Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with IBS

At the start of 2016, I found out that I have fructose malabsorption. After feeling really sick for about six to twelve months, it was actually a relief. Under the guidance of a dietitian I completed the low FODMAP elimination and reintroduction stages. Although my gut health journey is in many ways still ongoing, I wanted to share my thoughts around maintaining a healthy lifestyle when dealing with malabsorption, intolerance or IBS management. 

Create positive eating habits

Dealing with an intolerance, malabsorption or irritable bowel syndrome can often lead to anxiety around eating and even cause us to withdraw from social situations that involve food. However, creating positive eating habits not only aids in the physical management of your gut health, but also looks after your mental health too. 

• Eat mindfully and slowly - research has shown mindful eating can help with symptom management and increase the pleasure we experience from food. Read more on how mindfully eating can help with IBS.

• Continue to socially eat - eating is a wonderful way to connect with others and is an important part of culture and personal wellbeing. Continuing to eat with friends and family allows us to stay connected and also relish in the joy of eating.

• Meal planning and prep - A really large factor in stress around consuming food with IBS or an intolerance comes from not having the right food options available to you. Consider adding low FODMAP meal planning and meal prep into part of your routine to help ensure you have easy access to foods that won’t trigger symptoms. 

Incorporate movement

Movement and exercise are really key in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Research has shown that exercise can help with IBS symptom management. If you aren’t currently very active, some great light options to begin introducing are walking, yoga, pilates or swimming. Exercise can help with reducing bloating, decreasing stress levels and increasing your energy. 

Look after emotional health

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle isn’t all about the what we can manage physically. Our emotional health is just as critical to look after and that begins by minimising stress. Stress can exacerbate a flare up and IBS symptoms. Some great options to help minimise stress include:

• Meditation - we recommend taking a look at apps such as Headspace and Calm

• Gut directed hypnotherapy - research has shown this can aid in symptom management.

• Connecting with others - there are wonderful forums, facebook groups, blogs and other social media platforms where you can link up with people who are going through a similar experience.

Minimise triggers

This might be easier said than done, but minimising your triggers can help maintain a healthy lifestyle. Think of minimising your stress through the suggestions above. There are also additional non-FODMAP IBS triggers that you may wish to consider avoiding. Lastly, listen to your body. When managing a food intolerance, malabsorption or IBS, we need to be in tune with ourselves and be kind if today is not the day. You never know, tomorrow might be. 

What techniques do you incorporate to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle with IBS? Let us know below.