I’ve been pondering lately about the whole IBS diet I am following. No, not because I want to quit it, but because I think I’ve finally figured it out and come to a nice balance. Yet IBS continues to baffle me. While there are several symptoms and food triggers that affect all IBSers across the board, I’ve come to really be impressed at how different the disease is for everyone.
Take, for example, the aforementioned diet. The title of today’s post is the same as a document I have in my desktop, which lists the foods I can eat, the ones I shouldn’t, and the ones that will essentially kill me. I first just copied it (I added the witty title) from the one in the book I use as my IBS guide. Then I started tweaking it to match my own reactions to the food, and I have to admit some of the reorganization would scare other IBSers.
In the first column I have papaya, oatmeal and soy milk, which are allowed in the list. I should have banana, as it’s considered one of the friendliest foods for the tummy. Not so. For me, it belongs in the third column, “the ugly”. Few things kick me as banana does. Funny thing, it used not to, until I developed IBS. Hmmm. Same thing with mango. No, no, no, no. Bad, bad, mango!!
Other items that are banned from the diet, such as eggs, bacon and cheese, I tolerate quite well and eat frequently (OK, for the cheese, it’s only white, non creamy cheeses that I do well with, but it’s some kind of cheese nonetheless). These foods are somewhere in between “good” and “bad”.
Corn, which is considered bad, I do well with. Especially white, so I eat plenty of tortillas. 
Coffee, however, continues to torment me if I ever go near it. Thank goodness for Chai tea, though. I would be a very sleepy teacher without it.
Bejeweled said,
May 22, 2008 at 4:07 am
I’m so sorry to hear about your eating woes. I looked at that list of “bad” foods. I know you’re a confessed foodie like me so I’ll have to give you a gold star if you stay away from them. Hugs from the ‘Lou….