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For 8 long years, I have been battling increasingly frequent and intense gut pain. My symptoms are often referred to collectively as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or Leaky Gut . For chronic sufferers, we have been shown to experience from the same level of causal discomfort a higher intensity of suffering than someone who doesn't regularly suffer. When I suffer from it badly, I can't socialise, I am moody and very self-pitiful. Added to the horridness of the situation is not really knowing how to manage it - all diets have let me down and medical reports have sent me conflicting reports that have left me thoroughly confused. Image taken from the wonderful Kettle & Fire website Ah yes, confusion. I have been very confused recently! If you add to the mix that I am a confessing Christian, you know, the kind who actually believes in the power of a good God to interact on our behalf, then that confusion can actually get worse. Many people who believe in God and his

My new unpleasant lesson for the day (for me, obviously): Don't touch Ice pops !! Remember all the lessons I learned with drinks and juices, one of my strongest and most unpleasant reactions? Same applies here.

Hi folks, just a quick note to share a hard lesson I've been learning recently about experimentation. If I look back about a week or so ago after a "good run", I was starting to feel a bit more confident in trying out some things I felt I really should test. These included pureed apple and soy yoghurts. I did experiments of both within a 2 day period. Combine that with some stress around birthday, an important midweek meeting to do with work, and some anxiety about a deeply personal issue of faith and I was all set for a deeper level of gut instability and suffering that can no longer be traced to food item A B or C. Don't do it! Also comma consider limiting experimentation to maybe two new items per week and integrate good conditions that are necessary for successful experimentation on a very sensitive gut, such as sleep and peacefulness. Be patient, we have all our lives to work out these details. Thanks for reading.

It's difficult not to get too excited too quickly, but this week has been my best week in ages. It began on Monday, Tuesday... Years ago, I had thought I might be gluten-intolerant, maybe have Caeliac's disease or something. However, all the tests ruled that out, and I've never really found any relief in gluten-free products. But I've never, ever questioned the category generally of carbs. Until now. In my previous post I began to sketch why the FODMAP process can be unhelpful, the big realisation being that cheese, no matter how little lactose it has left in it, has just the same impact on Casein intolerances (I have a detailed post about this in my drafts, coming soon). Since then, and on the plus side, I have noticed that apple purée appears ok and so do cooked onion and garlic. I can also generally eat more fruit than the FODMAP diet advises. Perhaps I'll be able to reintroduce later, but I'm currently down to a tiny sprinkle of carbs at some meals

Hey folks, fellow IBS-sufferers and friends! I'd like to share a good audio resource for our personal foodsmapping (still trying to come up with a better word that includes beverages in the idea, see post 1 ):  The Gut Loving Podcast , with Laura Tilt and Huelya Akyuez. They've just done an episode on the "F" word, by which, of course, they mean F I B R E Along with protein, this represents some challenges. For instance, those who try to follow FODMAP diets, may have been encouraged to try lentils, quinoa, ground linseed. For me, these number among the most clear triggers of my discomfort (jumping off the discomfort scale onto the pains-scale!). But as GLP emphasise, it is important to keep our eyes set on moving on from elimination phases to reintroduction phases. For instance, I am not at all sure that cooked apple or onion have even the slightest effect on me. They're up for reintroduction soon now I have hit my 62kg goal (I wasn't prepared

Although  I have yet to experience any major breakthrough in weightgain, my broken collarbone is finally, after five months of difficulty, allowing me some physical activity again. This importantly includes household chores, driving and.... drumroll... RUNNING! Toward the end of today's 5K gentle run, having eaten or drunken nothing at all, from around end of morning and a successful breakfast, I felt a not-unfamiliar stomach tightness arrive. Obviously it is familiar, but what I mean is that I remember this from my running days - I have not been running regularly for 5 years, but I have had stomach issues for nearly double that. The point is: hydrating myself sufficiently to avoid this. When I specialised more in distance running at speed, I managed to teach myself to prepare in such a way that I did not dehydrate too much by ensuring during the hour prior to the activity I was drinking quite a lot. The point is with running, is that a lot of inexperienced runners, regardless