Dietary Help for IBS-C

I had heard lots of good information about Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in the past. We had been using it in our tea whenever we had a sore throat. One teaspoon of ACV in a warm cup of tea with some honey does wonders for a sore throat. But I had never used it beyond that. Then I was reading online about IBS and different things people were doing naturally to take care of it and someone mentioned using ACV. I was a bit skeptical, like I am with most things, but decided to give it a try.

The most important thing I found out about using Apple Cider Vinegar is making sure you get an Organic kind with the 'mother'. That's what it's called and that's what I got (a link for it is listed later in this article). The 'mother' is stringy, floaty things in organic ACV. We have a health food store nearby, so I went there, picked up a bottle and was ready to give it a try. There is lots of different information out there about how much and how often you should drink it. Make sure you never drink it straight, ALWAYS mix it with water. The bottle said you could drink up to 3 teaspoons a day, so that's what I decided to do. I filled a 8oz glass with water and 1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) organic ACV and drank it (real quick lol). Obviously it wasn't the best tasting drink I've ever had, but I got it down. Within 30 minutes my stomach felt so much better. The nauseousness was gone, I didn't feel as bloated and I just had an over all better feeling.

Some people drink 1 teaspoon with water 3 times a day. Some warm up the water and add honey. There are lots of different ways to drink it. For me, well I really don't like the taste of it, so when I wake up in the morning I make myself, what I call my ACV drink, of 8oz of water with one tablespoon organic ACV. I drink it down quickly, and I'm done with it for the day. I've been doing this for weeks now, and it's still helping. I do still have days of nauseousness & bloating, but it's not nearly as common as it was before. They are definitely fewer and far between and usually happen most when I've over eaten.

A couple of quick notes. Like I said before, make sure the ACV is organic with mother. Never drink ACV by itself, always mix it with some water to dilute it. And ACV can wear down your teeth enamel over time. The best thing to do is either rinse your mouth out with water after your drink it or brush your teeth. I actually do both, it helps get the taste out of my mouth. :)

The wonders of flaxseed, that's all I ever heard for years. As I'm approaching my mid 40's and trying to stay healthy, I had heard a lot of good things about flaxseed. I hadn't tried it because truthfully it seemed hard to use. They said the best flaxseed was when you grind it. But once you grind it, it can go bad quickly. But as I studied more about IBS-C and different helps for it flaxseed just kept coming up. So I started studying more about trying to figure out a way that would be convenient for me to use it.

During my search I came across a new kind of ground flaxseed called cold milled flaxseed. The difference between this kind of ground flaxseed was that it wasn't heated during the grinding process. Heating the flaxseed when you grind it, like most grinders do, is what starts breaking down the flaxseed and makes it go bad quickly. This process didn't do that, which made the flaxseed last a bit longer in my fridge.

So again I went to my health food store and found cold milled flaxseed. It actually tastes good, with a light, nutty flavor. I've put it on lots of different food, baked potatoes, in soups, even tried it on a sandwiche. I liked it on all of those things but I found the tastiest for me was to put it on my morning cereal. I have a bowl of Fiber One every morning, with a glass of cranberry juice. I decided to put 1 tablespoon on my cereal one morning, and wow, it tastes so good. I now put 2 tablespoons on my cereal every morning and I still enjoy it.

It took a bit longer for me to see results with flaxseed than it did with ACV, but I have now seen consistent results from having some every day. I am more regular than I have been in my whole life. I'm still shocked sometimes with how regular I am. As with anything that has a lot of fiber in it, start out by adding it to your food slowly. If you add a whole bunch at once you could get really bloated quickly. It's always better to start slowly, and add a little bit more every couple of weeks until you are at the amount you like.

I hope you have enjoyed my IBS series. I do plan on adding to these as I add new things to my diet that help. I know I can do things like go gluten free, no wheat, and other things. I'm sure that does help a lot of people, but it's not a step that I want to take right now, maybe in the future. For now I am thankful that I have found some things that have helped me.

If I had to pick the one thing that has really helped, I would say the flaxseed has helped the most. But I know there is still some merit for my body to keep drinking the ACV. And of course when adding any fiber to your diet, make sure you drink lots of water.

With the addition of flaxseed, ACV, exercise and more water to my diet, it has helped tremendously. Obviously with constipation, adding more fruits and vegetables helps greatly, and I have increased by fruit intake, though I'm not a big veggie person. But I am trying to find different ways to add more vegetables to my diet. Maybe that will be another lens for me in the future.