Does anyone know good cereals good for IBS?

Depends (on the type IBS you have). No pun intended!

IBS/C - fiber cereals.

IBS/D - plain cereals such as Special K or Cheerios would be good. Or even Rice Krispies. I prefer plain english muffins myself. Or plain bagels.

One of the easiest to digest foods for me is plain white bread you buy in a local bakery. I'm sure there's very little nutritional value in it, in fact I'm sure there's none but this bread goes thru my system with zero trouble. Also, Bay's plain english muffins. You find these in the chilled section of the grocery, near regular (not organic) yogurt, cream cheese, etc. They also come in wheat but I prefer the plain white english muffins. Sometimes I just use a minimal amount of butter. You could also try honey if that doesn't irritate your system on toast, bagels or english muffins.

I agree about the rice cereals. They're very mild.

Watch all the high fiber cereals though.

Once my newest and current colon doctor thought I could re-create a new sigmoid/reservoir area where my initial surgeon pulled down part of my colon to reattach to the rectal area. She had me eat a very large breakfast: a full bowl of bran cereal, with fruit added, 1 to 2 cups of coffee, toast, possibly followed by a glass of Metamucil. Then I was instructed to use a pediatric suppository dose. Hoping to retrain my bowels, waiting for this huge onslaught of stool to come down. Well I had the onslaught alright! For over 5 hours. Not the quick dump she thought it would induce.

That's the only time I tried eating bran cereal, post resection, post cancer. I don't even know if anyone in my family finished that box. But I steered clear of it after that little experiment gone bad. LOL

 

I have ibs-c so I usually eat fiber one honey clusters. I think it has 51% of the daily value. It does help me to go to the bathroom. Sometimes if I ran out I eat cheerios, but for the most part I eat honey clusters.

Nor-TX, how are you treating your GERD? I'm from the GERD site and I was wandering around and noticed your post. I'm waiting to have the new EsophyX procedure for my GERD.

Joy

Cream of wheat is easy on the stomach and GI tract. You can make it with water and/or milk, or a combination of both. 3/4 water, 1/4 milk for that creamy taste.

I prefer the variety you make from scratch (but it's pretty easy, takes only 5 minutes or so to prepare). Note: if bringing milk to boil, watch pan VERY closely. You can have a real mess on your stove if you walk away. Remove pan from the burner just as it is starting to boil. Otherwise, the milk will boil over the edge of the pain in a blink of an eye. Yes I've had a mess on the stove before....LOL It can happen so fast if you're preparing instant mashed potatoes with milk too.

Another reason I prefer to make cream of wheat from scratch is it's easy to add sugar or honey before water/milk comes to a boil.

I haven't had cream of wheat in so long. I now have a craving for it!

Peter - that makes complete sense to me. Since I'm a mom and have changed hundreds of newborn/baby diapers in my time (babysitting too), I've often compared my bad IBS/D like days to feeling like a newborn baby (going so much). Internally too! So eating this cereal which is formulated for young and tender GI tracts, does make sense because internally we're all raw, inflamed and irritated too.

Glad you found something that works for you. And might help others.

jt80 - try it. You may find that it does work.

Thanks for the breast milk chuckle too Peter.

Mary

Most of the cereals that say "high fiber" actually have mostly insoluble fiber, which will make your IBS worse, not better. It seems the trick is to avoid insoluble fiber and focus on soluble fiber. I know Raisin Bran triggers my IBS, which is 100% insoluble fiber. Unfortunately, most of the cereals just list "dietary fiber" on the side, and don't break it down into soluble and insoluble. The only one I found that has more soluble than insoluble is GoLean Crisp. It seems to help, but I've only tried it for a few weeks.

http://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b3154?view=long&pmid=19713235 said...
The results of this large scale trial in primary care support the addition of soluble fibre, such as psyllium, but not bran as an effective first treatment approach in the clinical management of patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Soluble Fiber ~ The Irritable Bowel Syndrome Good Foods
Insoluble Fiber ~ Good or Bad for Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

^^ If you have lactose intolerance then milk solids (also contain lactose) will be an issue.