You may think you are eating healthy, but what if the healthy foods are the very foods that are upsetting your gut!?! Maybe you are sensitive to a food, but don't realize it, because you have to eat it more than a few times in a row, or in conjunction with another food you are sensitive to... Or maybe the foods you think are healthy are actually bad for you!!!

Irritable Bowel Syndrome FROM ALLERGIES

Allergy Advice

MANY IBS issues are triggered when you eat certain foods. In some cases, you may have a food sensitivity; in other situations, IBS may be triggered by chemicals added to food (preservatives, flavorings, etc.). You may also experience IBS pain because of seasonal allergies cause your body to go into an inflamed state, making you more sensitive to foods you can handle during other times of the year. Here is my dietary advice.

A Teaspoon Of Honey A Day Keeps The Allergies Away

 Allergies cause the gut to inflame, causing IBS. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, try eating a teaspoon of local honey; the beehive should be within 25 miles of your home (as the crow flies). Honey from a hive close to your home is filled with the antigens of the pollen you are breathing in your area. When you eat it, the body learns that the pollen antigens are “self”—something good that you assimilate into your body for energy—and not a “not self”—a foreign thing that needs to be attacked.

Honey works even better if you get honey made in the spring for your spring allergies and honey made in the fall for your fall allergies. Farmers markets are a good place to find locally produced honey. 

Inoculation To Overcome Allergies

 Another way to overcome allergies is through inoculation. Some people get allergy shots. You can treat an allergy by being exposed to a very small amount of what you are allergic to every week (but not enough to cause a reaction). Over time, the amount to which you are exposed is increased. Eventually, you are able to handle more of the allergen without a symptomatic response. I advise this be done under the guidance of a healthcare professional.

Eat A Variety Of Foods

 Food sensitivities are often the result of eating a limited variety of the same foods every day. This results in the body being underexposed to good antigens, which are the markers on organic material that our bodies use to determine if a substance is self or not self. Whenever the body is exposed to a new antigen, it attacks the new antigen like it’s a virus or bad bacteria. This explains why unfamiliar pollen or foods can make you feel sick.

When your body is exposed to a variety of antigens, more antigens are marked as self and are not attacked. If you eat the same foods every day, not only do you limit your body’s exposure to good antigens, but you make yourself more vulnerable to adverse reactions should you try something new. 

The Rotation Diet: Keep Your Triggers From Accumulating And Turning Into A IBS Flare Up

For food sensitivities, consider the rotation diet. This diet will ensure that you get a variety of foods, and it will lessen your likelihood of developing food sensitivities, which is a growing problem in our culture.

The rule is simple: When you eat something, you can’t eat it for four consecutive days afterward.

Think about that. How many times have you eaten the same food for weeks? How much variety do you really have in your diet? If you eat the same types of foods all the time, you will likely develop sensitivity to those foods.

Some studies suggest that you need to eat dozens of different types of vegetables to maintain a healthy gut flora, which is imperative to your overall good health. The better your overall health, the more likely you can tolerate your triggers without getting a sinus flare up. So if you make a big meal, freeze the leftovers and only eat one serving of it no more than once a week. 

Another thing I like about this diet is that after a week or so, you have to start hunting the vegetable aisle for something you haven’t eaten in four days. Your veggies should expand from cucumbers, celery, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower to include kale, leeks, radishes, spinach, water chestnuts, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, red beets, squash, and more. The more varied your diet, the less likely you’ll suffer from a nutrient deficiency—another potential trigger for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

If you already have a food sensitivity, the rotation diet should help decrease your sensitivity to it. If you avoid foods you are sensitive to, you will become hypersensitive to them, and you may even develop a strong allergy to them. If you eat a small amount of something you are sensitive to and then avoid it for four days, your body has time to get it completely out of your system. Then when you eat a small amount of that food again, your body can tolerate it. Over time, your body should even be less sensitive to it. This process is similar to how an inoculation works.

The Question Of Eating Organic

 When it comes to my vegetables, I am not too picky about them being organic because I feel that there is no such thing unless you grow veggies in your own garden and control how they are cultivated. Not all of us have that leisure, but if you do, eating fresh from the garden is the best way to get your vegetables.

However, when it comes to meat or any animal product (like milk or eggs), I am stricter. I try to avoid eating animal products that are not certified organic. Most meat sold at large chain grocery stores comes from an animal that has eaten who knows what foods, has been injected with who knows how many drugs and hormones, and has been subjected to potentially bad conditions that fill the animal’s tissues with stress hormones. So I choose not to eat meat from those animals.

You don't have to suffer!

A POOR DIET MAY BE CAUSING YOUR IBS SYMPTOMS

I had a patient in her teens who had suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome since she was a toddler. Her bowels were so distended from having such severe constipation for more than a decade that her medical gastrointestinal specialists informed her parents that she needed to have her large intestine surgically removed and replaced with a colostomy bag! 

During her first visit with me, I discovered every meal she ever ate consisted mostly of cheese and other dairy products. For example, typical meals for the day would be milk with breakfast, cheese pizza for lunch, and cheese tortellini for dinner. Her parents had spent tens of thousands of dollars on gastrointestinal specialists, and no one had ever asked about her diet! 

I had her eat a cheese-free diet for a month and take digestive enzymes to help speed up the digestive process. The next time she saw me, she was having regular bowel movements. Years later, she is a healthy young adult.

Imagine! She almost had her colon removed! 

Crazy!

And she is not the only case like this. Sadly, I have had several patients who were hospitalized multiple times a year because of their symptoms, only to be sent home with medical doctors claiming there was nothing wrong with them. 

Just because the medical doctors didn’t understand the reason for the patient’s symptoms doesn’t mean there was nothing wrong! 

You don't have suffer with IBS. Why wait?

Drummond Chiropractic, LLC
More than chiropractors, we are wellness experts.
We can help you with your Irritable Bowel Syndrome!
565 N Walnut St Bloomington, IN 47404

(812) 336 - 2423

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