When you have IBS, food fear is a real thing.
When you are suffering and you know there are foods that make you feel sick, the thought of eating a meal can send you into a little panic-or into a big one!
You avoid certain foods; you restrict certain foods. Maybe you are specifically told to eliminate many foods.
Restricting too many foods limits the diversity of your diet. It limits the essential nutrients your body needs to be well and to heal.
But what can you do when you’re afraid to bring foods back in?
Let’s talk today about two mindset shifts that will help you move on and heal confidently.
Find the full transcript for this episode and other resources at HealingHerIBS.com/5
How the IBS Anxiety Begins
When you are dealing with IBS symptoms eating can become a nightmare. What was once something you loved becomes something you dread.
When I ate, I most often felt awful afterwards. This pain would last for hours and sometimes into the following day.
Have you had this kind of pain? Pain that you knew was connected to what you ate?
Every time before I ate, my body would fill with the anticipation of the pain. I have heard this story in almost the same exact way from so many other women I have talked to who have IBS.
It’s hard to know what to do. You feel like your choices are very limited. You either eat a variety of healthy foods and feel sick, or you limit your foods and feel a bit better. You feel stuck here.
But the true story of healing is much more nuanced than this. Understanding this nuance and how to navigate food is a key component to healing.
When you experience relief when eliminating lots of trigger foods from your meals, you continue to endlessly restrict, but you will not heal your IBS through eliminating foods. Your IBS condition was not caused by the foods you eat and will not resolve by not eating. So many women get stuck in endless restriction that perpetuates their suffering. Finding your way out is entirely possible.
IBS Healing: Taking the Middle Path
While healing your IBS, it’s best to take the middle way.
What does the middle way mean in the context of IBS?
- It means taking your healing seriously but also taking it lightly.
- It means being aware of certain foods that trigger you and those that don’t.
- It’s about being open to letting more foods back into your life.
- It means understanding your IBS is about food but it’s not about food.
- The middle way means putting just as much emphasis on your mind as on your diet.
Start by accepting where you are right now and work to develop a new mindset as you plan for gradual food reintroduction. If you haven’t listened to episode 4, go back and listen to those suggestions so you can develop gradual reintroduction plan that works for you.
When you aim to reintroduce a food and you experience fear about that, start by seeing and accepting that fear. It means looking at it without thinking it can never change. It also means seeing the fear without judging it.
When you feel this anxiety around food-notice, and take notes on the thoughts you have. Many times, I am not even aware of the truly scary things my brain is telling me. I have to force myself to slow down enough to really listen. I have to be honest about what is really being said inside my mind.
Try to slow down too.
Are you telling yourself that pears are going to send you over the edge? That you will be bloated if you try some garlic with your next meal?
The thoughts I used to have sometimes seemed like an endless stream that came on so fast I couldn’t unravel them. I wasn’t even aware what I was thinking because I was so afraid and my thinking was frantic and fast. It was not possible to make changes until I could accept what was actually happening, and what I was actually thinking.
When starting out, your first objective should be to bring awareness to your thoughts about food and meals, however negative or scary they may be. Let that be what it is, trying your best to remove emotionality from those thoughts as much as you can.
A New IBS Mindset
After becoming aware of your thoughts, you can begin to question them and even begin to think new thoughts around the same experience. It will take intention and practice.
Imagine telling yourself that you are going to try a little bit of something new and who really knows what your reaction will be to it?
Imagine thinking that your body is constantly changing and healing? That maybe your reaction to this food will be different now.
Thoughts, beliefs, and feelings around food matter. They do affect the way your body reacts to food.
By confronting your real thoughts about food and moving forward anyway, you are taking a huge step to healing your IBS.
During my IBS agony, I am honestly not so sure I would have been able to hear this exact message and take it in. I am not sure that I would have believed it in fact. If that is your reaction to this message, I completely understand your reservation because I believe I would have had it too. It seems too far out there to be true.
It is only in hindsight and in looking back that I can see how I gradually changed my mindset around my IBS and how that change was a central aspect to my healing. If I could go back in time, I would choose to put much more of my focus on this emotional aspect. I am positive I would have healed faster if I had done that.
If you are listening now and you are skeptical that your thoughts or mindset around your IBS have anything to do with your reaction to food- ask yourself if it would hurt to try?
You know the brain and the body are connected – how can you use your brain for your healing instead of against it?
Your body can overcome food sensitives in time, and you can overcome the dread. Calming your mind starts to calm your gut, allowing you to digest more with less pain. Eventually allowing your attention to go to the places where you truly want it to be.
I hope this was helpful for you today and thank you again for listening to Healing Her IBS.