Why do smoothies cause cramping/IBS symptons?

Kimia

Hi all

Trying to boost my intake of healthy leaves and have come up with the idea of having a green smoothie (spinach for example with berries) for breakfast. Only thing is about 4 hours after I drank it I was crippled with the worst IBS cramps ever.

Sapsorrow kindly posted to say that it could be something to do with too much fibre in one go and not being able to chew it properly.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I'd get around this or maybe my recipe was wrong? It's a real pain (sorry ) as I really want to eat healthier and the smoothies were a hassle free tasty breakfast..

Edit - I wonder if it would be a good idea to drink the smoothie before bed? That way I'd be getting my nutrients but the cramps may not hit! What do you think?

Also how come I can drink soup that have liquidised veg but not smoothies? Surely the same principle behind them?

EileenG

You made a smoothie with raw spinach? Off the top of my head, I think the oxalic acid content of a lot of raw spinach might be high enough to cause problems.

El_Dangeroso

Do you get IBS with any other foods? If not this might be just a bit too much fibre in one go. Maybe try eating a little bit of fruit or veg on it's own and see if you get a reaction.

Fruit and vegetable fibre can wreck havoc with IBS, I once ended up in the A&E from eating raw turnip, no joke! (was undiagnosed at the time so hadn't a clue what was going on)

columok

Temple Grandin wrote:

Fruit and vegetable fibre can wreck havoc with IBS, I once ended up in the A&E from eating raw turnip, no joke! (was undiagnosed at the time so hadn't a clue what was going on)

Am I wrong or is turnip like potatoes- toxic or at least irritating unless cooked?

El_Dangeroso

columok wrote: »

Am I wrong or is turnip like potatoes- toxic or at least irritating unless cooked?

Your probably right there, I can handle cooked no hassle. I still miss raw turnip, I know it's weird but I love it!

Just had a quick google, raw turnip is a goitrogen, but not a gut irritant as far as I can tell, think it was the really high amount of fibre, I get the same reaction from too much flaxseed too.

Sapsorrow

Try making sure each mouthfull is well mixed with saliva before swallowing it, gross I know but you need to start the digestive process in your mouth, there is an enzyme in your saliva that starts to breakdown the starch. If the smoothis give you loose bowels I wouldn't persevere with them as it's only going to cause malabsorption in that case.

Kimia

Thanks everyone. I think I just had too much of it - I made another one last night and I only drank half and although it did give me some gurgling there was no pain. Thanks for the tip Sapsorrow I'll give that a go.

I actually googled it loads yesterday and most of the pages said that smoothies were good for IBS - that sounds strange?

Sapsorrow

Kimia wrote: »

I actually googled it loads yesterday and most of the pages said that smoothies were good for IBS - that sounds strange?

That's because IBS is a blanket diagnosis, if you have the runs it's IBS, if you're constipated it's IBS, if certain foods or stress give you tummy ache it's IBS. Saying you have IBS is the equivalent to saying you have a digestive disorder, it could mean anything and so completely different things aggravate or alleviate symptoms for different sufferers. It just means the doctor doesn't really have a clue what's wrong with you but they know it's something to do with your stomach/gut :rolleyes: That's part of why it's such a b*tch to treat, have you had a diagnosis? Do you regularly have stomach problems or just with the smoothies?

GreeBo

Drinking frozen smoothies quickly will also freeze the linings of yout gut/stomach/intestines and give you a nice dose of the squats.

Drink it slowly.

Kimia

I've been diagnosed, and it's as you said a diagnosis of omission. It's not serious, usually stress brings it on or if I change my eating patterns radically. It's not a huge deal and I don't suffer that much from it tbh, my main concern is making sure that I eat enough veg so that everything runs smoothly.