Should you try a vegan diet if you’ve got IBS? We’re coming up to January, when some people will be trying Veganuary, so avoiding all animal products for the whole month of January. There’s often lots of advice on how to get a good healthy vegan diet, but how is this different if you’ve got IBS? In this episode, we’ll be looking at the benefits of a vegan diet for people with IBS, as well as how to minimise uncomfortable symptoms like bloating, gas and erratic bowel movements. And as protein is always a big concern when you’re cutting out all animal products, We’ll look at how to get good, healthy, vegan protein.
Hello, and welcome to episode 82 of the Inside Knowledge podcast for people with IBS, I’m Anna Mapson.
Veganuary is popular
Going vegan for January is becoming very popular. Some call it Veganuary. And actually, as I was looking up how many vegans there are in the UK, there’s around two and a half million people who are already vegan all year round.
And Veganuary is a chance to experiment a little bit with that and try out avoiding all animal products. People are really moving towards this because of ethical reasons and really strongly environmental reasons. Methane emissions from farming and pollutions of our rivers is huge. A lot of people are deciding they want to give up this intensive farming experience and really try and benefit the planet by changing their diet.
It feels like something small that you can do. Sometimes the climate crisis can feel just really overwhelming and that there’s nothing you can, you can do to stop this impending doom. It feels like something positive and I can see a lot of people moving towards veganism for those reasons when I speak with my clients.
The problem is when you’ve got IBS and if you’re a regular listener to this podcast, I presume you have got IBS. Because, and I’m going to go through a lot of the detail of this, but as a brief overview, a lot of the proteins that we rely on when we are taking in plant based proteins such as tofu, beans and pulses, nuts and seeds, these can be for some people a real trigger for their IBS.
How a vegan diet affects IBS
In this episode, I’m going to give you some details on how to challenge yourself to get more plant based and also some of the issues with a fully vegan diet and how to avoid some of the pitfalls. Some people may find that their IBS actually gets better when they go vegan. They might find that eating a higher fibre diet, is actually really beneficial for their digestive symptoms, and that is because IBS is so individualised You will have different symptoms, trigger foods, and different, um, associations compared to your neighbour who might also have IBS.
You’re going to have completely different experiences of the same condition. Some people might find they get on really well with a plant based diet. Especially if your diet has always been quite animal based focused. You know, if you have always had a lot of meat, a lot of starches, and suddenly you start eating a lot more vegetables, that’s going to be a really healthy change for you.
So depending on where you are now, what you’re eating, you might find that changing your diet to a vegan diet with lots of healthy plant based foods is really beneficial.
Is a vegan diet healthier for people with IBS?
Importantly, when we’re saying a vegan diet, you might have the impression in your mind of lentils and chickpeas and tofu and all of that, or you might be thinking of vegan sausage rolls and vegan burgers and a lot of Fast food that just happens to be vegan.
So you can have a vegan diet that is not healthy at all. We must make the clear distinction as well. Just ignoring animal products doesn’t necessarily make you healthy. You can listen to my case study episode, episode 58 about a client I worked with who was a vegan who had very fast food based diet.
She was quite young and she had really bad constipation and we We’re able to get her some really good improvements through changing her diet. She stayed vegan, but it was just completely different sort of vegan diet. So that was one thing I wanted to say and the other thing I wanted to just start off with is I don’t normally recommend a vegan diet for health purposes.
Is a vegan diet recommended for IBS?
I support a lot of people who have chosen to be vegan for, you know, ethical or environmental reasons. However, I wouldn’t say that it is the most healthy diet that you can find and it’s partly down to a lack of available nutrients like Iron, omega 3, protein and all of those things.
I’ll go through a little bit how that can affect you if you have IBS, so let’s get into some of the details. Now protein as I just mentioned is the biggest thing that people always ask about with vegans How do you know you’re getting enough protein?
Healthy protein on a vegan diet
Now often you can eat enough protein on a vegan diet and eat it very healthily. There are vegan athletes, vegan bodybuilders. You know, you can build muscle, but you have to pay a lot of attention to your diet and it’s easy to undereat in terms of protein. Now the problem is with that is it could be subclinical issues, so it’s not something that’s going to lead you to you having a medical diagnosis. If you’re not eating quite enough protein, maybe you’ve got brittle nails, dull hair, your skin is a bit dull, maybe slightly tired all the time, feeling a little bit weak, those can be symptoms of having low protein in your diet.
The best plant based proteins are tofu and soy, so things like tempeh, edamame beans are great, also beans and pulses like chickpeas, lentils, all of those things, nuts and seeds, but you do also get some level of protein in grains. Things like brown bread, rice, like there will be a level of protein in pretty much all foods.
High carb levels in some protein sources
But, the challenge is, for people who have IBS, is that these foods also contain quite a lot of starch carbohydrates. Because they’re an excellent source of fibre as well. So beans and pulses like lentils and your chickpeas and black beans and all of those are fantastic sources of fibre, as well as tofu.
Any plant based foods has got higher fibre levels. Now for some people with IBS, those particular types of fibre can be quite aggravating, can cause a bit of bloating and gas every time you eat them. You know, typically beans do increase people’s wind. And so when you’re already sensitive to that and if you’ve got IBS you may have a normal amount of wind and gas but feel it a lot more so you get the additional sense of bloating.
You might feel a lot more abdominal pain and maybe exacerbates other symptoms like diarrhoea or constipation, for example.
Good Veganuary protein sources for people with IBS
The best protein that you can eat is firm tofu, because this is quite low in FODMAP, up until about 170 grams per meal, and that’s probably a good portion for you to have, and that will give you somewhere in the range of, like, 20 to 25 grams of protein per sitting, which is really good.
You may also find that vegan sausages, burgers, those kind of things are a really helpful addition. Now a lot of people I work with say, Oh, I don’t want to eat those, they’re too processed. However, if you’re on a vegan diet, you’re either going to be eating tofu repeatedly throughout the day. Almost every day you’ll need to eat it in order to hit those protein targets.
If you need a little recap on how much protein you should be eating go back and listen to episode 46 when I talk about protein essentials for people with IBS Now that tells you in that episode that you need as a minimum roughly around 50 grams of protein.
So you need to try and start working out if you are going on a vegan diet for a month or maybe longer term, that, how are you going to achieve that? If you’re in a bigger body, you will need more protein than that, but that is a kind of minimum generic for a adult.
Helpful vegan protein sources for IBS
Thing I often advise to my vegan clients looking for more protein is things like edamame beans are really good. They are quite low in FODMAPs but higher in protein compared to say lentils or chickpeas which tend to be higher in FODMAPs so more likely to bloat you. So those are good sources of beans. If you’re thinking about going vegan for one month, I suggest that you start introducing your fibre and increasing your fibre levels slowly.
Introduce fibre slowly
So don’t just go from eating no plants to eating only beans and tofu and vegetables and fruits. This is a recipe for some digestive bloating. I think anyone who’s suddenly increased their fibre in such a way would Tend to feel quite rotten. And if you are someone who’s got a sensitive digestion, you wanna go slowly and really carefully.
In order to gently bring up your fibre, you could just start by adding like one extra piece of vegetables or fruits to your intake per day. So it might just be like half an apple you’re going to add. Or you’re going to add an extra little bit of broccoli to your main meal. This will help you just bump up the fibre very gradually and transition.
Transition to a plant based diet slowly if you’re not used to it
May be you want to give yourself a week to ease into this new diet rather than just doing it overnight on the 1st of January. I also think It’s okay to be a little bit compassionate with yourself. So the intention will be there to be vegan. If there are times when you don’t quite make it for the first week or so you’re learning, you’re still making a really good impact on the planet.
You know, you’re still doing well. So if you’re just trying this out for the first time, I think it’s also okay to be a little bit intentional, but not rigid. So you’re making good progress, you’re making good steps. And I think that’s the same with any like New Year’s plans or resolutions that you’re actually trying.
It doesn’t matter if you’re not 100 percent all the time, it’s not all or nothing. We have to be quite aware when we’re making any changes or any plans to our lives, I think. To be, aware of the nuance, like it’s okay to sometimes not follow the rules rigidly because that is not easy to do when you are talking about diets and eating.
Key nutrients to watch on a vegan diet with IBS – Omega 3
We’re going to move on from protein, some other nutrients that you’re going to need to be aware of and think about include a couple of vitamins and minerals and also the essential fatty acid omega 3. It is essential, which means that our body does not make it and we need to eat this from our diet.
Omega 3 is so important for brain function. It’s been tested quite a lot in memory and cognition and also anxiety as well. So when people tend to have that sort of high anxiety, nervous disposition, sometimes adding omega 3 to your diet can be very helpful. Now if you think about it through food, it’s typically found in oily fish like mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines, those kind of fish.
If you’re going vegan, obviously you’re not going to be eating any fish, but this is probably true for anyone who doesn’t eat that kind of oily fish as well. Lots of non vegans. You can get a vegan omega 3 supplement, which comes from the algae. So the way that the omega 3 gets into the fish is that they eat the seaweed, then people take the oil out of the fish, but you can also get a supplement just using the seaweed to produce the oil.
It can be in a gelatine free capsule, and you might want to think about that. over the month if you’re going vegan for the first time or if this is a diet that you’ve been following for a while. You must check though with a nutritional therapist I would say if you are on any medication or if you have any health conditions because omega 3 isn’t suitable for everybody so it’s worth checking before you suddenly start taking it.
Vitamin A is important for vegans with IBS
A couple of other things that people on a vegan diet may be low in I’m not saying everybody, because some people manage their vegan diet incredibly well and are really, really healthy. But, some things that you may need to think about, otherwise you can have a low dietary intake of, includes iron, calcium, iodine, and vitamin A.
So, let’s go through some of those. Iron can be low if you don’t eat any products like, meat or fish. The way you can get iron is through green leafy vegetables, whole grains, and nuts and seeds and this can provide you with some iron. If you’re only doing Veganuary for a month, you probably don’t need to worry too much, but if you’re going to stay vegan or plant based much longer term, Then really think about your iron levels, and maybe you want to go to your doctor and just get those checked if you haven’t eaten any animal products for a very long time.
Again, I don’t recommend people just take iron unless they know they’re low in it, particularly if you don’t have periods. So women losing a lot of blood each month will have an outlet for excess iron. But anyone who’s post menopausal or if you’re male, then you won’t be losing blood each month and you can get a build up of iron.
So it’s not advised to take it unless you actually know you need it. And vitamin A also supports iron absorption and so vitamin A is another thing that you can actually be quite low in. Now people who are on a vegan diet can eat beta carotene which is found in orangey vegetables like sweet potato, carrots, orange peppers and orange melon.
But genetically not everybody has the full capacity to convert beta carotene to vitamin A. So this might be all right for you, but you can also get a little bit low in vitamin A unless you’re careful. I would definitely focus on orangey fruits and vegetables, things like sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, those are really important to get your beta carotene in.
Now beta carotene is in itself a really good antioxidant, but vitamin A, is stored in our fat and isn’t a vitamin where if you take too much of it, you just pee it out, like the B vitamins and vitamin C.
Actually, you can store it up. So vitamins E, D, A and K, you can take too many of them because they become stored in our fat cells. And that means that we can take too many of them. It can become toxic. So again, don’t recommend taking vitamin A unless you know that you necessarily really need it.
Having sufficient levels of vitamin A supports iron absorption. Something else to think about is just the interaction between the different nutrients, and that’s why generally having a broad and balanced diet with all the different nutrients in is the best way to be healthy because all of the nutrients interact with each other.
Supporting iron absorption in veganuary
Going back to iron, some things that impede iron absorption might also be high calcium. So if you’re taking high calcium, or if you’re drinking lots of milk, for example, but if you’re also taking calcium tablets, but also tannins in tea. So if you are eating green leafy vegetables, you’re making sure you’re getting your spinach to top up your iron levels, then try to avoid having a cup of tea before or after that meal.
Because the tannins in the tea may stop the absorption of iron. They won’t stop it completely, but they might just impair it, so you’re not getting the most benefit that you want out of your iron rich meal. Now, the other thing that may impact on your iron levels could be the microbes in your gut.
So, in your small intestine, if you have got an excess load of microbes, or SIBO, then you may find that that is interfering with your iron absorption as well. Important to take that into account when you’re thinking about your iron levels. This is why I say it’s quite helpful to get a blood test if you’re long term vegan.
In a month, you probably won’t make that much difference, especially if you are going to go back to eating some forms of meat and fish at the end of the month. The other nutrients that may be low in your diet if you remove all animal products is calcium. So really important for bones, teeth, uh, cardiovascular health, like a heart relies on calcium, and also muscle contractions rely on calcium all day, so it’s really important.
Now good sources of that, if you are not eating any animal products, would include, again, green leafy veg, so I’m talking about kale, spinach, Collard greens, anything like that. They’re good high levels of Calcium, iron and also magnesium. So lots of those. Other things that have got calcium in include almonds and also tofu.
If you get firm tofu that’s in a water based solution. So not the one that’s been pre marinated because that won’t have so much calcium in it. But if you want to just make sure you’ve got the one in liquid, then not the silken tofu though, but the one that is firm in in a watery solution because that is a calcium solution.
That’s another reason why tofu is a great addition to a vegan diet.
Iodine on a plant based diet
Now the last nutrient I wanted to mention is iodine. If you don’t eat any seafood and you don’t have any dairy, it’s very difficult to get enough iodine, but you can have some from seaweed.
So you can think about eating some sushi, having some nori flakes like in your soups and stews and maybe on top of your stir fry dishes as well. So there are little ways to incorporate iodine into your diet if you are vegan. So that was a little look at some of the key nutrients and the types of things that you should watch out for if you are going plant based for a month.
If you are going to be doing it via January, I wish you the best of luck and I would love to hear how you’re getting on. If you’ve got specific questions then feel free to drop me a line and send me a message. You can do that via my email address which is info@goodnessme-nutrition.com or you can send me a message on Instagram where I’m goodnessme underscore nutrition.
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