I GAVE UP FADDY ‘CLEAN’ EATING AND MY IBS FINALLY GOT BETTER
LIKE many young women who suffer from stomach cramps, Kelly Cletheroe looked online for answers to her problem.
And suggestions were plentiful. Internet search results encouraged her to try a ‘plantbased’ diet, go gluten-free, start the day with a ‘cleansing’ green juice and swap fatty dairy for healthy almond milk.
But far from solving her problems, they seemed to get worse.
Kelly says: ‘Suddenly I found myself running to toilets and spending whole evenings with an uncomfortably bloated stomach.’ Eventually the symptoms became so unbearable that Kelly visited her GP, who diagnosed her with IBS – and gave her some vague recommendations about trying to identify trigger foods, then avoid them.
Kelly, 24, a trainee lawyer, says: ‘The websites I read told me that the pain and bloating was just part of the detoxing process, and that if I stuck to it, it’d get better. So the dried berries, plantmilks and vegetable bowls continued.’
But then, twoand-a-half years ago, she came across a slew of online articles debunking the supposed health benefits of her beloved ‘cleaneating’ diet. Gradually she began to reintroduce previously banned food. ‘As my diet returned to normal, and I started eating regular supermarket bread, drinking cow’s milk and stopped the piles and piles of vegetables, my digestion improved,’ she recalls.
‘The 20-ingredient smoothies, massive raw salads, and heaping porridge bowls were replaced with food such as simple soups, slices of toast and natural yogurt. My IBS symptoms dramatically reduced over a matter of months.’
Even the worst trigger foods don’t seem to upset her as much as they used to.
‘I still get my five-a-day and enjoy some grains and pulses.
‘But I no longer cram in as many “healthful” ingredients or fruits and vegetables as is humanly possible.
‘When I keep my diet simple, I feel my best.’