This really matters right now because the FDA and CDC are investigating a large Cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico and recalled by Taylor Farms de Mexico. As of the latest FDA update, the outbreak includes more than 11,000 illnesses across 20 states. The recalled lettuce should now be off the market, but people may still be dealing with symptoms from earlier exposure.

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that can cause watery diarrhea, urgency, cramps, bloating, nausea, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Symptoms can last for weeks, and they can come and go. (Sound familiar?)

For some people, a bacterial, viral, or parasitic gut infection can trigger long-term IBS symptoms. This is called post-infectious IBS. Symptoms can include ongoing diarrhea, urgency, abdominal pain, bloating, reflux, nausea, and the feeling that your gut never fully recovered.

Research suggests this may happen in roughly 10% to 20% of people after intestinal infections, and the risk may be higher after some parasitic infections.

The likely reasons are biological: gut infections can irritate or damage the intestinal lining, disrupt the microbiome, activate immune cells, and leave the gut nerves hypersensitive. Normal gas or digestion may then be felt as pain or urgency.

The good news: many cases improve over time, and symptoms can be managed just like IBS. But if diarrhea, pain, urgency, or weight loss continue for months after a gut infection, see a gastroenterologist. It is important to rule out an ongoing infection, inflammatory bowel disease, and other causes.

The takeaway here? After food poisoning, lingering gut symptoms are real. You are not crazy, and you do not have to just suffer through this.

Try the magic trick to get your gut feeling better fast…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

But fat carries flavor, so dropping the fat level means you need to heighten the taste. The easy, cheap, and unhealthy way to do that is with sugar and salt.

Instead, try an IBS flavor bomb!

Today’s is toasted sesame oil.

Yes, it’s a fat, but it is so intensely flavored you only need a few drops per serving, or a teaspoon or two for an entire recipe.

Try it with rice, potatoes, noodles, soups, dips, sauces, tender steamed veggies, dressings, anything really.

Ideally, get a glass bottle and make sure that the oil is a rich deep golden brown. Store it in the fridge.

Shake well each time you use it - the good stuff settles.

It’s a healthy safe flavor bomb!

Learn more about how to make eating for IBS delicious without deprivation.

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
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A recent study aimed to comprehensively examine the risk of osteoporosis among patients with IBS using a systematic review and meta-analysis technique.

The result?

Analysis found a significantly increased risk of osteoporosis among IBS patients.

Early intervention to prevent the development of osteoporosis, such as weight-bearing exercise, adequate intake of vitamin D and calcium, and early screening for osteoporosis, may be a very good idea if you have IBS.

And more about taking vitamins and minerals with IBS…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

It’s a fast and easy form of help - especially for stress-related IBS symptoms.

So try to use some type of relaxation technique daily:

deep breathing

progressive muscle relaxation

yoga

tai chi

meditation

And learn more about stress and IBS…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
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This is a small, simple adjustment that can significantly reduce straining, discomfort, and incomplete evacuation — issues that often worsen both constipation and diarrhea.

The problem?

When you sit on a standard Western toilet with your feet flat on the floor, your body is in a 90-degree seated angle. This position actually puts a kink in your rectum due to the way the puborectalis muscle (a sling-like muscle around the rectum) wraps around it. That kink can obstruct stool flow.

This sitting angle inhibits natural elimination, leading to straining, bloating, cramping, and even hemorrhoids — all common IBS complications.

The solution?

Elevate your feet with a footstool.

By simply placing a footstool (or a squat platform like a Squatty Potty) under your feet while seated on the toilet, you raise your knees above hip level and shift into a squat position - the way humans were designed to eliminate.

This adjustment:

• Straightens the rectum angle for smoother passage of stool

• Relaxes the pelvic floor muscles, reducing effort and strain

• Encourages full bowel emptying, decreasing urgency and frequency

• Minimizes pressure that can trigger IBS symptoms or worsen pelvic floor dysfunction

This one simple change can make a remarkable difference, especially for IBS constipation, redundant or tortuous colons, pelvic floor dysfunction, or incomplete evacuation.

It’s easy to try, inexpensive, and can give you dramatic improvements in comfort and regularity.

And more help for IBS constipation…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

IBS quick tip. Pelvic floor therapy can help IBS

IBS news flash. This is your brain on IBS...

For meaty, smoky, barbecue lovers, try smoked paprika!

IBS news flash. Diverticulosis & the gut microbiome

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
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Researchers compared stool samples from people with symptomatic diverticulosis, people with diverticulosis but no ongoing symptoms, and healthy controls.

The symptomatic group had lower overall microbiome diversity, higher levels of one potentially problematic bacteria group, and lower levels of bacteria that help produce butyrate.

Butyrate is one of the short-chain fatty acids that help nourish and protect the gut lining.

(If you use Tummy Fiber, you’ll recognize that word because one of the big benefits is that the fiber ferments very slowly in your gut and increases short-chain fatty acid production, including butyrates. That’s the prebiotic effect - it encourages the growth of healthy gut bacteria, and those good guys then keep the bad guys in check.)

The quick takeaway here? Painful diverticulosis symptoms may involve more than the presence of diverticula (the little pockets in the colon wall). Changes in gut bacteria, lower butyrate production, and a weaker gut lining support may all play a role.

And the study adds to the growing evidence that gut symptoms often reflect the whole gut ecosystem, not just one visible structural problem.

And more about the diverticulosis & diverticulitis…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

But fat carries flavor, and dropping the fat level means you need to heighten the taste.

So try an IBS flavor bomb that’s perfect for late summer grilling!

Spanish sweet smoked paprika (also known as pimenton dulce)

This is a gorgeous ruby red powder made by grinding Spanish sweet paprika peppers after they’ve been oak smoked for several weeks.

It has no heat and is not “spicy” at all.

Instead, it lends a potent deep, rich, earthy, savory and smoky taste to literally anything.

A little goes a long way.

There are no calories, no fats, no IBS triggers.

Bonus! Spanish sweet smoked paprika is actually a digestive aid.

Try it:

• sprinkled over rice, noodles, potatoes

• rubbed into skinless chicken breasts or seafood before grilling

• added to any pilaf or casserole for an irresistible smoky note

• to spike a dipping sauce or marinade

• anywhere you want a meaty, smoky, barbecue flavor depth

Because eating for IBS should be delicious, and never mean deprivation.

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

Researchers analyzed prior neuroimaging studies comparing people with IBS to people without IBS. They found differences in brain areas involved with gut sensation, pain processing, emotion, body awareness, and attention.

In plain English: IBS is not just a bowel problem, and it is certainly not “all in your head.” The gut and brain constantly communicate, and in IBS that communication can become overactive, hypersensitive, or misread normal gut signals as pain or distress.

In a nutshell? IBS symptoms are real, biological, and connected to measurable changes in gut-brain pain and sensation pathways. This helps explain why treatments that calm the nervous system, such as gut-directed hypnotherapy, relaxation techniques, sleep support, and stress reduction, can help as much as diet and medical care.

And more about the gut-brain axis…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

In some people with IBS constipation, the pelvic floor muscles may not coordinate correctly during defecation. This is known as dyssynergic defecation.

With IBS diarrhea, pelvic floor dysfunction can manifest as urgency or difficulty controlling bowel movements.

Pelvic floor therapy can help this. Ask your GI or family doc for a referral to a pelvic floor therapist.

And more about IBS…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

But can you take your fiber supplement with medications?

Maybe!

Think of soluble fiber supplements as food.

If you can take a medication with food, you can typically take it with fiber.

(And if you use Tummy Fiber, you can actually take your dose by mixing it right into moist foods or meals. Or simply cook with it - lots of recipes here - so it's automatically in your meals.)

But! If your medication must be taken on an empty stomach, don't take it with fiber any more than you would take it with food.

How to know the difference?

It depends on your specific medication. Does food interfere with its absorption? If yes, the bottle and your pharmacist will tell you to take it on an empty stomach.

Typically, these medications are taken one hour before, or two hours after, your fiber and your food.

So can you take your medication with food?

If yes, then food does not interfere with its absorption. That means you can simply treat your IBS fiber supplement like food, and take it with the medication.

If foods that contain fiber don't affect medication absorption, a fiber supplement typically won't either.

But - it's not just about the type of fiber - it's about the type of medication.

Notice all these "typicallys"...

Always ask your pharmacist if you can take your specific medication with your specific soluble fiber supplement. There are unique interactions that don't fit the general guidelines above.

Tip Takeaway: Treat your fiber supplement like food. If your medication must be taken on an empty stomach, take it one hour before, or two hours after, your fiber supplement/meals. If your medication can be taken with food, it can typically be taken with fiber. But always ask your pharmacist to be sure!

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
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Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

IBS quick tip. If you’re baking for IBS...

IBS news flash. IBS linked to psoriasis risk...

By request! List of soluble fiber AND low FODMAP safe foods!

Big news! IBS diagnostic criteria updated for first time in 10 years...

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

But now the Rome Foundation has released the Rome V Criteria. This marks a new era in the classification and care of dysfunctions of the gut-brain interaction (DGBI).

IBS is one of the most common of those dysfunctions.

From the foundation:

This updated DGBI framework reflects the latest science and emphasizes a more compassionate, patient-centered, and biologically grounded approach to diagnosis and treatment. Rome V empowers clinicians to make positive, evidence-based diagnoses, moving beyond exclusion and toward personalized, compassionate care. Building on validated instruments and new translational data, Rome V integrates more rigorous scientific methods to define disease mechanisms and identify clinically relevant subgroups. It broadens the evidence base by incorporating studies in previously under-represented populations and by refining pediatric DGBI categories to align with emerging neurodevelopmental and mechanistic insights.

And to cut to the chase and view the new IBS subset of the Rome V Criteria see here…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

You can download the image and save it or print it.

Just make sure that you actually need to follow a low FODMAP diet, and that you’ve worked with a registered dietitian to find your specific FODMAP intolerances (if any.) This is NOT a blanket exclusion diet.

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

Researchers followed more than 437,000 people who did not have psoriasis at the start. About 5% had IBS. Over roughly 14 years, people with IBS were 35% more likely to develop psoriasis than people without IBS.

This does not prove IBS causes psoriasis. But it suggests the two conditions may share some underlying biology, possibly involving inflammation, immune activity, or the gut-skin connection.

Takeaway? IBS may be linked with more than gut symptoms. For some people, it may overlap with immune or inflammatory conditions elsewhere in the body, including the skin.

And more about the gut-skin axis…

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

Just replace 1/3 to 1/2 of the oil called for with unsweetened applesauce.

This will keep your baked goods moist and tender without the high fat content that is an IBS trigger.

Need an example?

Just bake my famous peppermint fudge cake recipe to see how deliciously this works!

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

That might not be IBS.

Chronic diarrhea (particularly without abdominal pain) following gallbladder removal is typically caused by malabsorption of bile acids secreted by the liver.

These acids, normally stored in the gallbladder, are now dumped directly into the small intestines, causing chronic irritation and diarrhea.

It's a common side effect of surgery that patients often are not warned about in advance.

But - gallbladder surgery, or any other GI surgery, can also traumatize the enteric nervous system of your gut.

This can lead directly to the development of IBS.

So now you might have two problems.

And a wild card - there's also Idiopathic Bile Acid Malabsorption, a condition that can occur without gallbladder removal.

What to do?

Diarrhea from bile acid malabsorption can be treated with the prescription drug cholestyramine. This binds bile acids in the intestines and prevents them from reaching the colon.

The good news if you have BAM is that you don't have IBS.

The bad news is you might have to take cholestyramine for the rest of your life.

Ask your GI doctor if you may need this medication.

But! It's also possible that the surgery itself did lead to the development of IBS.

For some people IBS follows an insult to the gut.

This can mean dysentery, food poisoning, intestinal flu, abdominal surgery, even pregnancy.

Long after physical recovery from the trauma to the GI tract, the nerves within the gut retain a "memory" of the insult and remain hyper-sensitive and prone to over- or under-reaction.

This leaves people with a permanently malfunctioning enteric nervous system, a brain-gut dysfunction in the form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

If that sounds like you, add in a plain soluble (not insoluble!) fiber supplement and gradually increase a twice daily dose.

You will probably work up to around 10 grams per day total, maybe more. That will stop the diarrhea and keep it at bay.

If you are stuck in a cycle of pain and diarrhea you can’t break see here for fast help.

Tip Takeaway: For both bile malabsorption and IBS, it's helpful to follow the low fat, high soluble fiber guidelines of the Eating for IBS diet and add in a plain soluble fiber supplement like Tummy Fiber. Fat stimulates bile production and worsens diarrhea. Soluble fiber helps absorb and bind bile in the GI tract and aids in its removal from the body.

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

IBS quick tip. How to help heartburn AND IBS?

IBS news flash. This one’s exciting! New research aims to switch off chronic IBS pain at its source

IBS fast fact. There’s a link between autism and IBS

IBS news flash. Constipation review that’s lengthy, dense and well worth the slog...

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

It details how IBS is a common disorder of the gut-brain axis associated with a substantial societal burden in terms of tremendous health care costs, opportunity costs, and decreased quality of life.

This article is lengthy and dense but well worth the slog if you have IBS constipation.

Some high points:

* Constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C) is a common IBS subtype, accounting for approximately one-third of all IBS cases.

* Treatment of IBS-C typically begins with lifestyle interventions and nonpharmacologic options, such as soluble fiber supplements and osmotic laxatives.

* In patients with inadequate response to these therapies, there are 4 currently available, US FDA-approved prescriptions - lubiprostone, linaclotide, plecanatide, and tenapanor - that may relieve IBS-C symptoms.

* In patients with IBS-C who have persistent abdominal pain and/or psychological symptoms such as symptom-related anxiety, depression, or maladaptive coping behaviors despite treatment with the US FDA-approved prescription medications, consider the addition of or switch to low-dose tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and brain-gut behavioral therapy (BGBT).

* Although the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for the treatment of IBS-C alone is not recommended, appropriate treatment of concomitant depression and anxiety has led to global improvement in the management of disease in patients with IBS-C. They can be combined with other therapies and are crucial for integrated care of IBS. They typically complement medical treatment but can also be offered as standalone alternatives.

* Brain-gut behavioral therapy need not have condition-specific effects because they act on central or gut-brain systems of symptom control.

The article concludes that “the future may be brighter for patients with IBS-C if progress is made to increase health care provider awareness of the issues patients deal with, and the potential benefits the totality of the treatment landscape may offer them.”

(Which sounds to me like a very long-winded way of saying doctors need to better understand what their IBS-constipation patients are going through. And they need to better convey all the treatment options that could help them. I completely agree!)

And more help for IBS constipation...

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here

Both children and adults with autism are much more likely to develop GI problems, including IBS, than neurotypical peers.

Studies have shown a significant association between autistic traits and IBS, food allergies, pain, and fatigue.

Autism is actually now being considered a possible brain‑gut‑microbiome axis disorder.

And get more help for IBS…

You are not alone.

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Heather

Heather Van Vorous
40+ years of IBS advocacy
Get full help for IBS here
Get Heather’s Tummy Care here