Low-carbing seems to be 'curing' my IBS.

[meglet]

Seeing as I've tried everything that hospital have thrown at me I decided to start low-carbing on the basis it should keep me full up without pigging out and getting bloated. And 3 weeks on it seems to be working. I'm not bloated and my stomach isn't as painful as it has been for most of the last 6yrs .

It's not an ideal diet as I try and stick to veggie food and I've always been slim. But I have been able to eat carbs at weekends when I'm not rushing so my weight hasn't plummeted. And I have been able to continue eating porridge for breakfast. The no-carbs after 5pm is something I'm trying to stick to.

Just thought I'd share in case any other IBS sufferers need some inspiration. I was getting to the end of my tether with it TBH.

I have certainly found that cutting out bread has helped my IBS massively, cereal in the morning, non bread lunch and whatever I want (including bread) for tea. I figured out I was probably having bread at least three times a day, plus pasta, rice, etc. I had also pretty much stopped going to the loo. All solved since I stopped toast in the morning and my IBS generally strikes now after periods of high stress.

yy, no bread here anymore.

Marmite on toast will be a rare treat from now on.

The latest research on IBS backs you up. There has been a lot of research into diets that help IBS recently and the fodmap diet has been massively successful (for 85% of people) - it cuts out very specific carbohydrates and allows others. Eating more of the bad carbs "adds up" and leads to IBS attacks.

So if you're low-carbing you are automatically cutting down on and cutting out the vast majority of the carbs that are bad for IBS.

scroll down for the list of good and bad carbs

The lack of wheat will be a large contributer.

I've experienced the same. I've cut out most carbs since the middle of last year and it made a huge difference to my IBS. It only comes back now if I slip up. I've cut out all bread, dugar, pasta, rice, potatoes and other grains and eat lots of veg, meat and fish. If I stick to it strictly and also have no caffeine I'm also rarely as tired as I used to be. Unfortunately I don't have much willpower and keep buying chocolate

Have you had a test for coeliac?

How interesting. Glad you are feeling better.

I think cutting out the kind of carbs that are not good for us can be very helpful in other ways too - low carbing significantly reduced my terrible PMS and gave me a regular cycle for the first time in my adult life.

I was diagnosed with IBS about 3 years ago, and after a process of elimination I figured I was lactose intolerant.

I initially started low carbing to reduce the bloat, and after a disastrous start to an Italian holiday about 18 months ago, I figured yeast was a trigger and so gave up bread. I occasionally have a wrap and only eat basmati rice.

The fodmap link was a revelation, because it's pretty much what I do! It's made me stop worrying about the strawberries I bought yesterday after not being able to get my usual blueberries. Thanks for posting that decaffwithcream, it's made a lot of sense to my world

Oh, a couple of anomalies. I can't eat fish any more although prawns are fine. And my coeliac test was negative.

same here, I am low carbing and cutting out bread makes a huge difference in the bloating department. If I have the occasional sneaky sandwich now I pay for it a few hours later with a massive stomach ache and lots of trapped wind. It has made a very positive impact on my life in general despite being a bit hard to stick to sometimes