How I Healed My IBS in Less Than a Week

I feel like I am about to put a lot of people out of a job here – sorry makers of Buscopan.

As with everything I write, this starts with a story. My story.

The Confession

I have eaten a clean (for the most part) for years. Clean eating to me means eating things that haven’t been messed with. Meats, fruit, veg, yoghurts, cheese etc for years. I have however not been friends with my gut. We have disagreed for years, the result? IBS. For anyone afflicted by this struggle, you know the journey. One morning you wake up feeling fine, moving through your day with ease. The next you are crippled with the pain of bloating, you feel full, you don’t want to move and you look like you are expecting twins. Then there are the days when everything seems to be fine, the twins have disappeared but you daren’t go anywhere that doesn’t have a Ladies handy. Fortunately, the latter rarely afflicted me, but the former was my personal war.

The “I’ve tried everything” era

I have tried what I thought was everything over the years to try and control it. From medication to yoga, cutting out foods to supplements, training extra hard to going on holiday, you name it I have done it. And I had some success; the only problem was that it was fleeting. I almost became frighted to say that I was feeling good because as soon as I started to even think those words, it was gone, quicker than Olaf melting on a hot summer’s day.

And back to square one I went. The most success I had was with Yoga. This is the one constant that always made me feel better on my bloated days. Breath work didn’t help because I was trying to force it. I was using it as a hammer to beat the symptoms into submission rather than as a regulation tool, so my body stoically refused (quite rightly) to believe it was safe and refused to yield.

The Plot Twist

I had been using my nervous system work to heal and strengthen my clients for years. It is undoubtedly the best thing you can do for your mental and physical health. And I know about the brain gut connection, so I wondered; what if I had been looking at IBS wrong. What if my gut wasn’t working properly, not because I had an ‘illness’, a diagnosable medical condition but because it was dysregulated.

This went against everything I wanted to believe about the way I had looked after myself. I ate yoghurt, I moved, I ate whole foods, veg with most meals, I walked, I meditated, what could I do to improve. I knew I was missing something, so I put my logical head on because if I’ve learned anything in this profession: You can know the science and still miss the obvious solution. What if the one thing IBS sufferers find scarier than the monster under your bed, is actually the friend that has been waiting for an invite to the party. Fibre.

I liken IBS symptoms to your commuter route. At peak times, it is jammed up so badly that you want to scream in frustration, at off peak times, you sail thorough like you are being carried through with a Royal Escort. Traffic lights, roundabouts, the learner who you curse but also feel sorry for all, create stop starts in traffic. With IBS this is a literal description of what is happening in your gut.

One minute everything is flowing, then there is a hold up, so it stops, then there is a gap so it can flow again, oh, traffic lights, a gap a longer one this time, everything surges forward and then meets a roundabout. This constant state of stop go stop so stress causes low grade inflammation that make the nerves in your gut over-react at one moment and under react at another. This upsets the residents. You see, when it’s healthy your gut is a hive of activity, little families of worker bacteria doing their merry work, happily singing, dancing and getting along famously. Your gut bacteria are like us humans, happiest when there are enough of us to work together, meaning they can all do their individually important tasks making the whole system work seamlessly. Stress, not enough fibre, inactivity, loneliness, stored trauma, staying inside, not enough good bacteria coming in from your food, all of these things deplete the bacterial community leaving it stressed and unable to cope with the demand the rest of the body is putting on it. The shortage of bacteria doing their merry dance causes this stop go effect. The gut sends flares to your brain, but in these states, the message is weak and your brain can’t hear it so the cycle continues.

When Your Gut Is Overwhelmed, Your Hormones Rebel

Here’s the part that I learned so recently that, as a woman, with a woman’s body, I am embarrassed:  You don’t just have hormone receptors in your reproductive system and brain. Your gut has oestrogen receptors to – yes even for men. Your gut isn’t just a digestion tube — it’s a hormone processing hub.

Oestrogen circulates your body, doing it’s wonderful work. You see it doesn’t just look after your menstrual cycle and reproductive organs. It also controls cholesterol, looks after your hair, skin, bones and regulates mood. These powerhouses run until they are out of puff, then they journey to the liver who decides whether they need to deactivate like Baymax (fa la la la lah) or go back into the body. The deactivated caregivers are then sent from the liver to the gut, to be …well…flushed.  

When your gut ecosystem is working merrily it helps these deactivated care giving hormones on their way. When it isn’t the enzymes in your gut wake them back up. Dazed and confused these molecules go back into circulation. Now your body has too many Oestrogen caregivers, your body gets too much oestrogen love and like an over watered plant, you start to get unwanted issues.  

These caregivers with no real role cause symptoms like:

• Brain fog
• Fatigue that makes you question your soul
• Mood swings that surprise even you
• Acne or dull skin
• Hair thinning or dryness
• PMS dialled up to dragon-fire mode

So IBS doesn’t just physically hurt your belly — it messes with your whole identity.

And this is why so many women think they have:

·       a hormone issue

·       a mental health dip

·       sudden ageing

·       sleep problems

·       a body that’s betraying them

When what they really have is a gut saying:  “I cannot do all of this alone. Please send reinforcements.”

And those reinforcements are…

·       Fibre

·       Good bacteria

·       Nervous system safety

When we feed and regulate the gut — hormones are finally allowed to do their elegant dance again.

Gut regulation is hormone regulation.

Strength meets stardust.
Belly meets brain.
Hormones meet harmony.

So if you’ve ever thought:
“Why do I feel like a completely different person when my stomach acts up?”
You’re not imagining it — your hormones, mood, confidence, and energy are all on the same boat, and IBS is rocking it.

Fibre can sort all of this.

Going back to our commuter route analogy. Imagine someone took out all the turnings, roundabouts, traffic lights, roadworks and learners, everything would just flow. No obstacles, no hold ups, just moving traffic – even the learners.

Fibre does exactly that for your gut

Why fibre helps IBS symptoms

Feeds the good bugs

When you eat fibre (especially soluble fibre like oats, bananas, apples, avocado, beans): Your gut bacteria ferment it. They produce short-chain fatty acids (like butyrate). Many people with IBS have low Short Chain Fatty Acid (SCFA) levels, which is a problem since these SCFA’s hold up the proverbial walls of your gut lining – without them, you just have sand paper for everything to travel against. They also control your immune system and metabolism. If this hasn’t made you want to run for the broccoli, I don’t know what will.

Improves bowel motility

Soluble fibre forms a gel in your intestinal lining making it easy for everything to move – this is the traffic light, roundabout removal. This, as you would guess, eases constipation.
Insoluble fibre adds structure to your waste. Turning it from a flood into  a smooth flow of sun warmed river barges and so prevents diarrhoea. Once we make sure we have enough of each type of fibre, we are off to the races, calmly, in a nice dress, not looking for the facilities.

Reduces visceral pain sensitivity

Fermentable fibre improves communication between gut + brain:

It calms the nervous system by reducing “danger” signalling so that you’re your gut sends a message via Queen Vaga (my affectionate name for your Vagal nerve) your brain hears it. Basically… your gut stops freaking out about normal sensations.

Crowds out food triggers

A high-fibre diet will naturally stabilise blood sugar, which is the key to weight management and a regulated nervous system.

Sometimes the benefit is not just fibre — it's hidden almost secret benefits.

So what is the Red Pill?

I go on about eating 30g a day of fibre for good reason. The “30g per day” thing isn’t random. Most people in Western diets get less than 15g/day — half the minimum.

But research shows IBS improvements usually start around:
22–35g/day with the best results at ~30g+. This is exactly where you noticed relief and I didn’t ease in. I went in for 30g from day 1. I went through my cupboards and threw out anything that was low fibre and replaced it with high fibre alternatives of the same or lower calories. That is the other secret. High fibre does not mean high calorie. I noticed a difference within 2 or 3 days.

Here are 2 sample meal plans that will get you not only 30g of fibre but also 120g of protein. These are ideas to get you started. If you want more ideas, hit me up and I will send you some more tricks and tips.

One last note. In the words of Peter Parker: With great fibre, comes great H2o needs. What I am trying to say is drink plenty. The fibre needs water to help it glide. 2-3 litres daily and you are gold.