Last week, I didn’t send out a newsletter from my website for the first time in five years. But, I had a very good reason. My son came off his motorbike at 100 kmph/62 mph and almost killed himself. With the catastrophic neck injuries he sustained, he should have been dead at the scene. After seven hours of surgery connecting his head back to his spine with metal plates, screws and bone grafts, he is called a miracle in the hospital. He also broke or injured several other parts of his body including a collapsed lung. So, I spent six days in a small 3m x 3m (10ft x 10ft) hospital room by his side not knowing if he would be paralyzed or die at any moment. Not great for my IBS symptoms! Mix stress, fear and terrible hospital food together in a bowl and you create a dramatic return to IBS symptoms like I haven’t felt in years. Pain, cramping, bloating and severe constipation – just when I sure didn’t need it. As a patient carer, I wasn’t allowed to use the toilets in the ward … [Read more...] about How My Son Detached His Head from His Spine at 100kph
fructmal friendly recipe
If the Low Fodmap Diet is not Working…
Those with IBS often try the low Fodmap diet by themselves but it is a complicated diet with many moving parts and they may not get it right. However, there could be something else going on too. In my video, I cover other possible complications that are preventing you from getting the results you want. Today, I'd like to talk to you about something that comes up every now and then. Somebody writes to me or it might be in the comments that they've tried the Low FODMAP diet, and it's not working for them. So what do they do next? First of all, before you give up on the diet, I want you to check a few things. First, that you've tried it correctly and really strictly for at least two weeks – if you only try for a few days, you might not see any difference. I also want you to look at that question of amounts, and combinations, and accumulation that I have made another video on. And just make sure that you're not eating too many vegetables at the same time, definitely never too many … [Read more...] about If the Low Fodmap Diet is not Working…
A Low Fodmap Year
This year has been incredible in many ways. My business has grown immensely and life is good. I will mention a few things here that 2016 brought to me and to many others through my work. I have had hundreds through my coaching programs returning a peaceful life to many who were in deep distress from their irritable bowel symptoms. I have run the free Life Balance Challenge three times this year with well over 1,000 participating. My website, Strands of My Life, now receives around 230,000 page views a month, reaching a substantial number of IBS sufferers and helping them with over 5 years of free recipes, articles and videos on IBS and the low Fodmap diet. My weekly newsletter goes out every Wednesday to over 12,000 subscribers. I have launched a brand new two-week workshop and run it successfully three times in 2016. The next one will be in February so make sure you get on the Early Bird list HERE. Just recently, I launched a customized meal plan service and many … [Read more...] about A Low Fodmap Year
Low Fodmap Christmas Recipes
Christmas is less than a week away and you may be scrambling for ideas on what to cook as your contribution for the Christmas family feast. Last week I wrote a article about tips for coping with a low Fodmap Christmas so do check them out, but today I will give you some specific recipes that include all the food groups just in case you can't eat anything else on offer. Tofu and Potato Salad for the vegetarians Greek Mousaka Spicy Potato Pie Chicken Prawn Salad Banana Cake Peanut Butter, Banana tarts … [Read more...] about Low Fodmap Christmas Recipes
5 Tips for Coping with a Low Fodmap Christmas Day
Christmas day can be fraught with difficulties or it can be enjoyable and fun. Those with IBS and who have found the miracle of the low Fodmap diet have more to prepare for than most. But there is no reason this can't be a special day for you too. Check out my five top tips for coping with a low Fodmap Christmas Day. It is in your best interest not to make a fuss about what you can and can’t eat or there could be some backlash with you ending up feeling bitter and twisted because your needs are not being taken into account by family members and friends. If your family are supportive, then let them know your main triggers like onion and garlic perhaps and then take the chance that the rest will be fine. Overwhelming them with dietary demands will usually end badly no matter how hard they try. This diet is the most complex one on earth so you can’t expect others to understand it in a five minute conversation. If yours is like our family, then you will be contributing something … [Read more...] about 5 Tips for Coping with a Low Fodmap Christmas Day
Why do those with IBS keep going back to health practitioners?
Those of us with IBS have spent an inordinate amount of time in the office of a variety of health practitioners from specialists to general doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, naturopaths, and even hypnotists, chiropractors and acupuncturists. And we keep going back again and again and following the same advice over and over again with no perceptible change in our symptoms. Crazy to expect a different result? Yes, it is. But I did it too – for decades. Now I go nowhere near them for my irritable bowel syndrome. For other things, sure. But not for IBS. However, having said that, over the years that I have been coaching the low Fodmap diet for IBS sufferers, I have seen a slow but distinct shift. A certain percentage (though nowhere near high enough) will now mention the low Fodmap diet to their patients. They know little to nothing about it except that they have perhaps seen it recently in a medical journal. But they are at least saying the words – Low Fodmap. And that is a … [Read more...] about Why do those with IBS keep going back to health practitioners?
