I am on a salicylate free diet but now also have IBS. I have been consuming a great deal of low salicylate fruit and veggies but these have has greatly increased my IBS with severe bloating pain discomfort. So what do I do? I am desperate! Can you advise me? I have severe reactions to amines and salicylates with mouth ulcers, violent sickness and cracked lips.
Dear Louise,
Having a IBS at the same time as the Low Chemical diet is the worst combination!! But you are not alone and I have been working on this increasingly for the last 40 years, but in detail for the last 15 years. It gets complicated as you have to decide where on earth to begin, and then how to gradually get a manageable group of foods to eat. So I wrote the book just for people like you. You can have plain hot potato chips while being careful.
The book is Your Diet for Your IBS using all my experience, combined with that of my very bright dietitian colleague, Ashleigh Jones. You need what we have designed: the Combined Low Chemical, Low FODMAPs Diet. We have even provided 10 options as the starting point including the one you probably want to begin with: Option 7: The Combined Diet which is low Chemical and Low FODMAPs. You may gradually look for detain on amines in option 10: the Amine Sensitive Diet.
You will just love it as the whole book is written so you get a step-by-step guide so you really feel that we understand the pain and complexity of IBS. With each option you are given lists of allowed foods with the important information of just how much of each food you can have and how often, at the beginning while you run your four-week trial. And we also give you a detailed meal plan for that option. While you are dealing with so much pain you might be extra careful with the amounts of foods allowed and how fresh they are.
Don’t feel disheartened! We have detail on how to test very low risk foods after four weeks to expand your diet over weeks and months. It does take the four weeks to get to some starting point. Your Diet for Your IBS also gives detail on how to manage if you have a loose gut, or if you have to manage constipation.
We really cover much in the book but you will manage better with the help of an experienced dietitian at the same time as reading the book. See if you can find one near you. I am fully retired now. (I do write articles every two weeks on this site.) You can also Google Ashleigh Jones as she does on-line appointments with Zoom.
Mouth ulcers make everything so much worse. You may be one of those who need to cook all fruit and veggies at first as the raw acidity, especially of the pear can be a big problem. You may even have to cook white, bland celery. (Notice how fussy I am about words when choosing foods. It is not just is it allowed or not allowed.) And you will learn to have the cooked pear spread over the day in 4 to 6 teaspoonfuls so you minimise the bloating, but still have some pear.
Your violent sickness and the very cracked lips worry me. Do make sure you are referred to a real gastroenterologist so you can tell him or her your story – particularly after reading Your Diet for Your IBS – so you know what to say is happening to you, knowing Ashleigh and I have seen it in others.
I am delighted that I can suggest information which you can have to download in five minutes after reading this. See http://foodintolerancepro.com/product/your-diet-for-your-ibs-ebook/ Note that you can then obtain the e-book. If you are the sort of person who likes a hard copy of the book to put your own notes in and highlight important ideas through the book, you can boy that option and you get a complimentary PDF as well, to read any time. The hard copy can be delivered anywhere in Australia. Or you can go to AmazonKindle and read to your heart’s content! I am so pleased this book is now available for people like you. All the best! Joan
That is a fantastic resource!!!
Especially as the low chemical diet seems so diametrically opposed to the fodmap/ibs one!
Thanks for making this available and for your kind approach to helping people like us out here!!
Dear D’anah, You haver highlighted the biggest problem when managing both Low chemical and Low FODMAPs diets. Remember that is at the beginning. When you do challenges, especially of all the FODMAPs groups, you find that you do not get bad symptoms with all of them, so your diet can be broader, and when you have reduced all the likely problem foods you can include an occasional favourite food spread over the meals of the day without getting the same level of symptoms. Everyone is different, and even different at different times, as I expect you know, so it is a juggling match! All the best. Joan