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Practical information for people trying to understand their gut and find their food triggers. Start at the top and work your way down, or jump to what's relevant.

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Understanding IBS

What's happening in your gut and why.

Alcohol and IBS: Which Drinks Are Worst

Beer, wine, or spirits: which actually hits your gut hardest? Here's how alcohol affects IBS symptoms, why the next-day crash happens, and…

Artificial Sweeteners and Gut Symptoms

Sugar-free doesn't mean symptom-free. Here's why polyols like sorbitol and xylitol cause different problems than aspartame, and how to spot…

Why Beans and Lentils Cause Gas (and How to Reduce It)

Why do beans cause gas? It comes down to a specific carbohydrate your gut can't digest. Here's the mechanism and how to find your own…

Bile Acid Malabsorption: The Overlooked Cause of Diarrhea

Some cases labeled IBS-D are actually bile acid malabsorption, a treatable condition that often gets missed. Here's how to recognize the…

Carbonated Drinks and Bloating: What's Going On

Soda, sparkling water, seltzer: why do fizzy drinks bloat some people and not others? Here's the mechanism and how to test your own…

Chronic Gas and Flatulence: Causes and Fixes

Excessive gas has a handful of real, distinct causes. Here's the full map, from fermentation to swallowed air, so you can work out which…

Constipation and IBS-C: what helps

IBS-C constipation responds to fiber, fluid, and movement, but the details matter more than general advice suggests. Here's what helps.

Eating Out With IBS: How to Avoid a Flare

Restaurant meals hide onion, garlic, fat, and portions you can't fully control. Here's a practical strategy for eating out with IBS without…

Exercise and IBS: What Helps and What Triggers

Moderate exercise is one of the better-supported ways to ease IBS symptoms, but hard efforts and bad timing can trigger a flare. Here's how…

Fatty Food and IBS Urgency

Fried chicken, a rich sauce, a heavy takeout order, and suddenly you need a bathroom now. Here's why fat drives urgency, and how meal size…

Fiber and IBS: Why It Helps Some and Hurts Others

Fiber advice for IBS is confusing because it's incomplete. Soluble and insoluble fiber behave differently in a sensitive gut. Here's how to…

Fructose Malabsorption Explained

Fructose malabsorption happens when your gut can't fully absorb fructose, so the excess ferments in the colon. Here's the mechanism and the…

Is It Gluten or FODMAPs? Why Wheat Might Bother You

Symptoms after wheat do not reveal whether gluten, fructans, another meal component, or a different condition contributed. Learn what…

Do 'Gut Reset' and Detox Diets Work for IBS?

Juice cleanses, tea detoxes, and 7-day 'gut resets' promise a fast fix. Here's why the detox framing doesn't hold up, and what a real reset…

High-FODMAP Fruits That Trigger Bloating

Fruit gets treated as a 'safe' food, but some common ones are loaded with fermentable sugars that bloat an IBS gut. Here's which fruits to…

Histamine Intolerance and Food Reactions

Histamine intolerance can make food reactions feel random, fine one week and awful the next. Here's the DAO enzyme explanation and how to…

IBS and Anxiety: Breaking the Stress-Gut Cycle

IBS and anxiety feed each other in a genuine, two-way loop. Here's how that cycle works, what calms it, and how tracking helps you find…

IBS and Sleep: How Poor Sleep Worsens Symptoms

A bad night's sleep often predicts a bad gut day, not the other way around. Here's what the research shows about sleep and IBS, and how to…

Is It IBS or Something Else? When to Get Checked

IBS shares symptoms with several conditions that need different treatment. Here's what points toward IBS, what points away, and when to see…

Lactose Intolerance vs Dairy Allergy vs IBS

Understand lactose intolerance, milk allergy and IBS, why symptoms can overlap, and when dairy reactions need clinical assessment rather…

Leaky Gut Syndrome: What the Evidence Actually Says

Leaky gut syndrome gets blamed for everything from bloating to brain fog. Here's what intestinal permeability actually is, and what's…

Morning IBS: Why Symptoms Are Worse After Waking

Urgency, pain, or bloating right after waking isn't a coincidence. Here's how the gastrocolic reflex and morning cortisol make mornings…

Nausea After Eating: Common Causes

Nausea after eating can come from IBS, reflux, or something that needs a doctor's attention. Here's how to tell the difference and what to…

Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity Explained

Non-celiac gluten or wheat sensitivity describes symptoms associated with gluten-containing foods after careful clinical exclusion of…

Peppermint Oil for IBS: Does It Work?

Peppermint oil is one of the few IBS remedies with real trial evidence behind it. Here's what the research supports, how it works, and how…

Probiotics for IBS: Do They Actually Help?

Probiotics get recommended for almost every gut issue. Here's what the evidence actually supports, why strain matters, and how to test one…

Spicy Food and Stomach Pain: Is It Really the Cause?

Spicy food and stomach pain often go together, but capsaicin isn't always the real culprit. Here's the receptor behind the burn and how to…

Stomach Pain and Cramps After Eating

Stomach pain after eating can come from gas, spasm, inflammation, or something more serious. Here's how to map your pattern and know when…

Sugar Alcohols and Diarrhea: The 'Sugar-Free' Trap

Sugar-free gum, mints, and protein bars can trigger sudden diarrhea, and sorbitol, xylitol, or mannitol are usually why. Here's how to read…

Traveling With IBS: Staying Ahead of Triggers

New food, disrupted routine, and unfamiliar water can unsettle IBS on a trip. Here's how to prepare, what raises risk, and how to keep…

Lactose Intolerance Symptoms and How It Is Diagnosed

Common lactose intolerance symptoms, when they may appear after dairy, and how tracking can support a conversation with a clinician.

Dairy and IBS: Lactose, Rich Meals, and Milk Allergy

Dairy-related symptoms may involve lactose, a rich meal, or milk allergy. Learn the differences, what a food log can show, and when to seek…

Gluten and IBS: Sensitivity vs Celiac Disease

Gluten and IBS symptoms overlap in confusing ways. Here's how celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and FODMAP wheat reactions…

Bloated After Eating Bread or Pasta? Why It Happens

Bloated after eating bread or pasta? Learn how wheat fructans, portion size, meal ingredients, celiac disease, and wheat allergy can…

Could Onion and Garlic Be Linked to IBS Symptoms?

Onion and garlic contain fructans, which may contribute to digestive symptoms in some people with IBS. Learn how to track possible…

Coffee and IBS: Why It May Trigger Urgency

Coffee can stimulate the colon in some people, but the limited research does not prove one IBS mechanism. Learn what to track and test…

SIBO vs IBS: Why Symptoms Alone Can't Tell Them Apart

SIBO and IBS can cause similar symptoms. Learn how clinicians assess them, what breath tests can and cannot show, and where symptom…

IBS-C, IBS-D, IBS-M, and IBS-U: What the Subtypes Mean

Rome IV describes four IBS subtypes based on stool form. Learn what IBS-C, IBS-D, IBS-M, and IBS-U mean, and how a diary can support a…

Bloating After Eating: Causes and What to Do

Bloating after eating has many possible causes. Learn what patterns may be useful to record, when diet changes need guidance, and when to…

Diarrhea After Eating: Possible Causes and When to Get Help

Diarrhea after eating can have several causes. Learn what timing can and cannot show, what details to track, and when to seek medical care.

IBS in Women: Periods, Hormones, and Gut Symptoms

IBS is reported more often in women, and some people notice symptoms vary around menstruation. Learn what research suggests, what tracking…

Tracking Your Triggers

How to log food and symptoms effectively.

Low-FODMAP Reintroduction: Planning Food Challenges With a Dietitian

How dietitian-guided low-FODMAP reintroduction works, what to record, and why challenge responses are observations rather than diagnoses.

How to Figure Out Which Foods Are Triggering You

Wondering how to figure out which foods are triggering you? Here's the systematic process that works, instead of guessing meal by meal.

Why Can't I Figure Out What's Upsetting My Stomach?

Can't figure out what's upsetting your stomach after cutting the obvious foods? Here are the hidden reasons triggers stay invisible, and…

How to Read Your Food Diary and Find Patterns

You've been logging for weeks, so how do you find patterns in a food diary? Here's how to turn raw entries into a real, confirmed trigger…

The Elimination Diet Reintroduction Phase, Explained

Reintroduction can help you explore food-symptom relationships while widening a restricted diet. Learn what to record and when to involve a…

Symptom Tracker vs Food Diary: What's the Difference?

Symptom tracker vs food diary: what does each record, and do you need both? Learn how a combined log can support a more useful IBS symptom…

IBS Flare-Up Diary: What to Record and Review

A practical IBS flare-up diary for recording symptoms, meals, stress, sleep, medicines, and other context, then reviewing possible patterns…

Keeping a Bloating Diary: What to Track and Why

Learn what to record in a bloating diary so you can review possible food, timing, bowel, and context patterns without treating a diary as a…

How Long Does an Elimination Diet Take?

Elimination-diet timelines depend on the protocol. See how the low-FODMAP phases are structured, why reintroduction matters, and when to…

Common Elimination Diet Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Common elimination-diet mistakes include restricting too broadly, using the wrong timeline, skipping reintroduction, and treating diary…

Guides

Step-by-step approaches to identifying triggers.

Acid Reflux and Food Triggers

What actually causes acid reflux, the food triggers with the strongest evidence, and how to find your specific combination of foods,…

FODMAP Stacking: What It Means and When It May Matter

FODMAP stacking may help explain why a mixed meal is tolerated differently from its individual foods. Learn what stacking means, what it…

What to Eat During an IBS Flare-Up

What to eat during an IBS flare-up: practical hydration, meal, and symptom-specific options without turning a difficult day into a…

Tools & Analysis

Make sense of your data.

Are At-Home Food Intolerance Tests Worth It?

At-home food intolerance tests promise a fast answer, but the evidence behind most of them is thin. Here's what these tests measure, and if…

IgG Food Sensitivity Tests: What the Science Actually Says

IgG food sensitivity test accuracy is a common search for good reason, the results are confusing. Here's what IgG antibodies actually…

Food Intolerance Test vs Elimination Diet: Which Works?

Compare consumer IgG food panels with elimination and reintroduction on evidence, cost, and practical trade-offs.

Why Food Allergy Tests Don't Find Food Intolerances

Food allergy tests and food-intolerance assessment answer different questions. Learn what a negative result can and cannot show, and when…