Current regimen seems to be helping with pain and D, but causing slight constipation recently...so here are Steve's "Seven Steps to Heaven" (It's a Miles Davis song, and should not be taken literally...I still have bad days, but this is heaven compared with before these changes).1) Consume no corn products--especially corn-derived sweetners such as High Fructose Corn Syrup. Watch out for bread made with HFCS!! I go with bread that uses honey instead.2) Get plenty of water and whole wheat fiber as described in IBS Relief: A Doctor, Psychologist, and a Dietician Provide a Team Approach. I don't know if it matters or not, but I'm hooked on some expensive ozonated water (about $5 for a 5 gallon bottle). I also follow the low gas & low caffiene diets recommended in IBS Relief to some extent--gas didn't seem to be a big problem for me, but occasionally caused pain.3) Every evening I have a couple spoonfuls of goats milk yogurt with a couple blackberries and a couple of Whole Foods brand butter cookies (made with REAL sugar, of course)4) Late evening I have a cup or two of Eater's Digest tea from Traditional Medicinals.5) Mornings I have 2 Flax toaster waffles--high in calcium for those believers (20% of your USDA requirement) and Omega3 fatty acids and fiber.6) Keep muscle tension low by any means necessary--for example, I've obtained a lumbar support for my desk chair and learned a little deep muscle relaxation and bought a recliner. (See the IBS Relief book mentioned above for an excellent explanation of why this helps.) 7) Along with that, of course, is maintaining the right outlook on this stuff--again I point to a couple of books...the IBS Relief one, and anything you can find that you like about Zen philosophy. And remember, Zen isn't all sitting in strict meditation...there's alot of humor in it too, and although it may appear to be a sidetrack when we joke on this group, laughter still is an important medicinal--if not the best.
