In honor of IBS Awareness Month, here is the third and final part of our series about managing irritable bowel syndrome. This step can integrate the tips from parts 1 and 2, and is a useful tool for everyone, not just those with IBS. Read on for our tips about keeping a food diary to help manage IBS symptoms.
Choose a Journal You’ll Actually Use
There are many food tracking websites now that act as digital food diaries. Choose a format you are more likely to use. If you are a pen and paper person, get a paper journal that is small enough to carry around with you, and write down the time, what you ate, and how much. If you prefer to use an online diary, there are many websites and apps that can help. MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, SparkPeople, and mySymptoms are just a few of the many options. Many smartphone apps also have useful features like a barcode scanner, which you can use to scan and immediately enter a food into your diary. Most of them also have vast databases of many foods, so you shouldn’t need to manually enter nutrition information often, if ever. Many food tracking programs are focused on weight loss, but if you don’t want to lose weight, you can ignore that feature. However, getting an idea of the number of calories, macronutrient ratios, and micronutrient quantities that make you feel best can be useful.
Be Specific
Be as detailed as you possibly can while keeping a food journal. Measure your food to start until you get a good sense of portion sizes. The amount of foods you eat can play a big role in how your stomach feels, so make sure to note those details. Also be careful to write down things that you may not think of as food. Drinks, condiments, dressings, and gum can all influence your IBS symptoms. Coffee and alcohol are common irritants, to be sure to note consumption of them, as well as what type and the amount. If you take your coffee with creamer, make sure to write that down too. You may need to get more discerning and experiment with it; either the coffee, the creamer, or both could be causing IBS flare ups.
Be Consistent
The only way you can be sure of which foods worsen your symptoms is to consistently observe if they bother you. If one day you have a terrible flare-up after a salad, you might assume that salad is the culprit, and should be avoided forever. However, if you are consistent and detailed in your journaling, you might realize that some salads are fine, but it was the cabbage in that one salad that was to blame. Over time, you will get increasingly aware of which foods bother you, and you will be able to select and avoid the right foods instinctively.
Note Other Factors
To keep the most accurate record, also write down other things that can influence IBS. For example, track your mood, exercise, how you sleep, and anything else that might be relevant, like cigarette smoking. All of these factors can worsen IBS, so as you track, you might realize that stress is more responsible for IBS flare ups than any particular food.