IBS Diet Tip: Just eat less

As my first tip on how to ease IBS symptoms, I'm going to say that eating less and spreading out meals has really helped. But of course, just saying 'Eat less' isn't that helpful for most people.

A free online resource that will help
I actually had The Daily Plate in mind. This is a really cool site I found one day when looking for the calorie content in a McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Sandwich (trust me, there are more calories than you probably think).

The Daily Plate is a lot like Weight Watchers, only it's free and instead of points they just tell you how many calories you've consumed. They have a huge database of both generic and branded foods, so you just have to say 'Wendy's Spicy Go Wrap' and it will automatically log tons of info about how many calories you consumed, what the Fat / Protein / Carb ratio was, and other nutrients. You can also tell it what activities you performed that day and how many calories you burned. They have almost every activity you can imagine. Yes, they have ping-pong. Yes, they have "going for a drive." Yes, they have "running at 7 mph for 30 minutes for 3 miles." Yes, they have dressing and undressing.

Watch your trends over time
Once you've recorded all of your eats and activities, it will build graphs and charts for you to show you your calories, exercise, etc. over time. You can also tell it how tall and heavy you are, your lifestyle (active vs. non-active), and your weight loss goal and it will tell you how many calories a day you can consume that day.

Ever since I've used this site to pay attention to what I eat, I eat a lot less and experience fewer IBS-esque episodes. Over-eating is definitely a prominent trigger for IBS, and spreading food out so you eat little by little during the day is a good way to prevent IBS symptoms.