How can the same diet work for pain, diarrhea, AND constipation?!

     The IBS diet is based on soluble fiber foods, and soluble fiber is magic. Why? Because unlike any other food category (fats, insoluble fiber, protein, etc.), it soothes and regulates the digestive tract, stabilizes the intestinal contractions resulting from the gastrocolic reflex triggered by eating, and normalizes bowel function from either extreme. That.s right . soluble fiber prevents and relieves both diarrhea and constipation. Nothing else in the world will do this for you. How is this possible? The "soluble" in soluble fiber means that it dissolves in water (though it is not digested). This allows it to absorb excess liquid in the colon, preventing diarrhea by forming a thick gel and adding a great deal of bulk as it passes intact through the gut. This gel (as opposed to a watery liquid) also keeps the GI muscles stretched gently around a full colon, giving those muscles something to easily "grip" during peristaltic contractions, thus preventing the rapid transit time and explosive bowel movements of diarrhea as well. By the same token, the full gel-filled colon (as opposed to a colon tightly clenched around dry, hard, impacted stools) provides the same "grip" during the muscle waves of constipation sufferers, allowing for an easier and faster transit time, and the passage of the thick wet gel also effectively relieves constipation by softening and pushing through impacted fecal matter. If you can mentally picture your colon as a tube that is squeezing through matter via regular waves of contractions, it.s easy to see how a colon filled with soluble fiber gel is beneficial for both sides of the IBS coin.

     As a glorious bonus here, normalizing the contractions of the colon (from too fast or too slow speeds) prevents the violent and irregular spasms that result in the lower abdominal cramping pain that cripples so many IBS patients. This single action alone is the reason I don.t eat anything on an empty stomach but soluble fiber. Ever. The only foods I want to trigger my gastrocolic reflex are soluble fiber, as that.s the only way I can keep those contractions (and thus my life) normal. I routinely snack on small quantities of soluble fiber foods all day long, every single day. If I don.t have a chance to eat or I.m not that hungry, I.ll take some Fibercon tablets or a glass of Metamucil or Citracel (these are all soluble fiber supplements . NOT laxatives). My goal is continual stability, and a steady ingestion of soluble fiber insures this. In the short run this strategy allows me to prevent problems from snack to snack and meal to meal, but in the end it adds up to long-term stability from day to day, week to week, and even month to month. I.ve never found a better method for completely preventing IBS symptoms than basing my diet on soluble fiber foods.

     You can keep your colon stabilized each and every day by basing all meals and snacks on soluble fiber foods.

Copyright © 2000 Heather Van Vorous