IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Did you know that the irritable bowel syndrome can be caused by stress and anxiety?

Here, we talk a lot about the emotional and physical effects of stress and anxiety in our body.

The irritable bowel syndrome affects our organism in such a way that symptoms become frequent and repetitive.

To these effects, we add the consequences of our diet, that, if not balanced and healthy, will cause further damage and worsen the symptoms.

Irritable bowel syndrome can cause symptoms such as pain, bloating in the abdomen, flatulence, and oscillation between constipation and diarrhoea.

This happens because there is an inflammation of the intestinal villi, i.e., our intestine is in a continuous digestive effort to try to absorb certain types of food.

The first step is to understand what causes or aggravates the pre-existing symptoms.

Controlling anxiety levels is essential to begin this journey.

It is advisable to try acupuncture sessions, relaxing massages or even meditation in order to find a balance between body and mind.

Phytotherapyis also recommended, since the beneficial effects of probiotics and other herbs of Chinese traditional medicine in the intestinal flora are already proven.

Changing your diet is one of the essential steps to alleviate your intestine, but these changes should be followed by a health professional.

For a patient suffering from IBS, LowFODMAP diet could be a great help. Many common foods could cause discomfort, because their absorption process is slower, they are highly fermentable and, sometimes, they are not even digested in the small intestine, which can cause flatulence and, consequently, abdominal bloating.

These foods are divided in:

• fermentable oligosaccharides (wheat, rye, some fruits, vegetables and pulses).
• disaccharides (lactose from milk and dairy products)
• monosaccharides (fructose from fruit and honey)
• polyols (present in some fruits and sweeteners).

This is a fairly restrictive diet, so it should always be made with an individualized and adequate professional follow-up, in order to avoid nutritional deficits. At the same time, use phytotherapy as complement.

About the food in this diet:

Some forbidden foods:

Onions, garlic, green peas, beets, corn, apple, mango, watermelon, avocado, beans, soya, chickpea, wheat, rye, pasta, cashew nut, pistachios, corn syrup, saccharose, xylitol (…).

Foods you can eat at will:

Carrot, cucumber, turnip, aubergine, banana, blueberry, grapes, kiwi, strawberry, chicken, turkey, fish (except tuna), eggs, walnuts, chia, macadamia (…).