Do you have trouble eating with IBS and are worried that you might not be getting the vitamins and vital nutrients you need to stay healthy with IBS – and might need IBS vitamins or food supplements?
When you are limited with what you can eat (which, let’s face it, most of us with IBS are), it’s normal to be concerned about how you can get more vitamins and minerals in an attempt to stay healthy.
After all, we have all been taught how important a healthy diet is. How we need our vitamins and minerals for our body to function well, and that to get them we need to eat a wide range of foods.
When you can consume only a limited number of foods, how can you get more vitamins and stay healthy with IBS?
Vitamin pills or IBS food supplements may be an option. If you can digest them.
But what other options are there?
How will my limited IBS diet impact my future health?
As I had trouble eating with IBS, this was a burning question for me. I had fructose and lactose intolerance for as long as I could remember. So I wasn’t getting any of milk and fruit for most of my life.
Then as my IBS got worse I found my diet becoming more and more limited. And I was worried about not getting enough vitamins and vital nutrients to stay healthy.
I tried different IBS vitamins and food supplements, but I couldn’t digest those either!
[To tell you a secret, I was convinced deep down I would die quite young.]
Do I need IBS food supplements or vitamins?
I have now fully recovered from IBS – but I wondered if there would be consequences of having had a limited diet for so many years.
Consequences of missing out on a wide range of foods, and a wide range of nutrients over a very long period of time.
I did lose a tooth with each pregnancy. And this prompted me to start drinking use mineral water rich in calcium and magnesium to supplement my needs.
I also made sure to get outside and walk often and boost vitamin D levels.
However, to my great surprise I haven’t had any other obvious consequences. My body seems to appreciate the wide range of food I can now eat and digest perfectly. Even milk and fruit.
And my body has bounced back surprisingly quickly with no known after-effects or deficiencies.
Having said this, only YOU know how YOU feel.
How can I get more vitamins and nutrients with IBS
If you want to get more vitamins and minerals into your body and want to stay healthy with IBS, I would suggest the following:
- no “forcing” so-called “healthy” foods on your delicate digestive system. (You can’t absorb many nutrients from foods that inflame your digestive tract.)
- cooking simple, quality ingredients that you digest the best from scratch
- getting exercise outdoors if you can to boost vitamin D levels (reported to be low in many IBS sufferers)
- supplementing where possible depending on which foods you cannot digest (or compensating with different foods if this is an option)
- not getting over-anxious about this (worrying won’t actually help). Your body is probably much better than you thought at balancing all this
If you need help or are anxious about WHAT to eat, contact an IBS-specialised dietitian. Someone that will understand that what you can’t digest, you just can’t digest. And will not be forcing “healthy”foods on you.
Important: Vitamin B12 and folate deficiency
According to the NHS, symptoms of vitamin B12 or folate deficiency actually include diarrhoea, indigestion and anxiety. Deficiency in vitamin B12 can also cause other symptoms that you may be experiencing. Check out the detailed article on IBS, B12 and folate deficiency here.
Vitamin B12 is known to play a major role in the nervous system. B12 and folate (B9) are both used to create red blood cells and help absorb iron.
This vitamin is stored in our liver, and used when necessary. However, it is possible for it to become depleted.
A deficiency may arise if you are not consuming enough of these in your diet because of IBS. But you can have a varied diet and have trouble absorbing nutrients into your system.
So do consult a doctor and get regular blood tests done where necessary. Vitamin B12 can be taken in the form of injections into the blood stream – where it doesn’t have to be digested.
A very curious story
To finish with I’d like to share a very curious story with you that goes against mainstream thinking.
My daughter went on exchange to Seville, Spain.
When the class came back they were all craving fruit and veg (very strange for teenagers)
They said that the families in Seville didn’t eat much in the way of fruit and veg at all. And they hadn’t had any while they were away.
And this was actually confirmed when the teenagers from Seville came to stay with us.
Even the adults accompanying them didn’t have anywhere near 5 fruit and veg – per week!
Yet the population in Seville is still stays healthy and thriving – without all the usual vitamins and minerals we are told we need…
And they are not taking vitamins or food supplements. But they are getting out into the sun.
What if the body is in fact very capable of adapting to the nutrients it receives? And will nudge us to eat what it needs too?
Maybe we have been taught to make more of this than is actually necessary… and you will be OK.
If you ARE worried and feel something is off, do consult your doctor and get regular blood tests done.
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