IBD diet advice?

[WheatOrNah]

I’m currently being tested for IBD due to having blood in my stool for over a year (sorry if TMI). I’ve noticed this problem is worse when I eat takeaways and drink alcohol and less so when I’m eating healthy and off the booze.

My problem is, upon Googling foods to avoid for IBD, I discovered foods I previously thought were healthy, wheat, seeds, yoghurt etc, can be inflammatory triggers.

It’s left me feeling confused and wondering how to get control of my bowels! Does anyone have any advice?

I went down the Low FODMAP route in the end. Ideally it should be done with the aid of a dietician but unfortunately the NHS waiting lists are usually long.

However, there are lots of good online resources from the Monash University who devised the programme.

It's an exclusion diet - and it is very strict for the first two weeks (minimum) - and then you start to gradually reintroduce foods. You can find out various 'culprits' this way. Sometimes you can find out if you can tolerate small amounts of something, but not a full portion.

Mine include gluten, onions and garlic, for example. And I have to keep lactose intake low. But I've found alternatives, and my poor old guts feel much better now.

Anyway, it's certainly worth reading about. There's also an app.

Thanks for the advice @AutumnCrow. Do you have diagnosed IBD? It’s all a bit daunting! What is the name of the app? I’ll definitely read into FODMAP.

I have chrons and have followed fodmap and been purely on a liquid diet but am now in remission and eat everything. Basically you are trying to give your bowel a rest while on these diets so a lot of the healthy stuff like lettuce, tomatoes etc can cause more discomfort. It’s worth looking into while you wait for tests

@HGC2 Wow! I have been trying to eat ‘healthy’ to ease symptoms, but sounds like I might be doing it wrong 😩. How daunting, I love my food!

Are you on medication or was it resolved purely through fodmap?

If you go on the Monash website, OP, it's all there.

There's a button right there to download the app.

https://www.monashfodmap.com/

And yes I have autoimmune disease. I'm on a biologic DMARD but that's mostly for my surface skin and my joints.