The past month or so I’ve noticed that foods that haven’t bothered me in well over a year are starting to once again bother me.
I’m noticing more and more days where I end up with a bloated belly, uncomfortable abdominal pains, and digestive upset.
It would appear that my IBS which has been leaving me alone for nearly a year has decided to come pay me a visit. Fantastic.
Last year I went through a similar upset starting in March. Coincidence? I’m not sure. I did a little random Googling about links to the changes in seasons and an IBS flare-up but could only find a few people talking about getting one in the fall. It could be totally coincidental, and really does it matter? The results are the same, my IBS is acting up making me feel icky and whether it’s tied to the changing seasons or not, there is only one way I know how to go back into remission (if that’s what you call it).
Diet.
Each time I go through this I discover different foods that upset the proverbial apple cart which makes it all the more annoying. I can’t just assume that foods that can be IBS triggers but haven’t bothered me in the past, still won’t bother me so I have to eliminate them all then reintroduce them one by one.
Comparison shots from last year when I went through this.
This, does not thrill me. At all.
But not being bloated and feeling sick and uncomfortable – that does thrill me.
Last year I sorted myself out by logging my foods and recording everything I ate and how I felt. I’m going to continue to do that this time, but am also going to implement an elimination diet of foods I believe may be causing my issues. Basically I’ll be following the low FODMAP diet, which is pretty easy for me overall since it isn’t that far off what J eats for his Ulcerative Colitis and being more vigilant about getting kefir in daily. I will be a bit cranky about giving up so many of my veggies for a few weeks though. Fortunately a number of them are ok to eat in small amounts (less than a serving).
I will be honest and say that I don’t plan to give up wheat, I don’t eat a lot of it anyway but right now my homemade bread seems to be one of the only things I can eat 100% of the time without getting an upset stomach. If while eating wheat my issues don’t go away I’ll cut it too but in the meantime I’m holding on tight to my homemade bread.
Since it’s mid-week I’m not going to dump all of my food in the compost and buy new groceries, I’m just going to tough it out the rest of the week and get myself sorted next week.
So that’s what is new with me. It always feels weird sharing this stuff on my blog because who the heck wants to hear about my digestive issues? Well, as it turns out people do – because they are suffering with the same issues too. So if my over sharing can help someone, that’s the real reason I do it.
And I’ll sign off with my “before” shot for this year, taken just a minute ago
I’ll check back in on May 15th to let you know how I’m coming along, and with a new progress picture. This starting one isn’t really all that bad as I’m only a little bit bloated right now. I should have taken one last night when I looked much more puffy 😉