National Gut Awareness Week

Was it just me or did anyone else miss out on the news that it was National Gut Awareness Week last week? Ah well, better late than never. ;) Sadly this article doesn't say much about FODMAPs but there's still some useful tips here. See what you think.

National Gut Week 2014: How To Reduce Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The Huffington Post UK

Posted: 14/08/2014 15:56 BST Updated: 18/08/2014 17:59 BST

It's National Gut Awareness Week and it seems many of us could do with a lesson or two in how to look after our insides.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is Britain’s most common digestive complaint, affecting nearly a fifth of the population.

Despite the growing prevalence, the condition is extremely poorly managed: a recent survey of IBS sufferers revealed that over two thirds of sufferers have received no helpful advice from their GP regarding symptom relief and those affected try an average of five new products to relieve their symptoms each month.

Despite this, over 50% are still left battling the embarrassing and debilitating symptoms long-term.
Registered Nutritional Therapist and Chair of BANT (British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy) Miguel Toribio-Mateas shares his tops tips to help reduce IBS safely and effectively:

De-stress
It is thought that IBS sufferers experience increased sensitivity to stress and anxiety, making it important to try to reduce the amount of stress in your life.

Regular exercise not only helps you to de-stress but also helps gas pass through the digestive tract more quickly, so you feel better faster.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques have also been found to reduce the severity of symptoms.

Watch what you drink
Caffeine and alcohol are gastric irritants and act as triggers in some individuals, so are best avoided. Carbonated drinks may also contribute to bloating or cramping.

In contrast, drinking plenty of clear fluids (such as water and herbal teas) can help to ease digestion.

Try a ‘live’ probiotic
Studies have indicated that IBS patients experience a reduction in beneficial bacteria and higher concentration of pathogenic bacteria in the gut.

Newly published research suggests that a unique ‘live’ liquid bacteria known as Symprove can help re-address the balance, with study results demonstrating that all major IBS symptoms either improve or disappear completely in 60% of participants following 12 weeks of treatment; even in those for whom other probiotics and IBS treatments have failed.

Chew well
Be mindful of thorough and calm chewing; eating on-the-run or bolting food at your desk can often lead to compromised digestion.

Try putting your knife and fork down between bites and chewing with your mouth closed. This forces you to breathe through your nose, which relaxes and slows you down.

Give your digestive system a break
Large meals can place stress on the digestive system and trigger spasms in the gut. Some find it helpful to break them down into smaller, more frequent meals, whereas other IBS sufferers do better by leaving longer gaps between meals, and experience a reduction in symptoms by giving their system a break.

However, regularity tends to help the digestive system to operate in a steady fashion, particularly when symptoms are severe.

Avoid trigger foods
Management plans for IBS are highly individual, but symptoms are often improved by alterations in food intake. Lactose (milk sugar), fructose (fruit sugar) and sorbitol (an artificial sweetener) are common triggers in IBS patients.

In addition wheat, dairy, yeast, coffee, eggs, potatoes and onions can often cause problems.

Original Article can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/14/national-gut-week-irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs-tips_n_5678367.html

Managing IBS - A Solution Focused Approach

After being reminded recently what a miserable experience IBS can be, I wanted to share with you something a little different which I am experimenting with. This is based on the Solution Focused (SF) approach which was something I had some training in a few years ago but, so far, I haven't seen applied to IBS. Rather than focusing on your symptoms and difficulties, this approach encourages you (us) to look instead at what is already working for you - even when it feels like nothing is!

Essentially, SF explores a problem through asking questions like the ones below. These are not particularly difficult questions but are aimed at helping you recognise your strengths and coping strategies. And yes, you are strong and you are coping!

I encourage you to have a go at answering some of the questions below, and maybe making notes as you go along to reflect on or to add to later. If you can't answer them all, that's fine, go with those that you can answer fairly easily and jot down any that you might like to come back to another time. (Don't forget to bookmark this page so you can find your way here). Also if you feel you want to re-word the questions so that they better apply to you, please do so.

Just one suggestion. When answering the questions try not to use statements such as 'I wouldn't feel bloated' and instead focus on what the positive aspect of that would be, for example 'my clothes would fit comfortably' or 'I'd be able to sleep comfortably' or whatever is true for you. 

I hope you find this helpful - let me know how you get on.

1. How do you cope with your IBS?
2. What are the most effective ways you've found of managing your symptoms?
3. List 5 different ways in which you already manage your IBS.
4. If your IBS was better controlled, how would things be different for you?
5. What would tell you that your IBS problems were becoming more manageable?
6. What would you notice about yourself?
7. What would you be doing differently?
8. What would others notice about you?
9. Bring to mind a time recently when your symptoms have been (even relatively) under control. What else was different about that time?
10. What were you doing that was different to other times?
11. What was it about your diet (if anything) that was different to other times?
12. What do you think made the biggest contribution to how you felt?
13. How will you manage your symptoms better in future?
14. If you knew of one small thing you could do that would make a difference for you, what would that be?
15. What encouragement could you give yourself?
16. What have you learned from thinking about this?