Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Whole grains and how to eat them

it isn't that you can't eat whole wheat or other whole grains. You probably can, and should definitely try. You just have to treat them as potential insoluble fiber triggers, so have in small amounts with a soluble fiber basis.

There are lots of whole grains more tolerable than whole wheat. Oatmeal and brown rice are usually quite tolerable for IBS folks, quinoa and polenta are options, buckwheat noodles are delicious, and rye bread can be tolerable too.

You could make regular pasta with about 1/4-1/3 of the pasta whole wheat - that would be a safe mix. Do the same with bread - if you make stuffing, make it mostly white bread but throw in some whole wheat. Add a handful of wheat germ or even bran flakes on top of cream of rice, rice chex, or corn chex cereal.

It's not just WHAT you eat, it's HOW you eat it.

Oh - and there is nothing in white flour that isn't also in whole wheat flour. The diff is that the bran and germ have been removed from white flour. There's a lot of nutrition there, so white flour is missing it. But it's not like junk is added to white flour - and white flour won't cause diabetes, or any other health problems. It's what white flour is missing that you need to make up for.

- Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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