IBS patients can find it difficult to maintain their weight due to dietary restrictions and/or diarrhoea. There is a useful guide to what is considered a healthy weight here.
If you are underweight, here are some tips to help you increase weight:
- Try to eat more food, more often with less meal spacing. Ordinarily I would recommend spacing out meals to help the MMC (migratory motor complex) to run. This sweeps food from the small intestine to the large intestine during fasting. However, this could be counterproductive if you are trying to gain weight.
- Eat carbohydrates that you are more able to tolerate such as:
- White jasmine rice. This is pure calories and very easily digested. It gets completely digested in the small intestine leaving no residue for the colon. Note that some types of rice (such as Basmati) contain resistant starch some of which would be undigested and end up in your colon.
- Low FODMAP and/or gluten free grains (if you are intolerant to wheat). This can include buckwheat pasta, gluten free pastas, quinoa and buckwheat flakes. Some of these are more fibrous than others, so you will need to test for your own tolerance. Some sufferers are more tolerant to oats than wheat, so porridge made with full fat or dairy free milks are good for breakfast and even as extra snack meals. Oat amazake is a form of highly digestible fermented oats. I mix this with buckwheat flakes and add in tolerated fruits as a snack.
- Squash and pumpkin. There are different types of squash and pumpkin products listed on the Monash University FODMAP app with their various low FODMAP serving sizes.
- Beans and pulses (thoroughly rinsed when canned) – see Monash University FODMAP app for low FODMAP quantities if necessary.
- High fat varieties of dairy (e.g. hard cheeses) or lactose free dairy if necessary. Note that some sufferers will be intolerant to cheese due to the whey or casein protein content rather than lactose.
- Semi-skimmed or whole milk or lactose free varieties.
- Nuts. These can be ground in a coffee grinder to make them more digestible. Nuts add fibre, so gradually increase the amount.
- Eggs.
- Protein shakes as snacks.
- Berry fruits (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries).
- Healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil. This could make you more loose, so start with 1 teaspoon working up to 3 tablespoons (1 tablespoon with each meal) per day depending on tolerance. Note there are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon.
IBS Researcher 