Talk: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Approximately half of all intestinal complaints at the doctor’s office are due to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). It is the most common gastrointestinal complaint. IBS is an umbrella term that can be applied to many different lower bowel conditions and doctors use it often.

Symptoms of IBS

Symptoms of IBS include stomach aches or abdominal pain, stool issues (including alternating diarrhea and constipation), gas and bloating, nausea, headaches, fatigue and more.

Common Causes of IBS

Stress is the most common cause of IBS, but not the only show in town. Sugary foods AND/OR dairy allergy or sensitivity or other food sensitivities are also likely culprits. Literally, “it might be something you’re eating.”

Other less likely culprits might include:

  • Malabsorption of foods
  • Some type of infection
  • Lack of fiber in the diet
  • Hormonal imbalances

What can you do today that you haven’t already tried?

  1. Eat smaller meals and chew your food well.
  2. Stress management and reduction—see if you’re not as bloated when on vacation or on the weekends. If this is the case, stress might be your issue.
  3. Avoid dairy and/or sugar. With less of these foods, do your symptoms decrease? If yes, YAY, you’ve found your answer. If NO, maybe it’s another less famous food culprit. Consider an elimination diet to detect food triggers. We can help with that.

Real Life Success Story

Meet Cassie. Cassie was a grad school student. She was busy and stressed and came to Healthy Nest with an established IBS diagnosis from her primary doc. She had been scoped (endoscopy and colonoscopy) and they found nothing out of the ordinary. YET, Cassie was gassy and bloated from morning til night. After much discussion, we agreed the culprit might be eating out as well as irregular (lumpy) eating patterns. She was also relying on some fast food for convenience. She had disengaged from her food.

Our suggestions for Cassie?

  1. Eat regularly (smaller amounts) throughout the day. She started carrying peanut butter packets with apples (snacks) and a homemade turkey sandwich with carrots for lunch instead of sugary breakfast and ‘crappy’ dinner.
  2. Stop eating sugary Starbucks drinks for breakfast (this was a game changer). Instead, she ordered the egg bites.
  3. She started a gut repair protein shake for dinner (instead of pizza). Quick and easy and very restorative.
  4. Cassie started having real food in her fridge and eating at home more often. More home-cooked foods gave her more control over her ingredients and helped her IBS.

It took some time to get into her groove. She wasn’t perfect, but she did start feeling better and less bloated almost immediately.

Looking for Answers?

Healthy Nest Nutrition nutritionists are good at getting to the bottom of what is causing your IBS. Odds are, you could use some gut restoration and digestive repair after we uncover your gut issues.

We’ve got you. Besides our two-week full elimination/provocation protocol, we have food sensitivity testing, Comprehensive Stool Analysis Testing, and overgrowth breathe tests to help solve your problems.

About Healthy Nest’s Digestive Repair Program

Ours is a personalized approach to solving your IBS issues. There is always food changes and maybe a full or semi-elimination diet or some kind of testing to determine your depletions or overgrowths. Then gut restoration, replenishment and rebalance. We aim to get this done in 4 one-hour sessions. It’s our goal to fix your nagging digestive issues.

Let us help you; it’s what we do.

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