Christmas with IBS

Welcome to episode 77 of the Inside Knowledge podcast for people with IBS. I’m Anna Mapson.

Why Christmas with IBS can be difficult

Christmas can be a really tricky time for a lot of people who have digestive issues because you are forced into eating with other people and sometimes you’re not in control of the food that you’re going to be eating.

Now this can be very nerve wracking for a lot of people. Make you feel very anxious about going to all these parties because the food that’s typically and traditionally put out for Christmas involves quite a lot of rich foods. High fatty foods, party buffets, a bit of drinking. I know not everyone drinks alcohol, but it is commonly offered around.

And then there’s also like a real change in the way that we eat as well. Maybe you’re snacking a lot more and just lounging around at home, nibbling on leftovers and going out to parties. There could be quite a lot of change to your normal eating routine and what you do to keep yourself well and manage your IBS.

So when you lose all of the structures and all of the like normal things that keep you going. That can be a recipe for massive IBS flare ups. In this episode, I want to share a few things that you can think about now as we’re just starting to think about Christmas. It’s only a month away as I’m recording this right now.

But you can listen to this at any point during December and come up with some ideas for how you’re going to make this Christmas bearable with your IBS and even enjoyable. I’ve got seven tips I’m going go through.

1 Don’t avoid using the toilet

This I suppose is mostly for people who are suffering with constipation or people who tend to avoid going to the toilet if they go away to stay at someone’s house. The reason it can be really difficult is that you’re worried about taking a long time in the bathroom. Maybe sharing a bathroom with people who you don’t normally spend time with.

Obviously worrying about smells and noises, that can be really uncomfortable. Especially if you’re going to stay at someone’s house for a couple of days. If you’re holding in your poo and not wanting to go for a couple of days. You can become really really uncomfortable. So generally I advise people to If you feel the urge to go, you wanna go.

You don’t try to hold it in. Partly because over time your body can just lose that connection from your gut to brain. You may end up having some problems with your nervous system pushing through the messages that are needed to tell us when we have an urge to go. Don’t try to hold in your stool at any time anyway. Also if you’re going away to stay for a couple of days, then try not to avoid going whilst you’re there.

Using other peoples’ bathrooms

To think about how to make it easier, maybe you want to take some perfume with you to spray into the bathroom or some air freshener. If you’re worried about the whole thing about going in someone else’s house, then do try to just think everyone has to poo.

Everyone goes to the toilet. It is normal and it is natural, even if you feel uncomfortable about it.

2. Create your IBS kit

So moving on to other things that you could prep to take with you on a Christmas visit, whether you’re just going for the day or whether you’re going for a couple of days. A lot of people will be traveling to stay with family or your in laws. Think about what you’re going to take with you now so that you can pack it all, have it all in time and ready to go.

Prioritise sleep aids

Firstly, anything that helps you sleep better. It could be an eye mask. Earplugs, really comfy clothes for like the end of the day, just relaxing, making sure that you’re warm. If you know that certain people’s house is really hot, then make sure you’ve got pyjamas that you’re not going to overheat. The same if their house is really cold. Just make sure you’ve got choices of clothing.

Other things that can help sleep is magnesium. And also this is quite good if you have constipation. Sometimes people find taking a little bit of magnesium before they go to bed can help get deeper quality of sleep. That could be something just to think about your sleep preparations.

Symptom relief

Then you also want to think about anything that helps you with your particular symptoms. I’m talking about either over the counter remedies or supplements. Where we’re talking about maybe constipation and encouraging more bowel movements, you want to think about taking your laxatives. Take any fibre supplements, because if you’re staying with somebody else, they’re in control of the meals. And generally, over Christmas, we do tend to eat a little bit less fruits and vegetables.

Maybe you want to bulk it up with maybe psyllium husk. Or, something like PHGG, that’s partially hydrolyzed guar gum. Now these can be quite helpful for just adding a little bit of extra fibre to your diet. And may help to regulate your bowel movements. If you’re someone who has more frequent stools, like diarrhoea, you maybe want to take that anti-diarrhoea medication.

For bloating, things like peppermint tea bags, peppermint capsules, can be very helpful, just to guide you through those times where you feel like you need a little extra boost. Most people won’t mind as well if you say, Oh, could I just make myself a warm tea? Do you mind if I put the kettle on? Make a little herb tea in the evenings and that just will soothe your stomach or perhaps after a big meal, warm water or warm herb teas can be really nice and soothing.

So whether you’re experiencing gas or bloating or abdominal pain, like just trying to add in a little bit of those kind of things. Things that comfort you, basically.

3. Wear comfortable clothes

Moving on to comforting clothes. So, definitely choosing the right outfit. If you’re going to a party, don’t wear those trousers that really dig in around your waist. Don’t wear those really tight jeans that cut off circulation around your belly button. Very tight clothing can lead to bloating because basically it’s restricting the flow of food and gas, natural amounts of gas through your digestive system.

If you’re putting pressure on that by wearing very tight clothing, then you are going to feel bloated even if you’re not necessarily eating. Definitely thinking about what you’re going to wear that’s comfortable. Loose, stretchy, elasticated waistbands, and also then thinking about what you can wear after the party.

So if you’re going out with relatives and then going back to their house, like, make sure you’ve got something cozy and soft. Something you’ll be comfortable in afterwards. Also, for women, make sure your bra straps are also comfortable. I’ve worked with quite a few people who say that they have to take their bra off at the end of the day because the bloating is quite high up and it is already stretching around the bottom of their ribcage and their bra was digging into them quite a bit as well.

4. Limit alcohol

Now, some of the things that cause the bloating. One of the major culprits is alcoholic drinks, especially Christmas types of alcohol could be fizzy wine, maybe mulled wine and just any other alcoholic drinks, basically. You can listen to my episode on alcohol and IBS episode 68. That’s all about alcohol, how to manage it, what alcohol is easiest to digest when you’ve got IBS, but essentially, it’s not really good for your gut either way, and so you may find it’s kind of tricky to feel comfortable if you’re drinking a lot of alcohol.

If you’re feeling like you could be getting an IBS flare coming up, then alcohol is probably one of the last things you want. Although a few people have said that they feel a little bit more relaxed after one or two drinks, and then that actually does ease their abdominal pain or ease their digestion.

In majority of cases, most people will not feel great the next day, and it can really upset your digestion. It irritates the gut lining and large amounts in one go, can lead to changes in your gut bacteria, which can then affect your digestion the following days, like two or three days later.

So a little bit of alcohol might be okay, but majority of the time it’s not going to be great for your digestion.

5 Get some movement every day

The next big tip for the Christmas period really, this is not just specific to going away and staying at someone’s house, but would just be to try and get some movement in every single day.

This really helps the gas build up and can also reduce stress.

Walking to release gas

When we do any sort of walking or activity, then our digestive system is often activated. It starts to move things along and that can really help push the gas through. Encouraging Everyone to get out and have a little walk every afternoon can be really, really helpful for your digestion.

It just allows your digestion to settle. You may find that burps come up after a meal, and that’s a good thing. You want to get rid of that gas. You want it to come back up and not go down into this long, long tube of your digestive tract. So actually, the more you can burp after a meal through a little walk, the better.

If the weather is really awful and it’s raining and very, very cold maybe just help to clear up, be active, stand up, move around a little bit. Walking outside also really helps to reduce stress and can help you sleep better. So getting a little bit of daylight, even though December is probably the least amount of daylight for anyone in the Northern Hemisphere anyway, that we really struggle to feel like we’ve got enough daylight most of the time but trying to get out in the afternoon or midday even if it’s clouded and overcast then you can still get some of the benefits from a brisk walk, get a little bit of fresh air, it helps to reset everything. And can just really help you to feel better with your digestion but also like I said it helps you with a better night’s sleep when you’ve had a good walk in the day.

The way that you could make this happen is be the one who volunteers to go to the shop or take the kids out to the park. Maybe you would volunteer to take the dog for a walk. All of those things would be helpful if you’re staying with other people.

Yoga

But also you can just try practicing getting some gas out before you go to bed each night using some simple yoga tips. Doing downward dog, do some seated twists. These are really good for your digestion. Anything basically where you put your bum up in the air and just try and release a bit of gas before you go to bed. A lot of people I work with say that they wake up in the night with gas because it’s built up all through the day.

And the more sedentary you are, the more likely that is going to happen. But also, it’s kind of natural that you’ve just eaten these certain foods. Gas build up through the day, and then normally we do pass a bit of gas at night. If you’re not sleeping well, you might wake up and then you really feel this gas, or the pain of the gas even wakes you up.

We want to try and release as much as we can during the day.

6. It’s ok to rest

Although it’s helpful to keep moving every day, the other thing I want to say, which is the opposite of this, is actually it’s okay to rest and you need to slow down. You need downtime. It can be really tricky at Christmas when we’ve got loads of people to see, loads of things that you feel like you have to do, but sometimes it’s okay to just lie on the sofa, watch a film, or lie in bed with your book and actually just have some downtime. Because there’s not many times in the year when everybody stops and pretty much everything is off for about a week. There’s something really nice about that.

I always think that the whole country just grinds through a bit of a halt and you don’t feel so much like you’re missing out. So even on a summer holiday. It still feels like everyone else is still in the office, busy getting stuff done. Everyone else is still achieving things. And actually, over the last week of December, everything stops and slows down, and it’s dark, and it’s cold, and there’s a bit of an allowance for you to relax. To lie in bed, to have lie-ins in the morning and just to take things slowly. Actually just allowing yourself to do that. Maybe things like the hoovering and the dusting can wait and you don’t need to do all those other little day to day jobs. Just relax. Whilst we have this big change in our routine, it is quite helpful to focus on meal times though.

7 Eat regularly

I would encourage you not to skip meals. Because when we do, we tend to then find it hard to meet our nutrient targets. Are you really going to get enough fibre in just two meals a day? Probably not. And remember that fibre is so important for everybody with IBS. Whether you’ve got IBSD or IBSC or mixed symptoms, you still need to eat a high fibre diet because fibre helps to regulate your bowel movements.

You don’t want to skip meals because you’re going to reduce your opportunity to get enough fibre in. To get enough protein in. Which helps you with your blood sugar balancing helps you with making sure you can function well and get up in the morning with some energy.

You just want a good balance of fats as well. Basically I’m saying try not to skip meals. You might feel like you’re avoiding food in order to protect yourself, but it doesn’t help in the long term. If you can try and pick some low FODMAP foods to eat around, The main meals, this can really help.

Things I’m talking about would be like rice, oats, carrots, potatoes, kiwi, blueberries. Then also protein like anything like meat, fish, eggs. These are all foods you can eat quite normally around the parties, around the other meals. Think about what basic, simple foods you can eat that are going to be your staples during the time when other celebratory meals might be quite rich. 

IBS friendly Christmas food

Let’s talk about now about food, what you are going to take if you are going to someone’s house, for example. Or things that you can look out for on a buffet table if you are going somewhere that’s catered.

Tangerines or oranges

Little tangerines or clementines, those are in season.  And you can have, two of those those will still be low FODMAP. Still should be fine for anybody who is sensitive to fruit. But you’re going to get some good vitamin C, there’s good bits of, fibre in there as well. They’re less likely to cause any digestive discomfort compared to other fruits like apple, for example, or raisins.

Pick a little fresh orange that can be really really helpful. Other fruits and vegetables that are good.

Red cabbage for gut health

Red cabbage is generally pretty good for digestion, and is low FODMAP up to about 150 grams, which is really good news for anyone who likes stewed cabbage. Just be aware though, when some people are making it, they do add in apples or maybe onions and other things that might be higher FODMAP. But if you’re just having red cabbage stewed with some nice herbs and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves, that’s really good for your gut and could be a really good addition to a big Christmas meal.

IBS friendly nuts

If you like nuts at Christmas then walnuts and pecans are probably your best bet. You can have around 15 halves of walnuts before they turn into higher FODMAP for the galacto-oligosaccharides, the GOS. Small amounts of nuts are fine. And also even things like almonds and hazelnuts, you can have small amounts of those.

So if you like having Christmas nuts, then those would be your best bet. Same for chestnuts as well, which are another traditional Christmas food. You can have about 20 cooked chestnuts, and that’s considered low FODMAP. Things like chestnut puree and boiled and roasted chestnuts, but chestnut flour is high FODMAP, so if you’re eating something that’s got chestnut flour in it, rather than actual mashed up chestnuts, that could be more likely to cause bloating and gas production in people who are sensitive to the fructans in the FODMAP diet.

Christmas turkey is fine for IBS

If you’re thinking about your main Christmas meal, then things like turkey, red cabbage, carrots and parsnips should all be okay. Small amounts of broccoli as well will all be fine. Now with roasted foods or deep fried foods with a lot of oil, that can be a trigger for some people with certain types of IBS.

You may find that lots of roasted foods tend to be a bit heavier and can then also really slow down your digestion. When we eat a very high fat meal, and that can include anything creamy. like fried or maybe just naturally high in fats like nuts, our digestion can slow down a bit and that can really give you constipation. Maybe slow down gas passing, which may make you feel a bit more bloated.

At the same time, for some people, high fat meals can also really trigger diarrhoea because your body’s trying to whiz it through and get rid of it. So whatever your symptoms, you may be sensitive to high fat meals.

Eat a good breakfast

Also, when you’re thinking about going to parties or going for a big meal like that, like your main Christmas event or main Boxing Day meal, think about what you can do ahead of time so that you’re not ravenous when you get there.

Maybe just making sure you have a really good breakfast. And good breakfast for people with IBS include protein, some carbs and fibre, as well as some fruits and vegetables, and ideally some good healthy fats as well. You could include might be some scrambled eggs on a piece of sourdough toast with some smoked salmon.

You could have some oats with some berries and nuts and that sort of thing. That’s going to give you a bit of sustenance before you get to the party or before you have your big lunch out. If the party’s later on, just making sure that your lunch contains some fruits, vegetables. Some fibre that’s going to help keep you going, keep your digestion moving and regulated.

Bring your safe foods

Don’t forget to eat and don’t forget to include foods that are going to keep you going so you don’t turn up to a party absolutely starving. If you’re going somewhere and you’re taking food with you then make sure that whatever you’re taking is something safe for you at least. That you know you can eat and will be like a safe portion of the food.

Whether it’s going to be a vegetable dish or making sure that there’s lots of protein there that you can snack on that isn’t necessarily massively high fat like sausages or that kind of thing because they could be more triggers for your digestion. So you want to try and make sure that there’s some plainish sorts of protein. Maybe some fresh vegetables as well.

So you could take some carrot sticks, bits of pepper, cucumber with some hummus, something like that that people can nibble on. Olives can be really good as well. Depending on what your triggers are, you’ll need to work that out obviously, but those are just some ideas. And whilst you’re actually eating, at the party or at your meal, making sure that you eat slowly.

Eat slowly

So try to slow down. Take some deep breaths before you start, and really just focus on actually chewing up your food well. This is a big message of my podcast. All the time you’ll hear me talking about mindful eating, slowing down to eat. It’s really tricky to do when maybe things are a little bit stressful.

You’ve got a lot of people and you’re chatting and you’re catching up and like really having a nice time. Sometimes you just forget to eat slowly. Try to remind yourself whether you write something on your hand so you can look at it and remind yourself. And it just helps you to give your digestion the best chance of digesting this food by eating it slowly and Calmly. Just trying to make sure that then you go for a little walk you try and keep active afterwards. Gives your digestion the best chance of surviving Christmas.

Drink water

The very final thing I’ll mention is just to stay hydrated. Make sure you have lots of water throughout the day, ideally some in the morning, then throughout the day. Try to stop drinking a little bit before you go to bed so you’re not waking up all night needing a wee. But just making sure you stay hydrated. This can really aid your digestion, help with your energy levels, because as soon as we get a little bit dehydrated, we can often feel quite tired.

And if you’re already kind of relaxing and taking things slowly, that’s great. But you may end up feeling like you don’t have the energy to get up and do the walk, or prepare a healthy meal, all of those things. We just want a little bit of energy, making sure that we can still keep our self care practices going over Christmas time.

Now if you’re thinking about all of these things and just feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the amount of things to focus on and the things that you could be doing, then please get in touch. 

I can help you by working with you over three months so we can start in January. Get things going, create a plan for you that is going to find you a diet that works.

Without too much restriction, I am not into massively restrictive diets. I’m all about helping you find a diet that works expanding your diversity of foods, and also reducing your symptoms so that you feel better. For more information on my Gut Reset Program, just see the show notes or see my website.

And please do Follow and subscribe to the podcast so that you don’t miss any future episodes. Okay, I will leave it there. Thank you very much for listening to this episode of the Inside Knowledge podcast. Better digestion for everyone.