My IBS Journey Part II
Hot Fudge Avalanche
I've never eaten very healthy. I won't go into detail because it's quite embarrassing, but let's just say those habits followed me into my college years like a hot fudge avalanche. Fast food, Hot Pockets, Doritos… college staples, am I right? I didn't think much of what I was eating except that I felt like crap almost always. I figured everyone felt the same and to some extent I'm sure they did because who can live on fried food and quasi-pizza snacks and feel tip top? Food made me feel awful, so I barely ate. I only ate because I had to and not because I enjoyed eating.Now, it wasn't just the constant upset stomach; things were getting much worse. My body was sending out warning signals left and right. I had heartburn all the time which made me feel nauseous. I started to get these flutters in my chest. Two EKGs later and no answers. Although now I've read that heart palpitations could be a more serious symptom of IBS caused by the buildup of gas which puts pressure on your organs and makes your heart work harder to pump blood. Fun stuff.
Not the Stomach Flu…
After college, I landed an office job and my eating habits really went downhill, as if they could get any worse. One Christmas I remember everyone in my office was passing around a stomach flu and I was sure I had it. I felt awful all day at work and even missed holiday celebrations with family. Plagued with dizziness and nausea, I could barely look at my laptop or go on a car ride without getting the spins.Shortly after realizing I didn’t have the flu, I examined what I was eating, which was mostly convenience foods… greasy, sugar-packed, processed foods. I was getting about zero nutritional value from what I was eating. Now that I was focusing on what I was eating, I noticed a pattern emerge. When I ate fatty foods more than once a week I was guaranteed to wake up in the middle of the night sick to my stomach. It felt like the beginning of food poisoning, but after an hour or so curled up on the bathroom floor I’d recover.Things had to change.
Something Ominous This Way Comes
I changed my eating habits once and for all – not a crash diet, but a complete lifestyle change. Basically, I started tracking what I was eating and how much. I cut out about 70% of the sugar I was consuming and reduced my intake of convenience foods, which left me with mostly real food to eat – fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and dairy.Over the next two years I tracked everything I ate and drank and I exercised about 30 minutes a day, 3-5 times a week. I truly felt I was headed in the right direction. At first, I did start feeling better, but I still had a lot of the same issues. Of course, anyone would experience improvement if they cut out sugar and fast food. So, I went a step further - I experimented with what foods made me feel sickest and which ones were possibly safe. I started to lose weight, gain energy, sleep well, and above all, feel healthy. It was a start, two years in the making, but I still didn't feel well.Many symptoms eventually crept back, like heartburn, nausea, and a constantly upset stomach. All I could do was watch all my hard work crumble before me. At that point, I was getting desperate for answers, but had no idea what was wrong. From what I could tell, I was doing everything right. And that's when things went from bad to nightmarish.