Sophia was fed up with IBS ruining her life, "it's a nightmare!" Over 3 months working with me hear how Sophia was able to:

• calm down her digestion through adding more food, not cutting out more
• find the energy to exercise again
• change her relationship to food so that it wasn't a battleground
• reduce episodes of diarrhoea, bloating and headaches through diet and lifestyle changes.

Work with me

• 3 month Gut Reset - https://www.goodnessme-nutrition.com/consultations/
• Book a discovery call about working with me - https://calendly.com/annamapson/30min

Ready for your gut reset? 🌍 I work with clients worldwide, providing remote consultations and a wealth of educational resources.

Instagram - @goodnessme_nutrition

The information in this podcast is not medical advice and is not designed to treat, diagnose or provide personalised health advice. This podcast content is information only and any changes you make are at the user's own risk. Please consult with your doctor or healthcare provider before implementing any new treatment.

My life is a nightmare.

2

This is what Sophia said

to me when we first spoke.

3

She was struggling with

bloating, frequent diarrhoea,

4

and also wanting to lose weight.

5

She felt in a real muddle.

6

Working at a restaurant meant she

had a really erratic schedule and

7

couldn't plan her food intake.

8

Or her working pattern, that was affecting

her sleep and anxiety was pretty high.

9

Here, how Sophia got on top of her

symptoms to say by the end of working with

10

me over the three month period, I know

what works, I know how to control my IBS.

11

So let's hear how Sophia did it.

12

Welcome to episode 74 of the Inside

Knowledge podcast for people with IBS.

13

I'm Anna Mapson.

14

I picked this study today because

I think some of you might be able

15

to relate to that opening phrase

that I used at the beginning.

16

My life feels like a nightmare.

17

You're just going round in circles.

18

You don't know what to eat and

yet you have to eat to keep going.

19

And when you don't have a regular

pattern of eating and meals and bowel

20

habits, it can get real muddling in

terms of understanding your symptoms.

21

So she came to see me very

confused, but also very run down.

22

When you have high anxiety, And she'd

had anxiety since she was a child.

23

You get this chronic kind

of tiredness as well.

24

Well, not everyone, but

a lot of people will.

25

You feel very exhausted.

26

Because if you think physically, your

body, when you're anxious, you're

27

holding on to a lot of tension.

28

And that is just in itself draining.

29

Plus you've got all those repetitive

thoughts and sort of worry circling

30

around your head and it can also,

of course, affect your sleep.

31

So that was kind of running through

the background of her symptoms.

32

But her main digestive problems

were really painful haemorrhoids

33

and alternating between

constipation and diarrhoea, but

34

much more predominantly diarrhoea.

35

So loose stools, type 6 or 7, that

were kind of watery, always mushy.

36

And also bloating.

37

She felt like everything she

ate was just bloating her.

38

Other big problems that Sophia

had was frequent headaches and she

39

had water retention in her legs.

40

She worked in a restaurant and she had

quite long shifts and she was a waiter.

41

So she was running around all

day, going to serve food and

42

also working in the kitchens,

43

.

So on her feet a lot.

44

And by the end of the day, her legs

would feel quite So she was really

45

struggling with that and running

alongside all of this, she was aiming

46

to lose a little bit of weight.

47

She wanted to feel a

bit better in her body.

48

body as well because partly down to

her symptoms, her lack of energy,

49

she was not really exercising either.

50

So that is where she started.

51

She felt like she just wanted to reach

out and get someone to guide her through

52

this because just feeling very lost,

confused, and just fed up of her symptoms.

53

She just wanted something to change

and thought working with someone

54

who dealt with IBS and specialised

in that was what she needed.

55

When I first got into the details of

working with Sophia, she completed her

56

diet diary, which just shows me what's

a normal week, what she has been eating.

57

I noticed that she

wasn't eating breakfast.

58

She would have normally a croissant

and coffee on the way to work, or

59

she might just have something like

cornflakes with oat milk at home if

60

she wasn't going straight into work.

61

Because of her different shifts at

work some days she would work quite

62

late and then want to sleep in a

little bit more because she needed

63

to make up the time, so her breakfast

time was different every day.

64

But other times she was doing, a split

shift, where she was doing some work,

65

from lunchtime onwards, then have a little

break, and then do the evening shift.

66

So very, very hard working person.

67

But, overall, as well as not eating

breakfast, she was sometimes skipping

68

dinner, and that was because she

would finish quite late and not

69

really feel like eating much.

70

There was kind of a culture in her

restaurant of not really feeding yourself

71

and not really looking after yourself.

72

Sometimes the workers used to all

hang out and have a takeaway together.

73

But it was always things like pizza or an

Indian takeaway which was quite rich and

74

full of, typical IBS triggers like garlic

and, wheat and those kind of things.

75

Her diet was also restricted because

she had in the back of her mind

76

that she wanted to lose weight.

77

So partly she was restricting because

of time and the lack of forward thinking

78

which was made worse by her anxiety.

79

So it was very hard for her to plan

ahead and think oh what am I going

80

to make, what am I going to eat on

Tuesday when I've got that split shift

81

at work, I'm going to be out from 12

o'clock to, midnight, a whole 12 hours.

82

What am I going to eat?

83

It was really hard for

her to plan that ahead.

84

And just to think about her

body and what her needs were.

85

She struggled to see food as

part of a self care importance.

86

Nourishing yourself and eating was

at the bottom of her priority list.

87

So, she wanted to get rid of the symptoms,

but she didn't really see eating a

88

good, balanced diet and supporting

your body with nutrients was a part

89

of that and it's part of self care.

90

So, something else we were working on is

actually, what things do you do in your

91

life that actually make you feel good?

92

Do you ever, you know,

have a nice bath to relax?

93

Do you ever buy yourself a nice

hand cream that smells lovely?

94

You know, things that

are good for your body.

95

that actually help you feel like

you're looking after yourself.

96

When people get into this state where

everything's bad, like your digestive

97

symptoms are causing you pain and

embarrassment and just feeling very

98

uncomfortable all the time, obviously

that can increase anxiety in itself.

99

But I sometimes find with people

that you get to this point where

100

it's almost like you don't want to.

101

to listen to your body anymore

because you've had so many bad

102

messages coming from your body.

103

There's not been anything really good

coming back to the brain about your

104

experience of the world in your body.

105

And so kind of dampening all that down and

thinking, well, I just try to minimize it

106

and try to live more kind of in my head.

107

And I think that was the case for Sophia.

108

She was just trying to.

109

avoid food because she wanted to lose

weight, but she was also not really

110

wanting to trigger the symptoms and

didn't really see the benefits of eating.

111

And so on that basis, she

had cut out a lot of carbs.

112

Now carbs are something that can

trigger people, especially when

113

you eat a lot of bread products.

114

So someone who eats a lot of cereal,

pasta, sandwiches, that kind of thing, she

115

had already cut a lot of those foods out.

116

So one of the first things we worked on

was trying to eat three regular meals a

117

day and with the caveat that they were not

going to be at the same time every day.

118

She was not someone who had the same

working pattern, so of course her

119

timings were going to be different.

120

But I also wanted to stress that if you're

not eating enough food, it's very hard

121

to feel good mentally and physically.

122

We had a lot of conversations about

how you can actually sometimes eat more

123

food and still lose weight if you're

choosing the right kinds of foods.

124

So we worked a lot on how to increase the

foods that would help her feel nourished,

125

feel supported, and so I started

with Encouraging low FODMAP fibres.

126

These were some vegetables that she could

increase, so things like spinach, she was

127

getting on well with spinach and eggs,

, also some grains like quinoa, rice.

128

These are not rapidly fermentable,

generally quite well tolerated, and just

129

to give her the right levels of support

to try and help her feel nourished.

130

Some of the other first level Dietary

interventions that we did, so was

131

upping her low FODMAP fibres, including

those grains, increasing protein as

132

well, so eating breakfast, it was

to add something that had protein.

133

So cornflakes are typically low in

protein, and especially if you're

134

having them with a plant based

milk, such as oat milk, which she

135

was because she was avoiding dairy.

136

That's a really low protein breakfast.

137

The same if you're just

grabbing a croissant and a

138

coffee on your way to work.

139

There's no protein in that.

140

And then you're starting the day

and you're running around all

141

day on your feet, really busy.

142

That in itself can increase anxiety.

143

Operating from a basis of no, like,

support for your brain can increase

144

anxiety because your body is reacting

to a lack of available glucose and

145

it's going to put your body into

a bit of a high state of alert.

146

in order for you to seek out

food, it's trying to wake you up

147

and say, go and search for food.

148

And obviously this person was working

in an environment surrounded by food

149

all day, but was choosing not to eat and

choosing not to, think ahead about food.

150

She was also getting quite

frequent headaches and that came

151

up probably a couple of weeks in

that the headaches, were really

152

seeming to get worse for a time.

153

So as I broke down actually how much

water she was drinking, she was not

154

really having enough liquid and part

of that was in order to avoid having to

155

go to the toilet all the time at work.

156

But when you're working for almost

12 hours and not having many breaks,

157

not feeding yourself, That is a

recipe for getting a headache.

158

You can also get headaches from very low

blood sugar because, again, your body

159

is just like running out of glucose,

being dehydrated and being under

160

fuelled can also lead to headaches.

161

Now, the other thing that she was

doing was taking painkillers for the

162

headaches, but also for really bad period

pains that were coming up every month.

163

So we had a good chat about how, The

non steroidal anti inflammatory

164

drugs like ibuprofen can affect your

gut if you take them repeatedly.

165

So, once she tried to avoid the

painkillers, unless it was really bad,

166

and also thought about alternatives to the

non steroidal anti inflammatories, then

167

she started to get less of the diarrhoea.

168

She also did a little bit

of work on mindful eating.

169

Things like chewing your food really well.

170

And I introduced to her This idea of

taking a bitters tincture before the meal

171

to help stimulate your digestive juices.

172

Not everyone likes this, but you can

either get like a mouth spray or just

173

some little drops that you put into

water and it's very bitter and that

174

helps to just stimulate your digestive

juices if you take it just before a

175

meal, like 10, 15 minutes before you eat.

176

The reason for that to kickstart her

digestive juices was that because she was

177

in this sort of ongoing state of stress.

178

I felt that her stomach acid could

be potentially quite low and also

179

because of some of the symptoms

in terms of the maldigestion of

180

foods and her fast transit time.

181

I also helped her with, some

specific probiotics that I

182

thought would be helpful for her.

183

symptoms.

184

And also we looked at some calming

magnesium glycinate, which is quite

185

good for the nervous system and for

helping her with sleep and sort of

186

relaxation at the end of the day.

187

By adding in some low FODMAP vegetables

and fruits, And actually upping her fibre

188

intake that she'd been so worried about.

189

She did manage to start regulating

her bowel movements and having

190

less episodes of diarrhoea.

191

She would still get these episodes

kind of half way through our three

192

month program working together.

193

Around six weeks in, she was

getting less episodes of that.

194

Less pain in her stomach and

less of those occasions where she

195

had to just dash to the toilet.

196

But she found it was worse

when she had more, , wheat.

197

foods so one day for example She went

away with her partner and they had like a

198

beef lasagna, which had obviously lots of

things in it like Garlic and cheese and

199

wheat and all kinds of maybe fatty meats

so that was okay, but then the next day

200

she had some bread and cheese, and she

didn't know whether it was a combination,

201

but like, having a lot of bread and a

lot of cheese in two days didn't go well.

202

And then she did have pain, she had

that repeated recurrence of dashing

203

to the loo and frequent diarrhoea.

204

She thought that maybe it was just

that she'd been too relaxed when

205

she went away and she'd seen some

improvement, gone away for a few days

206

and then thought, oh actually maybe

I am okay and I can eat what I like.

207

Because this client, I didn't say go

on the low FODMAP diet and cut out

208

fibres, because she'd already restricted

quite a lot and I was really keen not

209

to restrict her from anything else,

but where we were trying to increase

210

fibre, was just choosing the things

that were naturally low FODMAP so that

211

she could start increasing vegetables

without going overboard and potentially

212

triggering her symptoms again.

213

I also worked through with her

a couple of things that she

214

could prepare and take to work.

215

So she wasn't working seven days a

week, although there were weeks when

216

we were together that she was probably

doing like a 10 day streak with no days

217

off, so she was really working so hard.

218

But, when she did have a day off,

obviously she wanted to relax and to enjoy

219

exercising again and try and get out.

220

But also, we worked on how to

quickly prepare some meals that

221

could either be frozen in advance

and then kept and brought out to

222

have those times when she was at work

she could have something healthy.

223

the in her bag that

she could just get out.

224

So it was things like having ready

cooked pouches of rice and quinoa.

225

And you don't have to cook

everything from scratch.

226

Sometimes buying things that are

ready chopped, if that helps you

227

to be quick in order to eat more

healthily, then that's completely fine.

228

Buy chopped up carrots.

229

things like butternut squash

can be quite challenging to

230

prepare because they're so hard.

231

So if that's putting you off eating

it, By all means, buy it ready cut up.

232

It's, like, all the small steps that

can help you to eat a better diet

233

if there are barriers in your way.

234

It's going to feel more challenging, so if

you choose to buy ready cooked meals that

235

are healthy or ready cooked ingredients,

then there's no problem with that at all.

236

We also talked through what

opportunities there were for

237

her to cook quick meals at work.

238

She was allowed to do that in between

some of the main serving shifts So

239

things like making egg and spinach,

which was very quick, going to give

240

you a little bit of vegetables, some

protein, and then bringing some of

241

those grains in, that kind of thing,

trying to work through the options,

242

like what is available to you, what

would be healthy, what would be ideal,

243

and then what compromises can you make.

244

So we worked through a lot of that.

245

together.

246

As her digestive symptoms calmed down,

she began to get back into exercising.

247

And she said, I know I love exercising,

I really enjoy it, but at that time

248

when she started with me, she just

couldn't remember that she loved it.

249

Like it wasn't appealing,

it felt too hard.

250

The Fatigue was intense and she really

couldn't bear to start exercising,

251

but once her symptoms calmed down

She got a little bit more energy

252

back and then she was able to go

out and start exercising again.

253

So she just bought some small weights

and would do a little bit before work

254

at home And she also started walking a

little bit further with her dog and sort

255

of Exercising a bit more like a faster

walk a bit longer duration So that was

256

really really helpful in managing the

anxiety, you know, things like getting

257

outside is very good for us when we

are feeling stressed and worried and

258

actually just seeing the daylight,

seeing the horizon, it's very calming.

259

Sophia was still getting this problem

with water retention in her legs

260

at the end of a very long shift.

261

And she was asking me whether she

should take a diuretic supplement

262

to try and get rid of it.

263

I wanted to focus a little bit

more on getting some of those key

264

electrolytes naturally through food.

265

So for example, we do need electrolytes

like potassium, sodium, and magnesium.

266

Now, she was taking a magnesium

supplement and potassium is really widely

267

available in vegetables and fruits.

268

So, the more variety she got in, I

felt like that was supportive for that.

269

But we also talked about, um, vitamin C

and zinc foods such as seafood, meats,

270

uh, pumpkin seeds, as well as things that

support your circulation like ginger,

271

Garlic, although garlic was still a bit

of an issue for her when it was in high

272

amounts But that was a goal for her to

start reintroducing garlic so those kind

273

of things supporting your circulation, but

also thinking about structural integrity

274

of tissues like collagen production

type nutrients like zinc and vitamin

275

c And also drinking sufficient water.

276

So getting enough liquid in

Counter intuitively actually

277

can help with water retention.

278

When your body is a little bit

dehydrated there are cases where

279

you can actually cling on to more

water and become more puffy as your

280

body is trying to retain that water.

281

She had had blood tests

by the way at the doctor.

282

They had ruled out things like any

problems with her kidneys, with her

283

liver, and if you have any unknown

causes of your oedema, that's

284

like the swelling in your legs.

285

Like for her, it was definitely down

to long shifts being on her feet all

286

day and standing up for long periods.

287

But if you have swelling, then please

do make sure you get that checked out

288

with a doctor because there are other

concerns that could be causing it.

289

So, really important to just clarify that.

290

At the end of working together,

it was really nice to hear

291

her say, I can control my IBS.

292

I know what I have to do.

293

She didn't completely clear her IBS.

294

I just want to be upfront with that.

295

Like she had loads of things she

still had to work on by the end of

296

three months together, but she knew

what they were and she knew how to

297

control it, but also how to keep

reintroducing foods or testing things out.

298

And she knew the basics of a

healthy diet that suited her

299

digestion and suited her issues.

300

She initially told me that she

wanted to lose weight whilst

301

we were working together.

302

And although her weight didn't change

throughout that time, she did feel that

303

her legs and her hips were thinner.

304

The weight on the scale was the same,

but actually, That's what most people

305

mean when they say they want to lose

weight, is they want to have a body

306

shape that they feel comfortable with.

307

So it's just about things like your

clothes fitting more comfortably.

308

She was happy with that.

309

She was eating more and she

was not putting on weight.

310

And that was because she was eating

different foods and eating enough

311

food to keep her going rather than

that sort of erratic famine and

312

feast cycle with not eating much

and then eating a big takeaway.

313

That was more regular for her

and she just felt like she

314

understood her body a lot more.

315

So I was really happy by the end,

to hear her say, I think about

316

food now, I think about what I can

eat and it doesn't stress me out.

317

She was happy to think about what

food was needed for her body and also

318

to see it as part of something that

was important for keeping her going.

319

It's not just something to keep the hunger

at bay so you can get on to the next meal.

320

Now I find this happens with people who

work in kitchens sometimes, and if you've

321

ever worked in a restaurant maybe you have

been sick of food at that point as well.

322

You don't feel like cooking

yourself a nice fancy meal when

323

you get home, when you've been

serving for others all day long.

324

So she said by the end that she thought

maybe she did have a problem with food

325

and she had reflected on that over weeks

and months of small conversations about

326

what does food mean to you, like how

can we change some of those attitudes

327

to food and to fueling yourself.

328

So it felt like a really nice ending,

but obviously she still had lots to

329

carry on with and lots to work on,

but everything was calmer and more

330

peaceful and And she had a plan.

331

And I think that is the benefit

that you get when you're working

332

with somebody on a one to one basis.

333

Somebody who has a lot of

time to listen to you and

334

understand your particular needs.

335

If that feels like something you

would benefit from, you can join my

336

three month gut reset where I work

with people over three months and

337

you get eight different calls with

me over the three months, plus an

338

hour and a half to begin where I take

all your health history and really

339

understand your issues up front.

340

And then that creates the

plan that we work towards.

341

And because it's three months work,

we can change the plan as we go

342

depending on the results and is it

getting you to where you want to be.

343

If you want to investigate working

with me further, please do check out

344

my website and also you can book a call

with me via the link in the show notes.

345

I always love hearing from people as well.

346

So if you've got a topic you would

like me to speak about on the Inside

347

Knowledge podcast for people with IBS,

then please feel free to send me an email.

348

I love hearing from my podcast listeners.

349

And on that note, I would love it if

you would rate the podcast, please.

350

It really, really does

help me and I can see.

351

A few people have left some comments

recently that have been great.

352

So if you're on Apple Podcasts,

you can leave a review on Spotify.

353

You can rate it by

clicking on the three dots.

354

So please, please do that if you can.

355

Thank you for listening to this episode

of the Inside Knowledge podcast.

356

Better digestion for everyone.