The IBS hack that soothes your gut and mood

There’s no reason to accept the stomach pain, nausea, alternating constipation and diarrhea, indigestion and gas that is irritable bowel syndrome…

No one should live with the kind of abdominal cramping and discomfort that makes daily living so miserable and depressing.

But if this is your battle, you’re not alone — and there’s help…

Up to 15% of Americans suffer from this disease, resulting in 3.5 million doctor’s visits in the U.S. alone. In fact, it’s one of the most common problems seen in physician offices.

Yet, despite seeing so many patients with the condition, doctors still don’t have a good answer. They’ll prescribe drugs designed to stop the bowel spasms, but even those can worsen your constipation and lead to new problems — like trouble urinating.

Fortunately, new research is shedding light on a much simpler answer to overcoming your irritable bowel syndrome — both the physical symptoms and the depression that can come with it…

Thanksgiving’s answer to gut inflammation

Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine found that when mice who had a common form of bacteria in their gut, known as Lactobacillus reuteri, were fed foods rich in tryptophan — that compound in Turkey that makes you nap away Thanksgiving Day — they developed cells that prevented and calmed inflammation of their bowels.

When the researchers doubled the amount of tryptophan in the mice’s feed, the number of these inflammation-balancing cells rose by about 50 percent. When tryptophan levels were halved, the number of cells dropped by half.

This research suggests that the combination of a bacterium that normally lives in your gut along with a diet rich in tryptophan can promote a more tolerant, less inflammatory gut immune system and provide you with the relief you’ve been searching for.

How to get more tryptophan in your diet

Tryptophan is an amino acid, a building block of proteins, that is essential to maintaining your body’s optimal health.

It acts like a natural mood regulator since it has the ability to help the body produce and balance certain hormones naturally. Supplementing with tryptophan-rich foods or taking supplements helps bring on natural calming effects, induces sleep, fights anxiety and can also help your body burn more fat.

Tryptophan is commonly found in our diets in protein-rich foods. However, dieting, being chronically stressed, consuming too few calories, exercising a lot and having any form of inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders or liver damage can all lead to less tryptophan being absorbed and therefore a possible deficiency.

Although tryptophan is generally associated with turkey, you can also get it from many other foods like:

• Cage-free eggs (especially the whites)
• Wild-caught salmon or cod
• Grass-fed beef or lamb
• Poultry (not just turkey)
• Spirulina
• Whole grain oats
• Brown rice
• Corn
• Quinoa
• Organic dairy products (milk, yogurt, cottage cheese)
• Bananas
• Beans
• Green peas
• Nuts (cashews and walnuts)
• Seeds

To make sure you get enough tryptophan in your diet, aim to have protein with each meal (the recommended daily allowance is 50 grams). Both plant and animal foods provide tryptophan, but in general animal foods are a more concentrated and complete source of all the amino acids and proteins you need.

So, if you’re suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, put out the fires of inflammation and get your life back by using the foods above to get more tryptophan in your daily diet — along with a good probiotic to keep your gut microbiome brimming with healthy bacteria.