“Over the years, I’ve tried all kinds of diets – wheat-free, gluten-free, highfibre, low-fi bre – and thought I had finally identified the triggers for my lingering IBS.

I thought I knew what caused the bloating, discomfort and pain, but I was wrong. In my wildest imagination, I never thought that a simple, healthy food like an apple could be a problem until Elaine told me about a dietary therapy
for IBS called the low FODMAP diet.

Researchers have pinpointed a number of molecules in food (called FODMAPs) which are poorly absorbed in people with IBS. The list of my trigger foods included some of my favourites – onions, garlic, apples, honey– and under Elaine’s supervision and guidance, I tried rationing some and eliminating others.

I kept a food diary and, within four weeks, all my symptoms had improved. And the improvement was lasting. Occasionally, I’ll let the diet slip or will feel a little off after eating out or indulging during a holiday, but it’s easy enough to get back on track.

I miss my apple a day – and the onions and garlic – but the low FODMAP regime has not been very difficult to follow. I have cut out pasta and most bread, but find that I get away with a little wheat at breakfast and, best of all for this sweet-toothed person, some chocolate and ice cream.

There is still plenty of choice at mealtimes: meat, fish, eggs, tofu, basmati rice and potatoes, plus a carefully chosen selection of fruit and veg. For me, coffee is an irritant too, but I still haven’t succeeded in kicking the early-morning
caffeine habit.In the meantime, though, I find the low FODMAP diet very helpful, and refreshingly easy to follow.”

“Growing up in my teens I suffered from problems with my stomach and my bowel. I suffered from vomiting, burping after eating and intense stomach cramps and bloating after eating. The symptoms of these problems got extremely worse in my mid 20’s when I started my career. Stress aggravated the problems. My life became centred around these problems because I found it hard to make plans to go out on a night out, to go on flights and to go out for dinner.

In my mid-twenties my symptoms had become so severe that I made an appointment via my G.P. to attend a Gastroenterologist and I had a colonoscopy procedure to check my bowel and a g astroscopy procedure to check my stomach. I was diagnosed as having chronic irritable bowel syndrome. I was also diagnosed as having reflux. I am now 31 and since I first had these procedures I have had them twice since then. I always tried to manage my symptoms by eating more healthy, not eating takeaways, cutting out white bread, cutting out and down on certain alcohol and exercising. I always tended to be worse when I went on holidays and blamed it on the flights.

In the last few months I was almost afraid to eat because everytime I did eat the symptoms of reflux would return and the cramps I was experiencing from my bowel became intolerable. My symptoms were so severe this year that I was vomiting a lot at night and in the morning, suffering from stomach cramps every time I ate. I no longer socialised because I was afraid of being sick when I went out with friends. I missed days in work because of what I was experiencing. My mood swings also changed and I wasn’t the happy go lucky person I always had been.

I was advised by my gastroenterologist to attend Elaine McGowan. That day I met with Elaine, she was sympathetic to what I had been going through all these years and she said that she would help me. My family and friends had been telling me for months that I couldn’t continue to put up with the problems that I had been having for years.

Elaine introduced me to the low FODMAP diet and explained it to me in detail. This particular diet lists out certain foods that you can and can’t eat. Within two days of using this diet I noticed an enormous change. I have been on this diet now for over two months and I can honestly say that is has changed my life.

I can still eat a lot of the food groups that I have always loved. I just had to make certain changes. The symptoms of both reflux and chronic IBS have disappeared completely. I now realise that it is normal not to get cramps or feel nauseous every time I eat. I am happier in myself, the dark circles are gone from under my eyes, I am sleeping better and I have more energy than ever before because of the foods I am now eating on this diet.

Thank you Elaine so much for helping me have a normal life again.”