How can i gain weight with stomach issues?

Hi Riggs, try cutting out the milk completely. Even the small amount you have in your tea. And red meat. Also onions and anything with onion in it like sauce (read the label). You could get worse in the first few days but persevere. After approx 5 days if these foods are a problem then you will start to feel much better. You can eat soya milk and margarine which are replacement for dairy. Be carefull when you re-introduce these back into your diet because if they are problem foods for you you will get a more severe reaction. 

Riggs one other thing drink bottled water (must have less than 10ppm chloride.) no tap water.

I had a similar problem going from 12 and half stone down to10 stone in about 3 years due to IBS. Another problem is that you feel weak and under nourished and tend to skip activities because it is difficult can lead active life and not eat. We need energy too!

The doctors really let down people in this situation by not helping.

Firstly, I found trying to eliminate foods that trigger IBS. I know this is diffcult because on different days the body reacts differently to the same foods. However, my studies notice that simple sugar foods aggravate IBS - so sucrose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, lactose, etc are best avoided. You can replace milk with almond milk, coconut milk or hemp milk (the latter gives great levels of omega 3/6 fats which is ideal).

Cereals are refined, that is, they have the goodness removed by processing. Notice in the cereal packaging "fortified" with additional vitamins. Why the need add vitamins to a so called healthy product? Because its not healthy. I am mystified why they remove the natural goodness then have to add it back in with synthetic chemical vitamins! Replace cereals with egg and bacon, scambled eggs, peanut butter on wholemeal toast or oats with water with cinamon to flavour.

Yoghurt and cheese should be okay as most of the lactose is removed. So baked potatoes and cheese topping for example

All meats and fish are fine. All vegetables are fine.

Eat 3 smaller meals spaced out over the day. Wholegrain pasta and beef, tuna and wholegrain rice, wholegrain pasta and chicken, peanut butter sandwiches. Avacado`s are high in calories and easy to digest.

Keep the above as your staple diet and as a treat, the odd KFC or McDonalds wont hurt once a week. Fruit wise,  think all berries, watermelon, pomegranet tomatoes, mangos and bananas. Avoid citrus fruits (and drinks with citric acid).

I use ultra fine ground oats with a whey protein powder as a nutritious calory booster. Get a pure whey 90% protein with no sugars or casein added ( I use one with probiotics and enzymes added) and mix with 100g of oats. It drinks easily and is about 460 calories. It tastes a bit oaty but a choc flavoured protein powder helps.

Chew your food thoroughly and take time to eat your meals and digest.

If you stick to the plan you add weight gently without troubling your tummy or bowels too much.

Finally, you could add in weight traininng in a gym provided you get enough energy inside from a regular eating plan. Over a year you could build 14lbs of muscle and become fitter as well. Muscle weighs more than fat so you add weight and will look better. Strength gains actually add mitochrondria to the muscle. Mitochrondria are the energy producers for the body. They are fuelled by carbohydrates or fats from food. So adding strength and muscle fibres increase mitochrondria and energy levels.

Dont worry about Gluten foods unless you get diagnosed with an intolerance to it. I mainly eat wholegrain rice and oats which are gluten free anyway.

Caffeine(tea and milk),alcohol and spicy food must be avoided as they flares up the IBS.Eating fruits i.e apples and bananas is good due to high content in fibre.

At the end , exercise (jogging in the morning) is quite helpful for persons who are suffering from IBS

Since being helped by drinking my Aloe Vera Gel I haven't had to be so fussy about what I eat.  I noticed recently though, when I did without for a while, all my IBS sympoms came back.  I'd be happy to tell you more about the drink I use if you think it's worth a try for you too

Good Morning Riggs. I was just answering you and my computer did something crazy  again and I lost everything.  anyway.  leave the pasta alone, flour is not your friend right now.  try sweet potatoes, MASHED. leave the flakes cereal alone and try smoothies from yogurt, fresh fruits, protein powder, and almond milk,  make sure to steam your foods and avoid the while milk and stick with the almond milk.  no meat.  just chicken and fish.  make sure all your leaf veggies are well cooked because they tend to be a little hard to digest.  you can also put almond butter in your smoothies along with regular creamy peanutbutter.  no sugar, so non dairy yogurt will be a big plus.  let me know how this change helps you.  take care Riggs.  

Riggs, I've read some of the responses all of our friends have offered you.  They are right.  only bottled wated is safe for us.  NO DAIRY at all.  No sugars, no spicy foods, no preservative at all.  no alcohol at all either.  sorry my friend, but eating like this may be your only way out for now.  take the suggestions and work with them.  your young and you have youth on your side.  be kind to your body.  feed it well and it will love you back.  

just been reading after doing so many searches for help, i too have ibsm infact severe ibs ive lost sooo much weight and struggle to eat and also pin point what may be effecting me? im heavily labelled anorexic due to the weight loss which is upsetting, but after reading this and fact i saw a good dietician last year, have nay of you heard of the fodmap diet ? ive been told to do it, and im cutting out dairy and wheat, altho the diet itself is very restricting !! if you can get hold of a knowagable dietician trained in it, it might help ? 

i too do loads of smoothies, and eat nut butters and protiein powers, also ice creams are dairy free my bf suggested just eating loads of it even if melted down and drinking loads of it, hes really into his training etc and said all the celebs do it for weight gain etc.magnums are gluten free which is a bonus for that criteria, but the diet book i was given states there are certain dairy ice creams we can have, i,e, haagen daz and ben jerry.

at the minute i am stilll struggling with the weight gain and feel terrible everyday and so down about it , which i could gain it without symptoms / paina and suffering

Hi Riggs, I am exactly in a similar situation. I am a 33 year old male and i was all fine thorughout my life until 1 year ago when one dreadful morning i started to feel something odd with my stomach and since then, it has been the worst 1 year of my life. I have been having various symptoms ranging from stomach discomfort, bloating, nausea, pain etc. Problem is I havent been able to identify any specific foods which trigger this. Invariably, I have these symptoms almost every day. I have lost a lot of weight as well. My appetite hasnt been the same as well and I am literally chasing my meals every day to make sure I eat enoough to keep my self going. I weigh around 60 Kgs and i am 5 feet 10 inches tall but everyone says I look so weak compare to before. I used to weigh around 68 69 Kgs in good times.

the doctor has now put me on low FODMAP diet and I have just started so i cant really comment on the benefits. I feel so depressed because I feel that I will have to bear with this disease for the rest of my life I really hope and pray that I get better and normal again. I would suggest you that if can drink milk eaily, the best thing you can do to gain weight is shakes and smooties. this should really put on weight for you. My problem is i was also diagnosed with a lactose intolerance and shakes/smoothies dont go down too well on my stomach.

Pls let me know if you manage to find a crack to this common problem

cheers and hope you get better soon

Thanks

Faheem