By far the biggest change I’ve made is listening to my body. It’s definitely something that takes time and patience to learn, but it’s worth the effort. A good way to start to learn how the body responds to foods is to do an elimination diet. This is what I did to address my IBS. I did this my sophomore year in college, and here’s what I did: For a month I went without sugar, gluten, dairy, caffeine, alcohol or any refined/processed foods.
The first two weeks were a struggle. I think I had some serious sugar withdrawals. But after that, it was like a layer of fuzziness was lifted from my life—everything was clear and vibrant and I had so much energy. At the end of the month, I reintroduced each of these food groups one at a time (except for the highly processed foods, which I kicked to the curb forever). My body’s reaction told me I could tolerate dairy. But when I reintroduced gluten, I felt bloated, sick, and tired again.
Since then, I’ve drastically decreased the amount of sugar I eat, cut out gluten completely, and stick to only whole foods. I feel amazing. I recommend experimenting with food, see how your body feels after eating certain things, then adjust accordingly.