We IBS people are not advised to eat these fruits: apples, pears and dried fruits. Why? They are high in fructose, a thing that triggers your bloating. So if you really are a die-hard fan of fruits, what choices do you have?
Hilda Glickman, a university lecturer and nutritionist teaching nurses in UK, goes for berries.
Why berries are the best fruit
Lots of reasons why berries should be our choice. The biggest one for IBS people is it helps fight inflammation. Inflammation, in a simple word that scares you and me, is bloating.
How do berries help fight bloating? Well, they are high in antioxidants, to be exact, anthocyanins, a group of deep red, purple and blue pigments found in plants. This kind of antioxidants has a super power: increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines.
What on earth is cytokines? They are messengers between your cells doing their tasks on coordinating your immune responses. So simply put, anti-inflammatory cytokines prevent other cells from swelling.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5613902/#S0006title
Anthocyanidins and anthocyanins: colored pigments as food, pharmaceutical ingredients, and the potential health benefits
How to eat berries (and other fruits)
Well, don’t rush to a supermarket to buy berries now. Before you taste this delicious, healthy fruit, Hilda Glickman has a piece of further advice: how to do it:
- eat berries between meals (not with other food)
Why? Here is her explanation:
when it is eaten with other food it can sit in intestines and then ferment, possibly causing wind and bloating
Beat IBS: A simple, five-step plan for restoring your digestive health
In other words, to fight inflammation, goes with berries only.
