IBS and Intuitive Eating Part 4: A Personal Narrative
Hi all! Today I have my lovely part time dietitian Kate popping on the blog to share a bit about her story of IBS & intuitive eating. When it comes to merging medical nutrition needs, like IBS, diabetes or other health conditions, she is a wealth of knowledge. If you’re interested in working together, she is accepting new clients virtually and in our Columbia, SC office. Reach out if you’re interested in scheduling!
Hey guys! Since you got to know a few things about me in my last post, I thought I would dive a little deeper and share a story from my own journey. There are many reasons why I believe in intuitive eating, and today I’m going to share one reason why it has made my life so much better: intuitive eating has helped me navigate IBS and chronic digestive issues. If you’ve dealt with IBS or other digestive problems, read on for what I hope is a dose of encouragement!
Doomed with digestive troubles?
I struggled with major digestive struggles for at least 10 years. Looking back, for the better part of those years I was likely making my problems worse without realizing it. For me, IBS meant constantly feeling anxious about what my stomach may do, evenings sprawled out on the floor with crippling cramps, and an unbelievable amount of money spent on what I hoped would be “cures”. Unfortunately, this was before becoming a dietitian, so I was mostly unaware of who to trust when it came taking nutrition advice and fell for a lot of pseudo-science!
I first went to see a gastrointestinal doctor when I was 15 and that was the first of the many, many times I heard “fiber, water, and exercise.” No matter how many times I’d say “I get plenty of all three” it was like talking to a brick wall. If the answer was as easy as FIBER, do you think I would be paying to see a specialist?! Nonetheless, I followed this over simplified advice and ate a TON of fiber, drank lots of water, and exercised regularly. Yet, none of this seemed to improve my digestive problems and I’d still find myself laying on the floor almost nightly waiting for my stomach pains to cease.
Intuitive eating to the rescue
Around the same time that I was feeling hopeless about my IBS, I stumbled across intuitive eating. Initially I thought I couldn’t be an intuitive eater because of my IBS. I couldn’t always count on my hunger and fullness cues because I often felt overly full or bloated. However, I longed for the peace of mind and body autonomy promised by intuitive eating, so I decided that even if I couldn’t yet adopt all 10 principles, I could at least try out a few. I felt so stressed about food that it felt like it was worth a shot!
It was when I decided to tackle the principle of making peace with food that I realized that intuitive eating might help my digestive system find some peace too!
Making peace with foods meant that no foods were off limits. If I wanted a burger for lunch and nachos for dinner, that option was available to me if I wanted it. Rather than listening to diet culture (or the “explore” page on Instagram) which told me the more fruits and vegetables the better, raw foods are superior, and white flour is the devil, I listened to what I wanted. I started to include more products made with refined flour and stopped trying to eat bajillion vegetables every day. I ordered the burger and fries over the fiber-filled salad and much to my surprise, not only did I feel less crazy around food, my stomach felt better too!
In hindsight (and with a masters degree in nutrition too!), I look back and can realize that I was eating much too much fiber and not enough fat, and my eating pattern was all over the place. But that was only because I was trying to follow the advice I was given for IBS. It took intuitive eating for me to realize that I could trust my body and find a way of eating that felt good to me.
With intuitive eating, I was asked to consider my own internal wisdom. For me to figure out what food felt best, I had to let go of the expectations I put on myself to “eat healthy” thanks to everything I learned from diet culture. For my IBS, what works best for me is not a diet rich in high-fiber foods. I feel best when I avoid foods like raw vegetables, fruits with skins, and tons of beans. I learned what’s best for me may go against conventional nutrition wisdom. Of course, this is not to say that fiber is bad for everyone. In fact, for many people, fiber helps with satiety, feeding healthy gut bacteria, stabilizing blood glucose levels, and may even be helpful for some people with IBS. What is important to remember is that nutrition and health are not one size fits all. Trusting our intuition and experience (and seeking help from trustworthy health professionals and dietitians when needed) can help you find what works best for you as an individual.
While I haven’t completely been completely cured of my digestive woes, I’ve definitely come a long way. And that’s OK! I now see stomach upset and bloating as part of being a human being, and I don’t freak out when I occasionally have digestive issues. Becoming more relaxed about my eating and listening to what my body really wanted was a great place for me to start.
IBS can have a huge impact on your relationship with food. If IBS symptoms are making feeding yourself stressful, we work with clients throughout the US on intuitive eating and gut health. Learn more about our practice philosophy here, and reach out if you’re interested in working together.
