Vegetarian staples like vegetables and grains get little respect in the IBS diet world because they have all that roughage (insoluble fiber). Even the word roughage is like scratching your fingernails on a chalkboard to someone with a sensitive gut.
Unfortunately, committed vegetarians with IBS tend to live in a world of wheat pasta and white rice, only dabbling in vegetables that are overcooked and unappetizing. Such a bland diet may keep your IBS under some control, but it’s hardly healthy in the long run.
Juicing is one IBS-friendly way to enjoy a vegetarian diet. Throwing away the fiber of fruits and vegetables and drinking all the nutrient-filled juice is very healthy for the intestines and lessens the chances of irritation.
Another safe way to get your vegetables is to make a salad and then blend it into a green pudding. We can hear the blechs from here, but give it a try — you may fall in love with blended salads. If that’s not going to work, you can find lots of organic green powders on the market that you shake or blend into a green smoothie.
Vegetarians can benefit from the reasoning and recipes in the Raw diet because they incorporate blended nuts and seeds (so the fiber is broken down). Nuts and seeds provide an exceptional source of protein. For example, 1 cup of almonds has the same amount of protein as 4 ounces of meat.
