Specialised and personalised dietary advice for relief of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms.

Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? Do you want to get back to enjoying life, socialising and eating out with your family and friends without the worry of the consequences? Well you've come to right place... 

IBS can be described as  a chronic and debilitating functional gut disorder, impacting on a persons quality of life. It is characterised by abdominal pain, bloating, flatulence (wind), cramps and change in bowel habit (constipation and/or diarrhoea predominant). 

First Line Advice:

Both dietary & lifestyle advice is aimed at identifying food and environmental triggers,  providing dietary advice in line with your symptoms. These include addressing potential external triggers, such as stress, anxiety, meal patterns and quality of meals. NICE 2008 (updated 2017) state that diet related assessment and advice should be given as part of the first line advice:

✓ Eat regular meals (three small meals and snacks between) and take time to sit, relax whilst eating (avoid rushing or eating on the go)

✓ Avoid missing meals or leaving long gaps between eating.

✓ Drink at least 8 cups of fluid per day, especially water or other non caffeinated drinks, for example herbal teas.

✓ Restrict black tea and/or coffee to 2-3 cups per day.

✓ Reduce intake of alcohol and carbonated drinks.

✓ It may be helpful to limit intake of high fibre food (such as wholemeal or highfibre flour and breads, cereals high in bran, and whole grains such as brown rice).

✓ Reduce intake of 'resistant starch' (starch that resists digestion in the small intestine and reaches the colon intact), which is often found in processed or recooked foods.

✓ It may be helpful to limit fresh fruit to 3 portions (80g) per day

✓ People with diarrhoea should avoid sorbitol, an artificial sweetener found in sugarfree sweets (including chewing gum) and drinks, and in some diabetic and slimming products.

✓ People with wind and bloating may find it helpful to eat oats (such as oatbased breakfast cereal or porridge) and linseeds (up to 1 tablespoon per day). 

It is useful to assess total amount and types of fibre if you have IBS; adjusting fibre intake, usually by reducing it, while monitoring the effect on symptoms to particular fibre may be useful. Insoluble fibre (i.e. bran) should be limited during this stage. If an increase in dietary fibre is advised, it should be soluble fibre such as ispaghula powder or foods high in soluble fibre (for example, oats) (NICE 2008). 

For more information on the management of IBS download this helpful pdf from the British Dietetic Association: https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/IBSfoodfacts.pdf 

Second Line Advice:

This is implemented when first line advice has already been implemented and satisfactory relief of symptoms has not been achieved,. This is known as the FODMAP diet (see 'The low FODMAP Diet' in services for more information). This diet is used to treat IBS related symptoms and has been scientifically proven to relief symptoms in 85% of patients with moderate-severe IBS. 

Here we will carry out an assessment to gather background information of the root causes and triggers of your IBS symptoms, alongside medical history, medications, stress levels, dietary habits and symptoms. This allows us to formulate a specialised dietary plan tailored to your needs with the aim to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life. This may also include lifestyle changes if symptoms are related to environmental triggers, for example, stress.

You will be provided with your full nutritional assessment, nutritional care plan and any potential support for getting further investigations and diagnosis via your GP (if not already completed) will be offered.

Follow up appointments will entail either First Line or Secondary Line dietary advice as stated below.

For more information on choosing the right plan for you, please see get in touch for a free, no obligation chat.