My life with IBS and my recovery, I was going to tell you a little bit about here. Some of this can also be found on Kostdoktorn's page as one of the most read health stories of 2016
I grew up in Denmark in the '70s and '80s. Denmark is, if possible, an even bigger gas station country than Sweden and I am therefore raised on porridge, sandwiches and rolls for breakfast, Danish sandwich for lunch and then some kind of home cooking for dinner (which included a stooor proportion of potatoes).
As a child, I was very small and thin and had difficulty eating – basically chewed the food dry and had a constantly malfunctioning stomach. Either too much and fast or far too rarely (i.e. in the toilet).
Can't even try to count the aisles I've sat in the toilet with stomach cramps or lying on the couch/bed in a fetal position with a stomach ache and cramps.
As an adult, I was diagnosed with IBS and I was told to increase the fibers. So now it was to pour inulin on the keyhole-labelled yogurt. Didn't it get any better for that?
Now we're in the 21st century and I had three children in the meantime. The weight crept up a little bit every time, but mostly as a comfort kilon – and my IBS thrived. Had days when I couldn't be far from the toilet and sometimes whole weeks when nothing happened at all and constantly bloated and gassy on it.
I tried to exclude all possible and impossible foods; lactose, gluten, soy, single foods (e.g. apple, leeks, cauliflower, onions…) and finally felt that it was not possible to eat anything at all – of course, what I ate would be low-fat and keyhole labelled.
The turnaround came in November 2008 when, during a googling on IBS, I found a notice that the exclusion of starch had been shown to have a good effect on IBS's symptoms.
I read up on starch in my food and concluded that this would require quite a big change as it means primarily removing cereals, pasta, rice and potatoes. And I loved my sandwiches and my potatoes?
I decided to give it a chance and on December 1 I re-put the diet and promised myself to give it until Christmas to let it take some time.
Then what happened? THREE (3) DAYS it took – then I suddenly felt that my stomach became calm and flat and no gases – and no toilet problems. I was completely lyrical and at the same time a little that no one had been able to figure this out before. 40 years of my life with IBS and then it was possible to fix in three days with the right diet!
Then what did I do? Instead of starchy products, I switched to eating more natural fat and replaced keyhole labelled products with full-fat products. Wow, what good food it was. At the beginning of 2009, I noticed that the weight started pointing upwards – otherwise a little kilos would have disappeared as soon as I removed the starch and added the fat.
I put two and two together and concluded that it was of course not a good combo to eat larger amounts of fat and then also eat sugary foods (could still get started on the loose candy from time to time). Removing the sugar from the food and whisking, I had found the diet I was made for and felt good about – I had found my way back to basics – what I prefer to call a speciesy diet, as I have removed the biggest food changes we have added to our culture here in the Nordic region for the last 4,000 years (of the more than a quarter of a million we have been Hunters/Collectors).
This diet I have eaten ever since and feel prime. My IBS is a fairy tale only and the stomach is calm and nice.
Then what am I eating? A LOT of vegetables, just enough protein (fish, seafood, eggs and meat) and so I eat the fat that is natural on the protein sources with olive oil ringed over the salad and food (when fried) fried in butter/ghee or coconut oil. A certain amount of dairy also finds its way to the stomach – then full-fat products and much of it classified as cheese in all its forms.
It's also the kind of food you'll find here on my blog – i.e. focus on real food, and what's the basis of my courses and advice if you choose to come to me for such things.
– and if you're looking for refreshing desserts and snacks based on sweeteners and other types of substitutes, look elsewhere than here.