[alongtin]

My husband and I, being the good Christians we are, decided to give up something this year for Lent. But being the competitive jerks we are, we made a bet out of it. We both had to give up our biggest unhealthy vice to see who would crack first. Hubby gave up fast food, and I said I would give up sugar. Then it dawned on me just how daunting a task that really is! I checked out a Suzanne Somers' book, and the idea of cutting out all sugar and all things that turn into sugar is really appealing to me. I've wanted to get rid of sugar for a long time, and now I have a good reason.According to some more reading I've done, sugar could be a culprit in IBS as well. But my question is, has any IBS type done that diet and how did it work? Was your tummy okay? I'll have to modify only a little because I can't tolerate red meat, but I see nothing that would hurt by removing sugar! Sugar is nutrionless, empty calories.Wish me luck! I intend to beat my husband!! And lose some weight too!!Amy

 

[Kathleen M.]

Starches other than rice can cause gas for some people, so some people find that lowering carbs overall helps with the IBS, if they do not tolerate even normal levels of gas produced by colonic bacteria. CERTAIN sugars (table sugar is sucrose and is usually well tolerated) may cause certian problems for certain people (lactose, raffinose, sorbitol, etc)But nothing works for everyone.If you replace all the sugar/starch with very fatty foods that may set some people's IBS off (esp. diarrhea). Much depends on what you eat INSTEAD.... Low carb doesn't have to mean completely unrestricted in fat (the eat all the butter steak cheese you want diets) but some people do them that way.The other thing to watch out for (since I'm not sure how your brand of IBS responds to things

) is that some low carb diets are so low in fiber from veggies, fruits and whole grains that they can be very constipating for some people. Not sure how extreme the Somersizing version of low carb is.K.

 

[alongtin]

Somersizing is the least extreme form of low carb I've seen- you're expected to eat fruit at least twice a day, encouraged to eat it three times a day. The diet does not center around fat, but around vegetables. You pretty much have veggies with every meal, and you're told to eat as many of them as possible. So, fiber shouldn't be a problem at all.Also, you're expected to eat the "good" carbs everyday. Suzanne recommends Grape Nuts for breakfast, whole wheat bread, brown rice etc. The restricted foods are: all types of sugar, and those "bad" carbs that become sugar- white rice, white bread, potatoes, carrots and corn.So, it's not so bad. I personally would never do Atkins because my body has such a bad reaction to fats and beef.This is what I expect a typical day Somersizing will look like for me:Breakfast: A piece of fruit A bowl of sugar-free whole wheat cereal with skim milk.Lunch: Either a veggie sandwich on whole wheat and soup; or a salad with chicken and a vinaigrette dressing and soup.Snack: A piece of fruitDinner: Boneless, skinless Chicken Breast A large serving of green veggies: spinach, broccoli A salad with vinaigretteDessert: A cup of strawberriesThe only restriction is that, in the beginning, you can't have protein and carbs together, so you have to figure out ahead of time if your next meal will be carbs or protein, but you have to have both during the day.I just wanted to include that to show you that it's not overboard- like eat a fried egg and cheese sandwich with steak instead of bread and drink a big glass of heavy cream.

I certainly know MY body couldn't handle it.Thank you so much for the reply K!Amy