Welcome back to Healing Her IBS. Today we’re diving into a question I hear a lot: Can your diet heal IBS?
The truth is complicated but for the most part it’s a no, diets don’t heal IBS. They can be an incredible tool, but they’re not the cure. And when we rely only on food as the answer, we can actually end up more anxious, more restricted, and further away from true healing—which sadly I have seen a lot.
Let’s talk today about the science of why food affects IBS, what role it actually can plays and what else we can focus on—especially when it comes to calming the nervous system and finding freedom with food again.
Find the full transcript for this episode and other resources at HealingHerIBS.com/35.
How Food Affects IBS
When it comes to food and IBS, it’s complicated!!! I know that for me when I was first diagnosed with IBS, I was either thinking nothing about food in the beginning, or thinking it was the end all be all solution to my IBS situation.
The truth is annoyingly much more nuanced than that because IBS is a multi-factorial disorder with so many different working parts, so many reasons why we suffer and it’s very individual based on every individual’s specific gut, personality and personal story.
Have you found your middle way when it comes to food and your IBS or are you still in one extreme or the other?
You probably know by now that IBS is often referred to as a gut brain disorder. What that means is that your digestive system and your nervous system are in ever constant communication—back and forth, back and forth. The nerves in the gut of the people who have IBS are super sensitive much more than someone who does not have IBS.
When you eat your gut must digest that food, absorb, and move the food along your digestive tract. Things like high FODMAP foods, large meals, or certain fibers can trigger symptoms because the nerves in the gut are extra reactive. Diet changes—like low FODMAP, gluten-free, or dairy-free—can sometimes reduce symptoms because they take away those common irritants if those foods are sensitive or tricky foods for you particularly.
But here’s the key: removing a food doesn’t address the root problem, which is the communication between your gut and your brain and this oversensitivity. That’s why diets feel like a band-aid and if you don’t use them as such, they can actually cause more long-term damage than good if you aren’t careful and strategic.
Diets are Tools for IBS; Diets are Not the Cure
What I have seen a lot of times with women who have IBS is that they may have followed a certain diet protocol, but they didn’t do so in a systematic way or else they did it with little follow through or long term planning and then get caught in this drawn out cycle of too much restriction or lack of clarity around what you should eat and what you shouldn’t.
Have you found yourself lost and confused around what you eat?
It’s a very common issue because a lot of the mainstream information around IBS focuses much too much on diet and not on all the other factors that contribute much more to someone’s IBS. If all your focus is on what you eat and how it makes you feel, you may be missing the piece that is unique to you.
Diet was a big help for me, and I was fortunate enough to understand how to use the diet from the start. I always had the intention of eating as much a huge variety of foods as quickly as I possibly could.
Because of this desire and my specifically determined personality, the Low FodMap diet worked well for me. I loved tracking my food symptoms and I enjoyed the process of reintroducing foods and checking in with how they made me feel. I think I liked too the control aspect that came with it after such a long time feeling out of control.
Taking away all the FODMAPS in my diet gave me an instant relief from my IBS symptoms because my gut wasn’t experiencing as many triggers and I got a little break from the intensity of my symptoms, I got a breather. But taking out these foods did not rewire my gut to nervous system response, and it didn’t teach my nervous system to feel safe.
It can be so enticing to want to stay in that safe space of eating absolutely no triggering foods and feeling symptom free, or close to it. However, indulging in this wish for too long and without a plan for reintroduction can have more long-term negative consequences and lead to a lifelong struggle with IBS that isn’t necessary.
You may find yourself eating very little eventually and also not feeling the relief of symptoms, as this restriction and lack of variety and nutrients makes your IBS worse.
Consequences of Long-Term Food Restriction
Long term restriction in your diet can have negative effects because of the way it affects your gut and your mind. One of the things I have seen when women are restrictive and continue to be so with their food is that it can create so much anxiety around food and just anxiety in general.
We know that IBS is a gut-brain connection disorder so adding even more anxiety into your life, this time anxiety around food, just exacerbates that signal that your gut is sending to your brain and vice versa. It’s saying: Watch out! Be afraid! The sensitivity that was there is now heightened.
It seems so strange to think about the power of our minds in this scenario. If it feels strange to you, let it sink in more. Really contemplate the power that your mind must affect you and your health. You don’t have a lot of choice with your IBS, but you do have some choice as to what thoughts and feelings you have going forward.
The more time you spend worrying and overthinking your food in a very emotionally charged way, the further you are from healing that gut brain connection. Having too much restriction can start to slowly create food fear and terror around mealtimes which is not the energy and mind space you want to be in when it comes to your food.
Another huge aspect of too much restriction is that it will reduce the number of microbes in your gut and decreases the diversity in your microbiome. What nutritionists and scientists who study the gut agree on is absolutely the importance of getting enough fiber and a diversity of plants into your diet as a major contributing factor to your gut health.
When you restrict foods and eliminate too many foods, you are unintentionally lowering your gut diversity which is in turn making your IBS worse in the long term, though your intention was to help yourself feel better today.
So, diets don’t heal IBS. They can help calm things down, they can help you identify your food triggers— but they’re just one piece of the puzzle. True healing comes from working with your gut and your nervous system together—learning to trust your body again, calming that hypersensitivity, and letting food be food instead of a source of fear.
Today remember that your body isn’t broken, it’s communicating—and when we listen with compassion, that’s where the real healing begins.
Thank you for listening to Healing Her IBS today.