IBS can fill mealtime with frustration. Your friends gush over the offerings at that hip new restaurant that just opened while you shudder, fearing pain or embarrassment. What are the best foods for IBS? What are the worst?
Although much remains unknown about this disease, science and anecdotal reports reveal that certain foods trigger symptoms in many with the condition. Discovering yours gives you more confidence when ordering, knowing what you can and can’t eat. Eliminating the worst foods for IBS and adding more of the best ones listed below can bring you considerable relief.
What Is IBS?
Irritable bowel syndrome occurs when your digestive tract reacts differently to substances, particularly food, and environmental conditions, such as stress. Many researchers believe symptoms result from problems with motility, or how fast or slow food moves through your system. Symptoms of IBS include:
- Cramps
- Gas
- Bloating
- Stomach pain
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
The word “syndrome” in the term refers to a group of symptoms that occur together. Although IBS doesn’t stem from a specific disease, it can strike after an infection and may result from a combination of various factors. While the precise cause is hard to pinpoint, symptoms can range from mild to disabling — sudden, mad dashes to the toilet can interfere with work schedules and other daily living activities.
The 8 Worst Foods for IBS
Since IBS can stem from a complicated mix of factors, determining the best diet isn’t always easy. It’s often best to take an elimination diet approach, tuning in when you feel worse and writing down what you ate beforehand. Then, cut that family of foods out for at least four to six weeks, gradually adding them back in one at a time until you identify a specific trigger.
The problem is that few people eat meals consisting of only one or two foods. Determining your specific triggers may take time — but it is worth it to find relief. To make the process easier, start by eliminating one of these eight food groups known to trigger IBS in some.
1. Fatty Meats
Does your Sunday ritual entail going out for a hearty meal after honoring your faith? Some people believe that’s where the tradition of brunch originated as a popular pastime. However, your evening stomach ache might have more to do with the bacon and sausage you consumed than the dread of the coming workweek.
Fatty meats are among the hardest foods to digest, taking a long time to travel through your digestive tract. When you recall that IBS is a condition marked by motility challenges, it makes sense that a hearty cut of brisket or serving of scrapple can cause symptoms. Instead, go lean, even at brunch — you can find turkey bacon and chicken sausage.
2. Fried Foods
The excess fat in fried foods can also trigger IBS symptoms. Traditionally, this advice pertained mainly to saturated fat, such as in butter and lard. However, researchers recently linked the omega-6 to omega-3 imbalance created by excessive seed oil consumption to gut inflammation. Seed oils are not bad unless you have an allergy, but the lack of omega-3s causes trouble. You can counteract it by consuming more fatty fish, chia and flax.
Additionally, many fried foods are high in added sugars — doughnuts are a classic example. Some people with IBS find that foods containing a large amount of excess sugar trigger symptoms.
3. Alcohol
Despite the hype about red wine and heart disease, your body doesn’t need alcohol, and no amount is truly safe. Banning the bottle can improve your health in numerous ways besides easing IBS symptoms.
Alcohol may impact IBS in several ways — and make a bad situation worse. Many people tend to drink more when under stress, which can also trigger IBS symptoms. Additionally, alcohol disrupts your intestinal microbiome, and those helpful bacteria do important jobs like making serotonin, a neurotransmitter you need to overcome tough times. As hard as it may seem, abstinence is best.
4. Caffeine
Your body doesn’t need caffeine any more than it needs alcohol. However, unlike a brewski, the occasional cup of joe offers health benefits, supplying you with antioxidants and even stopping migraine pain in its tracks when combined with a pain reliever.
However, caffeine can also trigger IBS symptoms in some people. Going cold turkey can make you feel miserable if you have a five- or six-cups-a-day habit. Instead, gradually cut back to one or two cups daily, skipping the morning jolt entirely if you still have symptoms.
5. Dairy Products
Those sensitive to dairy products may be lactose intolerant — it can be tricky to tell the two issues apart. Both produce similar symptoms, although milk may spur nausea if you are sensitive to lactose, a natural sugar in dairy products. An elimination diet can tell you if this food group is the culprit.
Using a supplement such as Lactaid when reintroducing dairy can differentiate between the two conditions. If symptoms don’t reoccur when you use a digestive aid to address the problematic sugar, the issue is likely lactose intolerance, not IBS.
6. Sugar-Free Foods
You might think that if added sugars trigger IBS, opting for the sugar-free version of your favorite treats should clear up your symptoms. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Sugar alcohols, such as aspartame or xylitol, can trigger IBS symptoms in some people. You might even react to sugarless gum if you’re sensitive, even if you don’t swallow it. Try other natural sweeteners, such as stevia, monk fruit or honey.
7. FODMAPs
Not all of the worst foods for IBS are inherently bad for you. FODMAPs stand for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. Foods that are high in FODMAPs may otherwise be considered healthy but can trigger symptoms in those with IBS. For example, lentils, apples, broccoli and yogurt are all high in these substances, meaning you may wish to avoid them until you narrow down your specific triggers.
8. Nightshade Vegetables
Some people have a relatively rare sensitivity to nightshade vegetables that can spur IBS symptoms. These include tomatoes and potatoes, as well as spices like paprika, chili powder and ashwagandha. The culprit appears to be solanine, an alkaloid in these plants that is toxic in large amounts. However, some people react to much smaller doses.
6 Best Foods for IBS — and Why
Knowing what to avoid is half the battle. However, nurturing your gut with the best foods for IBS can also improve your symptoms.
9. Yogurt
Yogurt is a bit tricky, as it is a dairy product. However, it also contains probiotics, the living microorganisms that make up your intestinal microbiome. These deplete over time, but you can replenish your stash by eating probiotic-rich foods.
If you cut dairy as part of an elimination diet, consider yogurt as the first food you add back. You may find that it doesn’t spur symptoms. If it does, there are other ways to rebuild your microbiome, but otherwise, including yogurt in your diet can nurture your gut.
10. Alternative Grains
Many people have a non-celiac sensitivity to gluten, even if they don’t have Celiac disease. However, many ancient grains are free of this wheat protein and high in other types. They provide filling fiber, which acts as a prebiotic to nurture your microbiome. Gluten-free ancient grains include quinoa and amaranth, although you might also investigate spelt and kamut if you don’t have an issue with wheat.
11. Nuts and Seeds
Nuts and seeds also contain prebiotic fiber and other nutrients encouraging positive health. For example, flax seeds are one of the best plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which you need to balance out the omega-6s in the typical American diet. You can also substitute ground flax meal for flour when baking to further boost your omega-3 intake.
12. Fatty Fish
Fatty fish are your best source of omega-3 fatty acids and consist of lean protein, making cod an excellent substitute for fatty meats. Omega-3s come in three types — ALA, DHA and EPA. DHA and EPA produce the greatest health benefits and exist almost exclusively in fish.
13. Cooked Vegetables
A simple trick to ease IBS could be cooking your veggies instead of eating them raw. While this preparation method affects nutrient content somewhat, it also breaks down some of the complex carbohydrates that slow digestion and may trigger symptoms.
14. Fermented Vegetables
Fermenting your veggies is a fabulous way to increase your probiotic intake if you can’t stomach yogurt. Sauerkraut isn’t your only option. You can ferment nearly any vegetable, which produces the microorganisms that benefit your gut health. Fermentation also makes the nutrients in these foods more bioavailable so your body can absorb them. Issues with absorption plague many with gastrointestinal woes.
The Best and Worst Foods for IBS
Avoiding the worst foods for IBS jumpstarts your elimination diet and may bring rapid relief. Identifying your unique triggers can take time, but learning from others with the condition hastens the process.
Adding more of the best foods for IBS may also help your gut work more efficiently. Making better choices at mealtime means less pain and embarrassment and more shared excitement when a new restaurant opens down the street.
