Cut your coffee intake, not your mental clarity

Is that even possible?

Yes. Yes it is. I had to cut my caffeine intake down because it was wreaking havoc on my IBS. And believe me, I “needed” my 2 or 3 cups of coffee every day! I just decided it was “worth” the IBS consequences because I felt I needed the caffeine to wake up in the morning and to maintain my mental focus and clarity throughout the day.

As my symptoms got worse, I could no longer convince myself it was worth the consequences to keep drinking regular coffee. As luck would have it, about that time, I was listening to The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, and he was raving about Mushroom Coffee by Four Sigmatic. He said he always asked his guests to have a cup when they came on his show so they would get the benefit of incredible mental clarity while he interviewed them.

That convinced me to give it a try.

As with any other new thing I introduce to my diet, I took it very slowly. I added just a half a packet of Mushroom Coffee to a cup of brewed decaf. Then…I tasted and discovered it wasn’t half bad! Even better, I found out the combination of a very small amount of caffeine (in the decaf) when combined with a small amount of the mushroom coffee mix gave me plenty of get up and go without any of the usual coffee side effects. I was awake, alert, and my mind was clear. What a discovery!

There are several varieties, but the one I like best has Lions Mane for mental focus.

Post Script Update (June 2023): Lion’s Mane is now in the Monash app and tou can order powdered Lion’s Mane that you can stir right into your decaf coffee without adding any caffeine at all. The link to order is here. After my first cup of the day (where I like to include the tiny bit of caffeine in the Four Sigmatics Mushroom Coffee blend) I now use powdered Lion’s Mane in my coffee later in the day and I love the mental clarity results!

Link note: This post contains links for you to easily purchase items listed on the page. In some cases, we have provided a special discount code for IBS Game Changers so be sure to use it when you purchase an item to get the discount that has been arranged just for you! As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying Amazon purchases. 

Stress management: the gift of ten minutes

Stress is a trigger for IBS and we all have different ways of relieving our stress. How do you relieve your stress? Meditation? Listening to music? Going for a walk? Reading a book? Nothing at all you just power through?

It’s likely you have the best of intentions. But it’s more likely you just THINK about doing something to reduce your stress and then you go back to whatever was stressing you out in the first place. And maybe, to make matters worse, you grab a cup of coffee and a candy bar as an afternoon “pick me up” and then you’ve compounded the problem. Now you’re stressed out and you have a stomach ache.

Here’s a thought. What if you gave yourself the gift of ten minutes each day. Put it on your calendar at a time you feel you will be most likely to honor that gift to yourself. Then decide, ahead of time, what you will do with that time. Don’t make it complicated or you won’t do it. Put a visual queue out as a reminder (like your walking shoes for example.)

Can’t think of anything you can do in ten minutes? Try this:

• Take a walk. Even around the block. Or, around your house if it’s bad weather outside. Just walk for ten minutes.

• Want to make that walk even more valuable? Pop your headphones in and listen to music while you walk.

• And one last thing…take some deeeeep breaths while you walk. Fill your lungs completely with a focus on the very base of your lungs and hold it for a few seconds. Then breath it all the way out and hold that for a few seconds. Do this a half a dozen times while you’re walking.

I promise you will be amazed at the results. Your stress will be reduced. Your mind will be more focused. You will be ready to tackle whatever it was that was stressing you out with renewed optimism and energy.

Once you get good at this ten-minute gift you might find you’d like to expand the gift to 15 minutes or even longer. The benefits will far outweigh the few minutes it takes to do.

Want to learn more about handling stress and other IBS triggers? Join me in the IBS Game Changer program. We’ll map out the perfect ten-minute gift for you and start working together to get your body and your mind into a nice rhythm that will help you change your game and thrive.

What’s love got to do with it?

When you have IBS you have a constant struggle between your body and your mind. Your mind says “Hey, I want to eat that onion soup with bread and cheese all melted on the top and I don’t care about the consequences.” And your body says “If you do that to me, I am going to let you know it was NOT a good idea.”

Mastering the art of self-love is a critical piece of managing your mind and managing your IBS. But how do you do that?

Self-love is the promise to yourself that you are going to learn what is good for you and what is not good and make an effort to focus on the good. As you begin to honor this promise to yourself, you will see how powerful it is in generating a sense of self-love and self-respect. Every promise you keep is evidence that proves you MATTER and you VALUE yourself. 

Unfortunately, we all start with an untrained mind that will do its best to make us fail. Your untrained mind sees everything as a BIG DEAL and will try to convince you that you are constantly in danger and every good decision you make is going to put you in even worse danger. For example, if you decide NOT to eat that onion soup with bread and cheese on top, your untrained mind will tell you that you must eat it or you will die. It will tell you the consequences of that action will be far outweighed by the immediate pleasure of eating it. It will convince you there is urgency and you need to eat it quickly so you can’t change your mind.

Fortunately, we have the tools you need to train your mind to stop making everything an urgent catastrophe so you can focus on the small decisions, actions, activities that are actually facing you. Start by introducing the power of possible thinking to your mind. When it says “Hurry up! Eat that soup or you will die.” You can pause and consider the consequences and say to yourself, “It’s possible if I don’t eat that soup I will not die. In fact, it’s possible if I do eat that soup I will feel horrible afterward and wish I hadn’t eaten it in the first place.” This power of possible thinking will minimize the thought and name the facts and make it simpler to pause so you can make the right decision for you.

Your untrained mind will always try to convince you it’s URGENT that you take action or make a decision quickly. That urgency will drive you to do it without thinking. By training yourself to pause and consider you are training your mind to get control of itself. You are asking your adult brain to step in so the toddler brain can settle down.

Eventually, that untrained mind will be replaced with a more powerful trained mind that will become your inner champion instead of your inner doomsday predictor.  

Stop and think about what your untrained mind is telling you to do? Sleep a little longer. Who needs time to exercise? Don’t drink water. Who cares about hydration? Have another cup of coffee. Who cares how it makes you feel? Eat those donuts. You’ll feel fine afterward.

Then consider what form of self-love you can focus on first? What do you need to give to yourself? Do you need to get up a little earlier in the morning so you have time to exercise or meditate? Do you need to drink more water? Do you need to eat food that sustains you and nurtures you?

It’s possible to change any area of your life by training your mind to recognize what you REALLY need and giving it to yourself. This is just an introduction to the way we teach you to harness the power of your mind in the IBS Game Changer program to support the work you will do around your personal triggers.

Is Caffeine a trigger for IBS?

The answer to this question is Yes…BUT that isn’t necessarily bad.

Caffeine acts on the smooth muscle of your gut and serves to stimulate the movement of your gut. This, in turn, stimulates the movement of whatever is inside your gut.

If you have a tendency towards diarrhea (IBS-D) then stimulating your gut will only make it worse. If you have a tendency toward constipation (IBS-C) then some gentle gut stimulation may be very helpful.

Just like everything else with IBS, if you listen to your body and treat it with love and tenderness, not frustration and anger you will have a much better result. A small amount of well-timed caffeine (at a regular time in the morning) is worth experimenting with. You can play with the timing and the amount and then look at the results.

If you are experiencing pain, cramping, and diarrhea, you may need to back off. If you aren’t experiencing anything then you may choose to have a bit more. Let your body do the talking.

If you are having wide variations in your symptoms and ongoing difficulties no matter what you do, you will also want to consider other factors such as hydration status, stress, and diet that could be triggering your symptoms. In the IBS Game Changer program, we consider all of these things and we help you figure out what particular triggers might be affecting you so you can reduce or avoid them and get your body on track.

Ten reasons not to treat your IBS. Really?

1.  IBS is just a catch-all diagnosis
The Doctor couldn’t think of any other tests to run so you got the catch-all diagnosis: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (eye roll)
2. It’s really all just in your head
There’s nothing really “wrong” with you so you just have to get over it.
3. You LOVE being bloated
What’s not to love!? Never knowing what clothes you’ll fit into from one day to the next is the best!

4. You HATE going out with friends
Ugh. Another dinner? Another get together? Another round of drinks? PASS.
5. FODMAP is just too much
What does FODMAP even mean? You don’t know and you don’t want to find out.

6. The bathroom is your favorite place to be
You love living in your ceramic palace and the smell is just divine!

7. Pills? I love pills!

I’ll just take a pill to make those bad symptoms go away. Oh wait…they don’t go away!
8. Going to the doctor is so fun
Tests, tests, we all scream for tests! It just makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside to wait at the doctor’s office for hours just to have another round of inconclusive tests.
9. Cramping is fine because you can stay in bed all day!
Sure, you may be locked in the fetal position all day, but at least you’re in bed.
10. People asking if you’re pregnant is the best!
I love the attention! The disappointment on their faces when I say no is s a little awkward though.

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As you can see, none of these reasons is a real reason! There isn’t ONE reason not to treat your IBS and the IBS Game Changer program was developed to help you do just that.

You’ll get education, a thorough assessment of your situation, a personalized plan, and individualized coaching. And, you’ll have the support of a community moderated by peers and experts to inspire you, learn from you, and celebrate your success. 

The program is tried and true. The only thing missing is you.

Let’s get this party started…

As a wife, mother, entrepreneur, CEO, retired nurse, and health coach, I developed IBS Game Changer to apply my expertise and experience to helping women—like you and me—who have spent their lives dealing with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

My IBS Story

I've struggled with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) for as long as I can remember, and for most of that time I didn’t have any idea what it was. In fact, I didn’t even know it wasn’t “normal” to have all these symptoms and the anxiety they caused. Twice I ended up in the ER certain that I had appendicitis. I was in such pain I couldn’t even stand up straight. Each time I was sent home without a diagnosis or any help for what I was experiencing.

When I finally went to a GI specialist and had the full battery of tests to rule out Celiac Disease, Crohn’s Disease or any other bowel-obstructing problem, I was told it was “probably IBS.” At the time, I felt like that must be a catch-all diagnosis the doctors used when they couldn’t figure out what was really wrong. I didn’t even look into what it meant or what I could do about it because it didn’t seem like a diagnosis of anything “real.” 

After two more years of denial and discouragement and unpredictable symptoms, I went back to the GI specialist and that was when I finally accepted Irritable Bowel Syndrome as a reality. It was also the first I heard about FODMAPs—carbohydrates found in certain foods that trigger IBS symptoms such as gas, bloating, and stomach pain. 

Once I realized there was something I could do about my situation, I was all in on learning everything I could about symptoms, triggers, and solutions. That was when my constant gut roller coaster started to flatten out. 

And that’s when I started to develop the tools, techniques, and coaching program that I have packaged for you as the IBS Game Changer program.

And now, you can take advantage of all that work by joining the IBS Game Changer program yourself. With expert education, a personalized approach, coaching, thought work, and a community of peers to support you, the IBS Game Changer program is designed with you in mind.

Schedule a free consultation with me today to learn more.