I have had the privelege to communicate with many, many IC warriors, either via Email or through my one-on-one sessions.
I hear things like:
“I follow the diet pretty diligently, but I just can’t give up my morning coffee. I’m not there yet!”
“I am very strict with my diet, but I have to have a couple of pieces of chocolate everyday. I can’t live without my chocolate! It really helps me to relieve stress.”
“I follow the IC diet unless I’m eating out at a restaurant, attending a social gathering, or it’s a holiday.”
“I have to eat wheat because wheat is in everything! What the heck would I eat?”
Do you see a trend here?
“I follow the IC diet, BUT (there’s is this one thing that I just can’t do/give up)…”
Through my own personal experience in dealing with IC and through coaching others with the condition, I’ve come to the conclusion that finding a healing diet that works for your IC and STICKING TO IT, is a critical piece of the puzzle.
While this diet may look a little bit different for everyone because we are all unique, there are common triggers that most of us will have to avoid for at least the first 6 months to a year of our journey, if not longer.
This includes our beloveds coffee, chocolate, alcohol, tomato sauce, and a whole lot more.
It sucks, I get it. Trust me.
There is nothing more alienating in social situations than having to follow a strict diet that differs quite dramatically from “the norm.”
It can really put a damper on things and leave you feeling embarrassed, isolated and stressed out.
But you have to do it.
Choosing healing is a heroic act.
Choosing healing is something that you re-commit to on a daily basis.
When you choose healing, you become willing to do whatever it takes to support your body, mind and soul in the healing process.
You stop making excuses because you realize that you are causing yourself harm.
One problem with cheating on your IC diet is that negative reactions to food can be delayed.
Let’s say you have your morning coffee at 7 am and you are fine throughout the rest of the morning. Fast forward to 1 pm when you start to have intense urgency and frequency and you are doubled over in pain.
Flares don’t necessarily happen immediately after the problem food is consumed. Negative reactions can occur up to 2-3 days later. This is why it is very difficult for some people to pinpoint their triggers.
However, if you know that coffee is a major trigger for MOST people with IC, then choose healing and avoid it strictly for the time being.
Whenever you cheat on your IC diet, you are setting yourself back.
When I first started learning about the type of diet that might help my IC, I didn’t follow it strictly.
I was in first year university and chose partying and convenient foods too often over my health and I paid the price.
My IC didn’t respond to diet for a long time because I wasn’t committing 100%. I was maybe committing 50% and that wasn’t enough.
We are all human beings and therefore fallible.
You are bound to slip up and eat something that causes you pain and discomfort from time to time.
But each and every day when you wake up, choose healing again and do the very best that you can. That is all that you can do.
If you’re new to this and feeling totally overwhelmed, please know that you’re not alone and it will get better. Hang in there.
Since Spring is the season for new beginnings and growth, I’ve decided to have a Spring sale on my Q&A session.
I’d love to connect with you one-on-one and assist you in your healing journey!
This offer will only be available to my Email subscribers and for a limited time only. If you’re not already signed up, click here.
Details will be sent out via Email tomorrow, so stay tuned!
It’s funny that this post came up today in my inbox, because I’ve been dealing with horribly strong cravings in the past few days! I was diagnosed in February and have been trying to do a strict IC diet ever since, and the cravings are really catching up with me: pizza, spaghetti, chocolate, brownies, coffee, and alcohol! I’m not sure how to deal with these cravings because they’re super intense. I guess I’ll have to read this post over and over again and tell myself those things will only keep me from healing.
Hi Marie!
You can also find IC friendly versions of those foods that you are craving where possible. I have recipes posted on my Pinterest page you can check out. Here’s a link to the dessert board: https://www.pinterest.com/healingic/desserts-ic-friendly/. Sometimes we have to get pretty creative to satisfy our cravings! 🙂
Kristen
I understand the cravings. Tomatoes are out! Wow, that was the main ingredients in a lot of my cooking. Chocolate, I keep M and Ms hid in a safe place. My mind just thinks it’s got to have chocolate at least once per day! So five MMs is all, but I have cut out tomatoes, alcohol, and only one cup of coffee with Prelief. Sugar is probably my biggest problem at this point and white bread. I use white wheat, but no bread seems impossible. I suppose that will be the next thing to go. It’s been three years now. I started with frequent UTIs. I have spinal stenoses, and two back surgeries in one in 2002, second in 2008. I am on pain management, so that helps me I am sure. If you all are not on some form of pain management I don’t know how you get by. Elmiron, Uribel, instills, and diet is about all I can offer. Prelief seems to help if taken with meals or acidic foods, but is no a total fix.
I have been on the diet for two months now, ever since I suspected IC just three weeks after the onset of symptoms, and before I got the official diagnosis (that happened this week following a Potassium Sensitivity Test), and I can tell it has helped. I saw great improvements within the first week. Of course, I flared again here and there as I realized I probably needed to cut out a few more things, such as eggs, potatoes and oatmeal of all things. But every flare got shorter and shorter, and was easier to manage, and I am now at a point where my most annoying and lingering symptom is that feeling my bladder isn’t always empty. It is driving me crazy, but I take it one day at a time and hope that once my bladder is healed, it will go away all together.
I also realized that just because I was eating IC friendly foods, I wasn’t necessarily eating any good foods. My overall health was terrible for a couple of weeks, and I felt very run down. I checked my food diary and realized I had been living on cereal, crackers and bread almost exclusively because I was working late and didn’t feel great. It was a vicious cycle, and I was eating like a college student at the one time I needed to eat more mindfully as ever. As a result, I have decided to go gluten-free for a while, and also reduce my dairy and sugar intake as much as possible. I suppose it is an anti-inflammation diet. I haven’t felt it in my bladder yet, but my overall health is improving after just four days on the diet. I am also drinking bottled water (Fiji) on the advice of my medical team and physical therapist, just in case my filtered tap water has some nasties in it.
I know it is so hard to stick to the diet. One afternoon, I felt great for a couple of hours (completely symptom-free), and I had the urge to celebrate by getting a white mocha from Sbux. But I knew that would be the worst thing I could do. I have made a promise to myself (and my bladder), I will not reintroduce any foods until I have felt better for at least a few months. Hopefully, as I have been focused on healing my bladder for 9 weeks now, and am adding a few more weapons to my arsenal (supplements, physical therapy and possibly Elmiron), that day will come sooner rather than later.
Hi Zoe,
I’ve responded to you via Email already, but other people are welcome to chime in if they have encouragement or advice to share with you! 🙂
Kristen
Hi, I just want to say I completely agree with this article! I have stuck to the diet RIGIDLY!! And I have not had a major flare for 7 months now (apart from an actual infection I had, different cause). My life has changed! Even when I had the infection, my body was able to cope, it doesn’t hurt as much (slight niggles but no collapsing). When I’ve accidentally eaten something wrong (e.g I didn’t know it was in something), I feel tightness that evening and I can feel the link, it’s a good reminder that I still have an underlying condition and need to treat my body well. I hope that after 1 or 2 years of this I’ll be able to introduce things (like fruit, or pork) but for now, I’m sticking to it strictly because nothing is worth the pain I used to be in. I know it’s life changing and I’m boring socially but it’s not life crippling like before, and I choose this. I feel freeeeeee! I can get on a bus without worry that pain is going to strike and I won’t be able to walk! If people really feel pain and really want to be free of it, then this is the way forward (it’s also about loving yourself enough to give yourself good food and that’s an emotional journey in itself!). Thanks for all the great blogs. This is the best site!
Hi Danielle,
Thank you for sharing your experience with us! Your perseverance is paying off and I’m so happy you are doing well. It is definitely a challenge to stick to a restricted diet for so long, but you are proof that it can make a huge difference to your quality of life.
Keep up the awesome work!
Kristen
Hi Danielle,
There are so many food restrictions, can you please send me the list of the foods you do eat?
Thank you
I just received my diagnosis after 2 years of doctors after doctors telling me they didn’t know what was wrong with me. I have never tried the diet and tbh the thought of doing it is extremely daunting to me. This may sound stupid and juvenile but what are we supposed to eat?! If someone could help with some ideas that would be great!
Hi April,
If you are used to a non-whole foods diet, the transition will be difficult for you, but it will becomem easier with time. Basically, you should start off avoiding the major IC triggers and once you get a handle on that, you can start to look at incorporating anti-inflammatory and alkaline foods. The 4 week course is a good place to start. You can sign up here if you haven’t already: http://healinginterstitialcystitis.com/sign-up. You may also want to check out this blog post: http://healinginterstitialcystitis.com/what-to-eat-with-ic/.
Kristen
Kristen
What is the general consensus on avacadoes? I know everyone is different but is it a common trigger?
In my experience with clients, they are not as common a trigger as bananas.
I’ve been on diets where I cheat but cheating isn’t worth the pain with IC! I’ve been PAIN FREE for 3 days now and I’m strict…salt really irritates me and salt is in EVERYTHING….packaged chicken, almond milk, bread (I now make my own salt free bread…YUM!), etc! So to me there is NO CHEATING…not a choice!
Hi Barrie,
Pain free = amazing! Good work!
Hi, Thanks for this great info.
I couldn’t find an answer to a doubt about sex, that other than the diet, sexual activity is a major trigger for bladder irritation and urination frequency. Healing IC means abstaining from sexual activity entirely, is that true?
Living with and Healing IC means = no sexual activity at all.
Thanks
Hi Julie,
I wrote a blog series on intimacy and IC. I think this will be a helpful resource for you. Some cannot tolerate sex at all and some can tolerate sex under certain conditions. There are other activities that can help promote intimacy in your relationship that are also safe for your IC. Here is the first post in the series: http://healinginterstitialcystitis.com/interstitial-cystitis-intimacy/.
All the best!
Kristen
Hi,
I was wondering if you were aware that your site won’t display correctly on mobile phones. I love your site, but i can’t access it on my phone!
Yes, I am aware. I am going to look into it, but haven’t had the time to do so yet. Thanks!
I just want to comment and say that I adore your site!!! And I appreciate all the work you’ve put into this. I’m newly diagnosed and am struggling big time with diet and everything!! Especially because I love alcohol and thats my biggest trigger….I do appreciate all the time and effort you’ve placed into this though because I was starting to get anxiety on how to go about my diet and living like this…You have so much helpful information. Thank you , Thank you, Thank You!!! xoxox
Hi Karli,
Thank you for your kind words :). It is definitely not easy to adjust to the diet and lifestyle changes and when I was diagnosed I was in first year university and enjoyed partying on the weekends. I didn’t give up alcohol then, but in hindsight, it would have been for the best to at least significantly reduce it and make different choices in what I drank. I hear you.. it’s so hard!
Hang in there,
Kristen
I’ve read a lot about IC just hitting people overnight or very suddenly. It just makes me wonder…where did things go wrong? What clicks in your body that makes you forever different. I definitely don’t think it’s just a bladder thing. I think you have to address your whole body. Theres just so much speculation as to what causes it….and to me..it just sounds like our whole body is out of balance. And I believe you have to act as your own investigator and get down to the bottom of it. That’s what I’m in the process of doing.
I am not living with this. I refuse. There has got to be something in my body that is off and is causing a host of other problems. Thank God for the Internet that allows us to research and think for ourselves. Good luck to you all. Get down to the bottom of your illness. If there is something you want to be tested for (candida, toxicity, allergies,etc.), Go to the doctor and demand a test…even if they think you’re crazy. If a test can be done…what have you got to lose. Get tested. Get healthy. and once you heal…don’t forget to come back and report it to those searching for hope high and low.
I admire your determination, Ashley. Thank you for sharing your perspective and healing strategy with us. 🙂
A recent experience taught me how different we all are. Everyone seems to be able to tolerate steak and broccoli. Not me! And, I can eat all breads! After 2 months of strictly
eating foods that were not bothersome I had steak and broccoli Saturday night. Still in
a flare. Cheating on the diet is not an option. The price is too high to pay. I also bit the
bullet and started taking Norco – I had to get off of the couch to take care of myself. I have my first appointment with my 2nd urogynocologist this Thursday and I’m not leaving his office without a prescription for pelvic floor therapy. I know this sounds ridiculous but I need a beginner course for meditation. Any suggestions?
How long should we stick on this diet before introducing myself to somethings?
I am going on 100 days!