Limit Your Greens
Oh yes! You heard me right, whilst other diets encourage lots of leafy greens, this is just not the IBS-gut friendly way I’m afraid.
Leafy Green Veg: like all salad greens, cabbage, kale and fresh herbs: Yes all greens should be avoided when your IBS is unstable and eaten with caution when you are stable. These groups of foods are hard to digest in general (for everyone) and are HIGH in INSOLUBLE fibre. They are ‘fibrous’ leaves which are hard to ‘mash’ and therefore difficult for the IBS-gut to break down and hence cause gas, wind and bloating on top of gut spasms.
If your condition is chronic, or you have had a relapse then this is among the first list of foods which you should eliminate. You may be able to eat most of these later on when you are stable BUT this is a group of foods I like to call the ‘gas builders’.
The secret is to eat them in moderation (when you are stable), limited to a few times a week (maybe like twice for lunch and twice for dinner) with a gap in between and NEVER on an empty stomach!
An interesting one – what do you think?
#greenveg #eatyourgreens #ibshelp #healyourgut #ibsvitality
Thanks for this post. Everything you said applies to me but I see so many IBS posts where people say they eat “eat a big salad” and my stomach almost reacts just reading it. When I can tolerate a small salad it is still critical that I have starch and protein with it. So glad to have this written out supporting my experiences and explaining that my gut instincts are valid.
I hear you Kat – there have been times when the thought of salad filled me full of dread (and wind lol)!!! Even now with a stable gut, if I was to say have a salad every day for lunch for a week, I could probably tolerate about 3 days but by the end of the week I would be really sick.
Over the years I’ve been able to work out which types of leafy greens I can tolerate better – so for example iceberg lettuce is always a big gassy no no, but I can do small amounts of rocket, chards and spinach. Same with white cabbage a no no, but sometimes some red cabbage is ok and I can handle broccoli. And like you – I ALWAYS have a salad or greens as ‘part’ of my meal, like a portion, and with some form of carbs and protein! Oh and never eat your greens on an empty stomach, eat the carb part of the meal first!!