3 REASONS THE IC DIET ISN’T WORKING & HOW YOU CAN HEAL INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS
When you come away from the urologist's office with a diagnosis of interstitial cystitis (IC) and you're told that life will always be this painful, it's hard to see where to go next. You might be trying to fix your own bladder symptoms, and making some mistakes like I did when I was recovering from IC so I thought I'd write a blog post to help you.
It's understandable that many of my clients try to take matters into their own hands once an "expert" has told them that there's little to no hope for recovery.
However, I want you to know that as someone who has recovered from IC, there is hope. You too CAN break free from IC and find the freedom to love life again.
Read on to see if you're making these 3 mistakes...
1. YOU’VE CUT OUT LOADS OF IC TRIGGER FOODS BUT STILL FEEL AWFUL
It’s something I see people struggle with time and time again. They get handed a print out of the IC diet or they get told to avoid all acidic foods and stick to a small number of “safe” foods.
Often people cut everything out and eat the blandest diet they can bear because they don't know what else to do. It can literally feel like everything aggravates the bladder. I totally get it!
However cutting everything out is pretty pointless if we don't work on the underlying health issues and imbalances which may have triggered an angry bladder in the first place.
When I followed the IC diet, I didn’t experience any dramatic improvements. If anything I felt worse. I lost more and more weight and looked visibly unwell. I felt trapped in a diet where food felt incredibly scary. Despite no obvious improvements in my symptoms and pain on the IC diet, I stuck to it for months because I didn't know what else to try. Read more about how I healed my interstitial cystitis naturally.
I would study ingredients labels for possible triggers and scan my body for cues each time I ate a mouthful of food. It felt impossible to know what food could be a bladder trigger.
Sound familiar?
I want you to know, it’s not your fault.
Food is something we feel we can control which is why it’s so easy to conclude that one teeny tiny blueberry must have been the reason for a massive flare.
Sticking to a restrictive IC diet means that each time we experience an IC flare we can beat ourselves up and punish ourselves for not sticking to the ridiculously strict IC diet plan.
When it comes to IC, food is the ultimate enemy, or so we've been told...
Spend too much time hanging out in certain online groups and it would seem that food is somehow the only reason our bladder is so angry and inflamed all of the time.
Now, don't get me wrong, some foods can be irritating to the bladder but we absolutely need to keep things in perspective and supported by evidence!
2. YOU’RE LOSING MORE AND MORE WEIGHT AND STARTING TO WONDER HOW LONG YOU CAN KEEP THE IC DIET GOING WITHOUT SERIOUS NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES
As someone who followed the IC diet for almost a year, I know how damaging the IC diet can be. I lost more and more weight and looked really ill.
But here's the thing...
We don’t need to punish and starve ourselves in order to experience improvements in our bladder health. Our body requires optimal nutrition in order to heal. Compassion is also very welcome. Something that tends to be ignored at many urology offices.
Perhaps you’ve worked with a nutritionist before and it started out well but soon you realised there was never any talk of a reintroduction phase. You were expected to continue on a restricted diet until symptoms improved… but there was no end in sight.
There is another way to heal from IC
We need to explore the underlying issues that could be driving your bladder symptoms and restore balance in the whole body.
For instance, if your IC was originally triggered by a urinary tract infection (UTI) it can be helpful to consider why that happened in the first place. Perhaps your immune system may benefit from some support!
Do you have a long history of antibiotics and struggle with bouts of thrush or bacterial vaginosis? Are you constipated or struggling with diarrhoea? Your gut, bladder and/or vaginal microbiomes may need some support too.
When it comes to IC, our bladder is often angry and inflamed and we’re unsure exactly why that is. It could be an embedded UTI, scarring from recurring UTIs, trauma, or something else. It may benefit from foods that are naturally anti-inflammatory and rich in antioxidants to help mop up the inflammation.
Understandably, we feel like an emotional wreck because we’ve been chronically ill for so long and at our wits end. So instead of punishing our bodies further, let’s use foods that have a calming effect on your nervous system and reduce the emotional burden IC has on our wellbeing.
Can you start to see how by cutting out foods we’re not addressing any of these potential underlying imbalances and giving ourselves the best possible chance of success?
If we’re only ever laser focused on what foods to avoid at all costs, we're simply becoming more and more depleted and depriving our body of what it really needs to heal and rebalance.
I know this may feel difficult to embrace and believe at first but there is another way!
If you are done with cutting out foods and want a sustainable and effective approach to healing from IC, (from someone who has cured her interstitial cystitis naturally, and is a qualified nutritional expert with years of experience), check out my Heal your Bladder 1-1 programme.
3. YOU’RE SPENDING ALL YOUR FREE TIME IN IC FACEBOOK GROUPS AND ABSORBING INFORMATION THAT MAY NOT BE ACCURATE
When I was first diagnosed with IC, I spent a lot of time in online forums searching for answers, until my nutritionist encouraged me to ditch them.
What I hadn’t realised at the time was that these people were also desperate and searching for *that* magic supplement or treatment, which is different for everyone.
Everyone’s health history is different so it makes sense that each healing journey will also differ.
If only I had known...
There’s a HUGE myth circulating in IC groups and communities that all acidic foods are acidic to the bladder. This myth also forms the basis of the so-called "IC diet".
But here's the thing...
Citrus, for example, can be acidic to the stomach but our bladder is a completely different organ and digestion changes a foods pH.
I believed this myth too until I started working with an experienced nutritionist who explained to me how digestion changes everything. It was such a lightbulb moment it's one of the reasons I retrained as a nutritional therapist and specialised in gut health for many years!
IC is an umbrella term for unexplained bladder pain. It is not one disease which will benefit from a one-size-fits-all cure unfortunately. But with a tailored whole-body approach it is possible to feel more like you again and live a normal life!
CHRONIC BLADDER PAIN GOT YOU FED-UP, MISUNDERSTOOD AND DOWNRIGHT MISERABLE?
Stop searching for answers, start your journey to freedom.
Through:
Urinary microbiome testing
Tailored dietary advice
Targeted supplement plans
You deserve support from an IC nutritionist who truly understands how the bladder responds to certain foods and has lived this experience. I’m here to help you go from guesswork to getting the help you desperately deserve. Take a look at my Heal Your Bladder 1-2-1 Programme today, designed to provide a clear path forward for those suffering from debilitating bladder problems such as interstitial cystitis (IC), recurring urinary tract infections (UTIs), or painful bladder syndrome (PBS).
Free eBook
If you struggle with interstitial cystitis, UTIs or painful bladder syndrome download my free eBook: How to Heal you Bladder with Food.
