Yesterday, we shared a very interesting article about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and dating.
If you have been recently diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and are single, but are not ready to start dating just yet, there’s no need for you to spend Valentine’s day home alone and lonely as a pea. Call in your girlfriends for a fun evening since Valentine’s day falls on a Friday this year!
We totally understand that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) can be life changing. But did you know that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), besides affecting your intestines, can also take a toll on your mental health? Many people become isolated. They no longer want to go to social gatherings or even meet a friend for lunch.
Some people can get very depressed…They lose themselves within this disease and they don’t want to get out of their own home.
We encourage you to take control of your life. Day by day, you’ll find ways to better cope with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and one of the very first steps in feeling better, is not feeling lonely. Feeling like you are alone, like you have no one to talk to about it (besides your doctor), can be devastating to someone who is suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). One of the things that can trigger Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is stress, so feeling nervous and all stressed out won’t help you one bit.
Did you know that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) affects between 25 and 55 million people in the United States? Approximately 20% to 40% of all visits to gastroenterologists are because of IBS symptoms. So, there’s a lot more people who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) that you probably thought.
The key is to know you are not alone, understand that it is a very common disease and open up to your family and closest friends.
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner…It’s a day to celebrate love and friendship, so we encourage you to invite 3-4 of your closest friends to your place, and have a movie marathon. Perhaps these friends are already aware of your condition, but if they are not, this will be the perfect opportunity to disclose with them what’s going on currently in your life.
Remember that having a support system is very important, so don’t feel embarrassed to share your troubles with your dear friends.
Here are a few tips to make your Valentine’s Day gathering a success:
1.Invitations
Send some cute invites by mail or email, inviting your friends over for a real fun time. This will get everyone including you, excited for the day. We suggest skipping the restaurant this time…Celebrate it at home, where you’ll feel as comfy as you can be.
2. Create a menu
Design a menu plan that works for them and yourself. You may not know exactly what foods trigger your IBS yet, but here’s a list of the ones that usually are a no-no.
~Caffeinated drinks, sodas, coffee, tea.
~Dairy
~Fried and fatty foods
~Processed foods
~Insoluble fiber
~Gluten
~Beans and legumes
~Broccoli and cauliflower
~Chocolate and candy
~Alcohol
Now, if you don’t have a clue what to serve your guests, here’s a good menu idea, which will surely delight you and your friends:
VALENTINE’S DAY MENU
DRINKS: Since you cannot have sodas, wine, beer or any caffeinated drinks, why not make some elegant, tasty fruity natural water?
You’ll need about 5 strawberries and 2 kiwis. If you have a Beverage Dispenser already at home even better if not, borrow one or just fill up a big jar with water and cut slices of kiwi and strawberry and put those in. The longer the fruits soak in the water, the more fruit taste it will have.
SALAD: Frisée Salad with Blue Cheese, Cranberries & Walnuts (Serves 4)
3 cups frisée (about 750 g), washed and dried, torn into bite-sized pieces
½ cup (85 g) crumbled blue cheese
¼ cup (40 g) dried cranberries
3 tablespoons chopped toasted walnuts
Fody Low FODMAP Garden Herb Salad Dressing
Instructions:
1. Toss together the frisée, blue cheese, dried cranberries and nuts.
2. Dress lightly with Fody Low FODMAP Garden Herb Salad Dressing. Serve immediately.
Recipe and Photo Credit: Dédé Wilson
• DINNER: Creamy red pepper pesto pasta (Serves 4)
400g gluten free pasta
100g pine nut
3 roasted red pepper, roughly chopped
25g Parmesan, or a vegetarian alternative, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp garlic infused oil
large pack basil, plus a few leaves to serve
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
50g lactose free cream
Instructions:
1. Cook the gluten free pasta following pack instructions. Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a dry pan for a few mins.
2. Add half the pine nuts to the small bowl of a food processor or a hand chopper, along with the red peppers, Parmesan, garlic infused oil, basil, oil and some seasoning. Whizz to a paste, adding a splash of water from the pasta if it is a little dry.
3. Drain the gluten free pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water. Return the gluten free pasta to the pan and set over a low heat.
4. Add the pesto, lactose free cream and 3-4 tbsp of the reserved pasta water, then stir until the lactose free cream has melted, adding a splash more pasta water if the sauce needs thinning.
5. To serve, crush the remaining pine nuts and scatter over the gluten free pasta with a few more basil leaves and some extra Parmesan.
• DESSERT: Gluten-free baked vanilla spice sprinkle donuts (Makes 14 donuts)
For the doughnuts:
2 1/3 cups all purpose gluten-free flour (I used Cup 4 Cup)
1/3 cup blanched almond flour
1 cup coconut sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup almond milk, or other milk of your choice
1/2 cup full fat plain yogurt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Rainbow sprinkles, or other sprinkles of your choice
For the glaze:
1/4 cup almond milk, or other milk of your choice
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray a doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Combine the gluten-free flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut sugar, salt, and spices into a large mixing bowl. Whisk together until completely combined.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, add the almond milk, yogurt, and eggs. Whisk until smooth. Add in the melted butter and vanilla extract. Whisk again until smooth.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir until they are fully combined and there are no dry spots. The batter will be thick and sticky.
5. Using a couple of clean spoons, spoon the batter into the greased doughnut pan until they are filled 3/4 of the way. Since the batter is so sticky, you might have to use the back of the spoon to smooth it out a bit once it’s in the mold.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The doughnuts will be a lovely golden-brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack before glazing.
7. To make the glaze, add the almond milk, vanilla extract and powdered sugar into a bowl. Use a hand mixer to blend together until a glaze forms.
8. Once the doughnuts are cooled, dip them into the glaze and then dip the glazed doughnut into a shallow dish of the sprinkles of your choice. The sprinkles will stick to the glaze. Allow the glazed and sprinkled doughnuts to sit for at least five minutes before serving.
Recipe and Photo Credit: Gina Eykemans
3. Dress your table in pretty pinks and reds to give that Valentine’s vibe.
From the Dollar Store, grab a pink table plastic cover. Choose paper plates, cups and utensils in red color and pick a cute Valentine design for the napkins.
Put some fresh flowers in a vase as a centerpiece and add some tea lights around it. Don’t forget to grab some Chocolates as favors (You can get organza bags or cute favor boxes from the Dollar Store too) + Wine for your guests, just stay away from these as you can’t have these either.
4. Share information about your condition
If you are feeling comfortable, which you should be, since you are among close friends, maybe after dinner will be a good time to share about your IBS condition, if your friends are unaware of it. No need to spend the whole night talking about it…but opening up to them will make them understand you and your new situation, and you all can plan many fun, different activities, keeping your condition in mind now.
5. After small talk
After sharing about your Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) experience, be you the one who stops the conversation from taking over your celebration and suggest moving over to the living room and watching some all time favorite movies. While you can’t have any, do have some snacks for your guests handy, like chips, popcorn, etc. Make a fruit salad bowl for you to snack while watching movies.
Here’s our top 10 (not in any particular order), so you can pick from!
~ Pretty Woman
~ Bridget Jones Diary and
~ Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. (You can save Bridget Jones’s Baby for your next Movie Night)
~ He’s just not that into You
~ 27 Dresses
~ Amelie
~ My Big Fat Greek Wedding
~ When Harry met Sally
~ Dirty Dancing
~ Notting Hill
So now that you have that covered, you are all set to enjoy a fun Valentine’s Day! This gathering will leave you refreshed, with a more positive mindset and wanting to do more social fun activities, to say the least. Happy Valentine’s Day, friend!
Disclaimer: These recipes work well with most people who suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). As always, have small portions to see how your body reacts or just prepare the meals a few days in advance to test them out.
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Digestinol is an all-natural supplement that helps support and promote digestive health as well as support your immune system. Its biggest benefit is the ability to target and reduce inflammation within your digestive system. Inflammation along your digestive system is one of the main reasons for pain/discomfort associated with digestive disorders. It can help with both constipation as well as diarrhea, because it gets your body back to normal so the amount of fluid in your colon is regulated the way it should be.
What is Digestinol?
Our product contains AMP (Aloe Mucilaginous Polysaccharides) which is an all-natural molecule found in the aloe vera plant. It is known to enhance the body’s immune system due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. We have a 97-98% success rate reported from people who take Digestinol as directed for 90 days or longer.
If you are not interested in prescription medications to treat your condition and prefer a more natural approach, Digestinol makes all-natural capsules that contain a very specific form of Aloe Polysaccharides to target the inflammation along your digestive tract.
These capsules also provide your body with the nutrients that it is lacking in order to take back control of itself. Digestinol isn’t just Aloe Vera powder, Aloe Vera (contains Aloein) which irritates your digestive system and can cause diarrhea. Digestinol undertakes very specific additional steps in order to remove the Aloein during their extraction process to focus on only the beneficial portions of the Aloe Leaf, the long chain Aloe Mucilaginous Polysaccharide molecules.
Since Digestinol is 100% all-natural it doesn’t bring along the side effects that other chemically based prescription medications have. We tell our customers to think of Digestinol as an all-natural digestive system specific vitamin that reduces inflammation and provides your body with specific nutrients that allow it to take back control of itself.
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