There are 4 major steps you must follow if you want to eliminate your IBS symptoms once and for all. Let one of them slide and your symptoms could return. Watch my video to uncover the secrets to a life free of IBS.
The 4 Steps to Eliminate Your IBS Symptoms
Today I’m going to give you an overall look at the four main steps that you have to take if you’re serious about eliminating your IBS symptoms
Step One
Your diet. We know now that the low FOBMAP diet helps 75% of people with IBS, and it helps them significantly to eliminate their symptoms. So, you have to get a handle on this diet and get it put in place correctly. It is a complex diet, so don’t give up too soon on it. It could be your savior.
Step Two
You must to get your stress under control. Even if your diet is perfect and you’re stressed, you will still have symptoms of IBS. I know that seems very unfair, but that’s just the way that our systems are made – they’re hypersensitive to stimuli of all kinds.
And the way to get stress under control is to use some very simple relaxation techniques that you can use throughout the day, like deep regular breathing which slows your heartbeat down and opens up the frontal cortex of your brain, which is the rationalizing, analyzing part of your brain. And you don’t want that closed especially when you’re at work or looking after children. You want that fully functioning. So, deep breathing exercises, visualization exercises, also muscle relaxation type exercises work brilliantly as long as you do them consistently and then employ them when you need them throughout the day if you’re feeling stressed.
Step Three
Get enough sleep. Most people don’t sleep enough and this is really, really important, not just for us, for everybody, but in particular, for those of us with irritable bowel syndrome because, as I said, we seem to be hypersensitive to all kinds of stimuli, including not getting enough sleep. Try to get eight hours of good quality sleep a night and do that by creating a before-bed routine that includes turning off your screens of all kinds at least an hour beforehand, not eating for three hours before, not drinking for an hour before and so on.
Step Four
Exercise is that thing that so many of us struggle with and we don’t really want to do. The key is to find something that you enjoy and then you’ll do it over and over again. And the other key is when you’re creating a habit of exercise – which is what you have to do, otherwise it will always be a struggle for you to do it – is to hook it onto something else which is a routine in your day. So, for example, it could be as soon as you come home from work, you change your clothes into your running gear and you go out running, or walking, or cycling, or whatever your activity is. So you’ve hooked it onto something that happens regularly every day at least five days a week. You can hook it onto whatever you want. It could be after breakfast, although I would leave about an hour after eating before you did exercise. Hook it on to something, and you will find that it becomes a habit much more quickly.
So those are your four steps that you have to take in order to eliminate your IBS symptoms: diet, stress control, sleep and exercise.
I have been working with my naturalpath doctor and your FODMAP / Strands of My Life site using all your suggested techniques with much success. It’s been a year now that I watch my diet (gluten free, fodmap amounts and no cow’s milk) I still take an iodine and Vit D supplement. But my question is in regards to removing the probiotic now and the vitamins and the magnesium citrate. Are all the other supplements necessary or will removing these items from the diet trigger an IBS -C event? (I have had all the muscle testing completed for the supplements I take, but I am just looking for another opinion.) I enjoyed reading the 4 steps to eliminating IBS as it is exactly what I had to do.
I exersize 5 days a week at a high intensity level, get about 8 hours of sleep a night, watch the diet with every food nibble I take and keep the stress to a minimum by never over planning.
If you are eating an extended low Fodmap diet after having completed the reintroduction diet, you shouldn’t need supplements.
It is unsure whether probiotics help or not so you have to make that decision. You could try without it for a while and see how you are. If nothing changes over a month or so, then you probably don’t need it.
The magnesium will be helping your constipation. Again, you could try reducing it gradually while watching your BMs very closely.
It sounds like you are doing everything well, so congratulations on your success.