Sacrifice and IBS

How much are you willing to sacrifice for IBS?

One thing that has always been hugely fascinating is the 'dieting' industry.  Over the past forty years the fundamental advice has never altered.  A) Eat a healthy balanced diet, lots of fruit, vegetable and exercise.  B) To lose weight you need to expend more calories than you intake.  Simple.

Despite this thousands of 'fad' diets exist which offer dramatic short term results as they generally correspond to point B), however nutritionally they are often found wanted/dangerous, and they fail to offer a long term solution.  On top of which none offer any help with the psychological side of the issue.  So why are they so damned popular?

IBS and Quick Fixes

The problem seems to lie around the natural human response of impatience.  We want things now. Losing weight sensibly and responsibly takes time.  It may be better for our health, it may be longer lasting, however it is not quick.

As a species we often follow the typical 'route of minimal resistance'.  To be clear there is nothing spectacularly wrong with this, why would you take the long route when a short cut is available?  The point is that for most the issue the lasting outcome. 

If you look at a populist example of the many lottery winners around the world, it is surprising to see how badly it ended up for many, compared to how fastidiously those who worked hard for their wealth looked after there money.

To avoid laboring this point, we simply wish to raise this issue in the context of IBS.  My greatest personal breakthrough came upon the acceptance that the reality of IBS meant that quick fixes were not optional.  In the same way diet and weight loss are best addressed by looking at your life as a whole rather than myopically examining what you eat.

While there are a number of treatments now which offer greater hope, for many the reality is that IBS remains a grey area that requires a great deal of restraint and sacrifice to treat.  This is not a popular message, nut it may be one which helps you a great deal more, than offers of a quick fix.