IBS is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that can present with recurring:
Most people that visit their doctor or a gastroenterologist for these symptoms will have an endoscopy and/or colonoscopy performed that comes back with minor findings. The doctor typically recommends an over-the-counter treatment to target their constipation or diarrhea, which unfortunately does not address the underlying imbalance.
The best way to treat your symptoms is by treating your pattern of disharmony.
Diarrhea reflects a dysfunction in the Spleen’s function to transform and transport your macronutrients.
Spleen Qi Deficiency
Can develop from a poor diet, excessive worrying, or chronic illness.
Wood Overacting on Earth
Liver Qi Stagnation disrupting the Spleen’s ability to transform and transport your nutrients.
Damp-Cold
Impaired assimilation leads to accumulation and metabolic sluggishness, creating a cold, cloying presentation.
Damp-Heat
Heat can develop from spicy or greasy food, alcohol, or food poisoning.
Kidney Yang Deficiency
Your metabolic heat is depleted and you can no longer hold your bowels as easily.
You are considered constipated if you are not having a bowel movement every day, if your bowel movements are small in quantity, or they are difficult to evacuate.
Large Intestine Heat
The heat that often comes from spicy or greasy food, alcohol, or febrile disease, cooks off your fluids creating dry stools that are difficult to evacuate.
Liver Qi Stagnation
Qi stagnation from stress and emotional constraint that impairs your qi movement within your digestive tract.
Blood Deficiency
Your body looses its nourishment, whether from blood loss, inflammation, or just depletion over time.
Yin Deficiency
Yin is a cooling fluid, that when deficient, leads to dryness and an empty heat. It develops from chronic heat, overwork, and aging.
Yang Deficiency
Your body looses its metabolic heat from chronic illness or advanced age.
Doctors will often recommend that you increase your water intake, to walk after meals, and to also increase the amount of fiber in your diet. These are all good suggestions, but what type of fiber you eat or use will have different effects on your gut.
Fibers are carbohydrates that are too complex to be digested fully until they reach your large intestine, where they are fermented by your microbes. The byproduct of this fermentation is a fuel source called short-chain fatty acids which your gut uses to complete repair work.
They are categorized by how soluble they are:
| SOLUBLE FIBER | INSOLUBLE FIBER |
| Easily fermented | Not easily fermented |
| Soothes and heals your gut wall | Provides bulk up your stools and have a laxative effect |
| Can improve blood glucose control and lower serum cholesterol levels | Helpful for weight loss since they are heavier and therefore more satiating |
| Root vegetables | Greens |
| Resistant starch, beta glucans, pectins, and gums | Cellulose, rice bran, and wheat bran |
| Gentle on your gut | Can irritate your gut |
| Start with a very low amount and work your way up. Instead of eating a whole potato, start with a smaller portion. | Reduce irritation by cutting off stems, removing peels, and cooking longer |
Fiber powders are a great way to supplement your diet if you aren’t eating a lot of real-food carbohydrates. Most over-the-counter fiber powders are full of additives that can actually irritate your gut. I suggest one of the following well-tolerated versions:
Step into Action
| Begin repairing your body | Cleansing Lifestyle Program |
| Eat a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory diet | The Repair Diet |
| Determine your pattern of disharmony | Schedule a Personalized Consultation |
| Utilize a soluble fiber powder | IBS Protocol |