Is IBS…BS?

For me, the diagnosis certainly was, years ago, before I found Paleo in 2005, and when I was suffering on a daily basis from excruciating abdominal pain and GI issues, despite eating what I thought was a healthy diet.

I was reminded of this today when, amongst all the other junk email I see in my inbox on a daily basis, I saw an ad for participants needed for a new IBS study.

Think they’re going to test the subject to see if they improve by going Paleo?  Ha! Not by a long shot.   Chances are better than not that it’s for yet another new medication to accompany the same, tired and ridiculous advice given to me such as ‘don’t eat any vegetables; they’re too hard to digest’ and ‘make sure to eat lots of plain toast and steamed rice to soothe your stomach’.

As if.

A client of mine, who happens to be an MD told me quite openly that the diagnosis of IBS is all too often used as a catch-all, when the doctor doesn’t exactly know what the cause of gastrointestinal issues including bloating, gassiness, cramping, diarrhea and constipation and various permutations thereof.

Lovely.

I speak from personal experience and don’t view the fact that I dealt with this for years as anything other than a gift; it brought me to Paleo, changed my life and now I have the amazing opportunity to share this knowledge with others.

Whatever it is you’re suffering from, IBS or nothing remotely related to it…do yourself a favor and tune into what you’re eating.  It may require thinking outside the box just a little and reconsidering foods that you were brought up to consider as healthy choices (hello, whole wheat) but it’s so incredibly worth it.