“I had suffered through 40 years of my life with IBS and then I could fix that in three days with the right type of food!”

Charlotte had suffered from severe IBS since she was a child, and she had tried to exclude all sorts of foods without any effect.

Finally she found an article which stated that IBS could be improved by excluding dietary starch, and she decided to try it. In just a few days her stomach issues were gone!

The E-mail

Hello Andreas,

I want to share my health story too.

It’s not about major weight loss – it’s more about wellbeing and the right to a functioning existence.

As a child in Denmark in the 70’s and 80’s, which is if possible, a bigger sandwich country than Sweden, I was brought up on hot cereal, sandwiches and fresh bread for breakfast, Danish sandwiches for lunch and then some traditional Danish food for dinner (which included a lot of potatoes).

As a child I was very small and thin and it was hard for me to eat – I basically chewed the food until dry and my digestive system was constantly upset. I went to the bathroom either too much and too fast, or way too seldom.

I cannot even count the times I’ve been to the bathroom with stomach cramps or been down on the sofa/bed in fetal position with stomach pain and cramps.

As an adult, I received the diagnosis IBS and they told me to increase my dietary fiber intake. So now I poured inulin on the “healthy” yogurt. The situation did not improve :(

Now it’s the 00’s – and like I said, my weight was never a problem. I gave birth to three children, and the weight crept up a little with every child, a few pounds at a time. And my IBS got worse. On some days I couldn’t stay too far away from the bathroom and sometimes nothing happened for weeks on end. In addition, I was constantly bloated and gassy.

I tried to exclude all kinds of foods; lactose, gluten, soy, specific foods (such as apples, leeks, cauliflower, onion…) and at last I felt as though I couldn’t eat anything at all – of course everything I ate had to be low in fat and labeled “healthy”.

The turning point came in November 2008, when I found an article about IBS via Google, claiming that the exclusion of starch could have a favorable effect on IBS.

I read some about dietary starch and came to the conclusion that I would need to change my food habits quite a bit, as it meant that I primarily needed to remove grains, pasta, rice and potatoes. And I loved sandwiches and potatoes :(

I decided to give it a try and on December 1st I changed my diet and promised myself to eat that way until Christmas to give it some time.

What happened then? It took THREE (3) DAYS and I suddenly felt that my stomach became calm and flat and I had no gas – and no issues with going to the bathroom. I was euphoric, and at the same time mad, at the fact that nobody had figured this out earlier. I had suffered through 40 years of my life with IBS and then I could fix this in three days with the right diet!

So what exactly did I do then? Instead of products rich in starch, I started eating more natural fat and swapped products labeled “healthy” for full-fat products. It was so delicious :). In the beginning of 2009 I noticed that my weight started to head upwards – a few pounds had disappeared immediately when I removed starch and added fat.

I reached the conclusion that eating all that fat and then also eating foods rich in sugar wasn’t a great combination (I still consumed a lot of candy at the time). I removed sugar from my food and suddenly I had found the diet I was made for and I felt so great – I had found LCHF.

I’ve eaten like this since then and I feel great. My IBS is a distant memory and my digestive system is at peace.

The realization that our diet is so important for our wellbeing made me change much more than just the foods I eat. I’ve chosen a new career (from the IT sector to diet and health) and I now focus on giving others access to finding the happiness in real and delicious food – everything homecooked.

I now run a company with focus on diet, health and lifestyle where the core business is cooking classes for regular people, presentations and soon also nutrition counseling.

Feel free to check out my website HappyCharlotte.com

You may of course publish this if you feel that my story can inspire others.

Charlotte

Comments

Congratulations Charlotte, to freeing yourself from your IBS!

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