An Interview With Digestive Health Coach Sophie Bibbs

We recently interviewed Health Coach Sophie Bibbs and here is what she had to say!

My name is Sophie Bibbs, and I am a digestive health coach who helps women struggling with IBS and uncomfortable digestive problems to take control of their gut. I work virtually with clients all over the world, so they can take control of their gut from wherever they are. I offer personalised support to work out what’s triggering your problems, and feel better, so you can get on with living your life! I trained with IIN and Monash, the creators of the Low FODMAP Diet.

How long have you suffered with IBS?

It feels like forever, but I’d say I first started noticing it over 15 years ago, when I was about 13. I just remember constantly asking my mum why my stomach was all big and bloated. I didn’t understand it at all. I then suffered with it on and off for years. However, it wasn’t until I moved to Malaysia a few years ago, that I was ‘officially’ diagnosed with IBS, after a bad parasite infection and a round of antibiotics that made my symptoms a lot worse! Whilst I had known I had IBS for years, I was relieved to finally have a diagnosis.

Tell us about training as a health coach specifically for those with IBS

When I finally got ‘diagnosed’, the doctor wrote down ‘Low FODMAP Diet’ on a piece of paper and sent me on my way. I found a dietitian at that hospital who I went to see about doing the diet, but she honestly knew less about it than I did (and I’d done an hour of Googling!). I was a bit cross and upset and felt hopeless, so set myself loose on Google. I found out about Monash University (the creators of the diet) and that you could train with them in the low FODMAP diet. So, I signed up to train in it and I used myself as a test case!

It worked and I was so happy I wanted to share it with the world! However, whilst knowing my food triggers was fantastic, what I found out from putting myself through it was that it was really hard to stay motivated to stick to. I also realised it wasn’t just food triggering my IBS…whilst I’d come a long way, there was still something else going on there.

So, I decided to take it a step further. I didn’t want to just be able to provide all the nutritional information about the low FODMAP diet and send people on their way. I wanted to be able to support them through it and help them out when they got stuck. On top of that, I wanted to help them work out all the other triggers and things that could be influencing their IBS, aside from FODMAPs (things like stress, travel, fatty foods, etc etc). As a result, I trained as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach at IIN (Institute of Integrative Nutrition) and went on to specialise in gut health.

The low FODMAP diet, and all of the strategies I learned in my health coach training, absolutely changed my life. I finally understood what my IBS triggers were and I was so happy. I know how awful and misunderstood IBS is, after suffering with it for years, and I now just want to help as many people suffering, just like I was, to work out their triggers, take control of their gut and feel so much more confident to live their life!

What’s the one thing you wish you’d known when you were first diagnosed with IBS?

I wish I’d known that I wasn’t alone! It may sound silly, but I always felt like I couldn’t really talk about it openly. I saw doctor after doctor and just got brushed off or told to eat more fibre. I’d have to cancel plans and lie on the sofa, too uncomfortable to move. The worst thing was people thinking I was just being flaky or not really believing I was ill. If I’d known I wasn’t alone and that IBS was so common (nearly 1 in 5 people have it!), I wouldn’t have been so embarrassed. I’d have talked about it more and been open with my friends about why I was cancelling plans.

What are your best tips for dealing with IBS?

Firstly, I’d say talk about it! I know how embarrassing the symptoms of IBS can be. I mean, bloating and toilet habits are not a sexy topic! However, having IBS can make you feel so alone, and being able to talk about it can really change that. Start with someone you feel close to or, if you don’t feel comfortable doing that, use social media to connect with others. Talking to other people about it will make you realise you’re not in it alone and will make it far easier to deal with.

Secondly, I’d recommend investing some time into working out what your triggers are. This was an absolute game changer for me and is for my clients. One of the worst things about IBS is not knowing what’s causing your symptoms and then bashing your head against the wall trying to work out what you did wrong! Knowing what causes your symptoms will take that stress away and give you back so much control. You can then still choose to eat or do those things that you know are triggers, but it will be up to you and you will know why you feel so bad..so you can stop bashing your head against the wall.

How to do this? As a first step, grab my free IBS Triggers Checklist (link at the bottom of this blog). This is a list of 20 things that could be triggering your IBS and working through this in conjunction with a food diary will give you a kick start to figuring out your triggers. Bay’s Kitchen sell a Food Diary which you can get here.

How long have you been on the Low FODMAP Diet?

Despite being called a ‘diet,’ the low FODMAP diet isn’t about restricting your diet long term, which is a common misconception! So, I was on the elimination phase (the first phase of the diet, where you eliminate all high FODMAP foods) of the diet for 4 weeks. I felt so much better, so I then moved onto the re-challenge phase (the second phase of the diet, where you gradually reintroduce the foods in groups so you learn what your triggers are), which took me 8 weeks.

During those 8 weeks, I worked out that I’m really sensitive to onion, garlic and fructose, and mildly sensitive to lactose and wheat. So, I’m now in the third phase of the diet – personalisation. This is my version of the diet that fits around my specific tolerance levels and is sustainable long term. I’ve been following a personalised low FODMAP diet for almost 2 years now!

What common misconceptions have you found about the Low FODMAP Diet?

The most common misconception I hear is what I just mentioned – that the low FODMAP Diet is a long term diet. There are 3 distinct phases to the low FODMAP diet and it’s all about learning what YOUR food triggers and unique tolerance levels are. The aim is to reintroduce as many high FODMAP foods as your gut can handle, so you can eat as healthy and varied a diet as possible. I like to think of it as a ‘learning diet’ – learning about your gut so you can get to the perfect balance between reducing your symptoms and eating healthily.

The second misconception I hear is that it’s a ‘diet.’ We’ve all come to associate that word with losing weight, so people are often put off. I’ve had clients say they were put off by it when they first heard about it because they weren’t interested in losing weight. Calling it a ‘diet’ is quite deceiving as it has absolutely nothing to do with losing weight.

The other key misconception is that foods are either high or low FODMAP and it’s black and white. Whilst it’s great news that the diet is becoming more popular, it also means there are loads of lists flying around the internet with ‘high FODMAP foods’ in one column and ‘low FODMAP foods’ in the other (you know the ones I mean!). When I first looked into the diet, this is what I found, and I assumed I either needed to avoid each food completely or I could safely eat as much of it as I wanted. Well, turned out that wasn’t the case.

One New Year’s Eve, I ate almost a whole plate of zucchini, as it was ‘low FODMAP’ on the list I had, but my stomach was SO bloated afterwards. I was so upset and just couldn’t work out why as I hadn’t eaten anything high FODMAP. When I later discovered that FODMAP portion sizes matter, I realised I’d just had too much of it, and it’s only low FODMAP at 65g! So, the low FODMAP diet isn’t black and white. Each food is high or low FODMAP depending on the portion size of that food. My best advice here is to ditch all those high and low FODMAP food lists, and download the Monash Low FODMAP App. Monash University founded the diet so this is the best place to get the most accurate information on FODMAP content of different foods.

If I was just starting on the diet, what would your top tip be?

I can’t narrow it down to one, so I’m going to give you 3: