The Combined IBS and Histamine-restricted Diet – Dr Janice Joneja

Currently there are many different versions of dietary management strategies for IBS, and of histamine-restricted diets.  Some are based on good evidence-based research; others are merely anecdotal and in some cases biased towards the interests of the proponents.  The information provided here is derived only from authenticated, scientifically-based data.  However, because of discrepancies in diverse versions, readers will inevitably find some differences in the dietary directives below and those they obtain from other sources.

It is also important to realise that everyone is different.  Some people will find that they cannot tolerate some of the foods on the “allowed” lists, while others will discover that they can in fact tolerate foods on the “restricted” list.  The best idea is to follow the directives closely, and if symptoms disappear, start to reintroduce a few of the restricted foods slowly and cautiously, noting any adverse reactions.  If some “allowed” foods seem to cause an adverse reaction, avoid those foods and monitor your response.

Detailed instructions for reintroduction of each restricted food on the IBS diet is provided in my book: Joneja JM Vickerstaff. Digestion, Diet and Disease: Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Gastrointestinal Function. Please see details about the book below the food lists.

 

Notes on Interpretation of the Table

If a food causes and adverse reaction, but is designated as “allowed” in the chart, AVOID IT.  This includes any established allergens and foods or ingredients that have repeatedly caused specific symptoms when they have been consumed in the past.

If the directive indicates “All” or “Any”, this means that the designated food or beverage is allowed as long as it is free from any other restricted ingredients. 

Some people tolerate cooked garlic and cooked ginger, whereas others experience an adverse reaction.  These should be consumed only if tolerated.

Sucralose, cyclamate and saccharine are allowed as sweeteners when diabetes is a problem.  Otherwise, choose natural sweeteners such as honey or fructose where indicated.

FOODS ALLOWED

Food Category

IBS

Histamine- Restricted

Combined

Milk and milk products

  • Lactose-free milk of any type (skim, 1%, 2%, homogenized, full cream)
  • Lactose-free milk products
  • Hard cheese
  • Butter
  • Clarified butter
  • Cream

Any that are not fermented

  • Milk
  • Cream
  • Curdled milk cheese without microbial culture e.g. paneer, ricotta
  • Ice cream without artificial additives
  • Lactose-free milk of any type
  • Butter
  • Clarified butter
  • Cream

 

Grains

Any labelled gluten-free (GF)

Avoid gluten-containing grains

  • Barley
  • Bulgur
  • Durum
  • Kamut
  • Oats
  • Rye
  • Semolina
  • Spelt
  • Triticale
  • Wheat

 

Allowed:

  • Amaranth
  • Arrowroot
  • Millet
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
  • Sago
  • Tapioca
  • T’eff

All

  • Amaranth
  • Arrowroot
  • Millet
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
  • Sago
  • Tapioca
  • T’eff

 

GF grains including

  • GF wheat
  • GF oats

Food Category

IBS

Histamine- Restricted

Combined

Vegetables

All cooked

All, except:

  • Avocado
  • Eggplant
  • Olives
  • Pumpkin
  • Sauerkraut
  • Spinach
  • Tomato
  • Any pickled or fermented

All cooked
except:

  • Avocado
  • Eggplant
  • Olives
  • Pumpkin
  • Sauerkraut
  • Spinach
  • Tomato
  • Any pickled or fermented

Legumes

  • Lentils (red, white, yellow, other)
  • Split peas (yellow, green)

Excludes:

  • Intact dried peas and beans
  • Green peas
  • Lima beans
  • Broad beans

Any, except:

  • Soy beans and soy products
  • Red beans (e.g. kidney beans)

Only those without hard outer skins:

  • Lentils (red, white, yellow, other)
  • Split peas (yellow, green)
  • Flours derived from any legumes except:
  • Soy beans
  • Red beans

Fruit and Fruit Juice

All cooked

  • Canned in fruit juice
  • Pasteurized
  • Apple
  • Apricot
  • Blueberries
  • Dragon fruit
  • Figs
  • Longans
  • Lychees
  • Mango
  • Melons of all types
  • Passion fruit
  • Peach
  • Persimmon
  • Pomegranate
  • Rhubarb
  • Starfruit

Cooked, canned in fruit juice or pasteurized:

  • Apple
  • Apricot
  • Blueberries
  • Dragon fruit
  • Figs
  • Longans
  • Lychees
  • Mango
  • Melons of all types
  • Passion fruit
  • Peach
  • Persimmon
  • Pomegranate
  • Rhubarb
  • Starfruit

Meat

All plain cooked, except:
Any processed meats, such as

  • Salami
  • Bologna
  • Pepperoni
  • Wieners
  • Hot dogs
  • All types of smoked or cured meats

All plain freshly-cooked except:
Any processed meats, such as

  • Salami
  • Bologna
  • Pepperoni
  • Wieners
  • Hot dogs
  • All types of smoked or cured meats
  • Liver, especially chicken liver

No leftover meat

All plain freshly-cooked except:
Any processed meats, such as

  • Salami
  • Bologna
  • Pepperoni
  • Wieners
  • Hot dogs
  • All types of smoked or cured meats
  • Liver, especially chicken liver

No leftover meat

Food Category

IBS

Histamine- Restricted

Combined

Poultry

All plain cooked

All plain freshly-cooked

No left-over

All plain freshly-cooked

No left-over

Fish

All plain cooked or canned

Frozen,  or freshly-caught and gutted, or canned without preservatives

No left-over

Frozen, or freshly-caught and gutted1
All plain cooked and canned without preservatives

No left-over

Shellfish

All plain cooked or canned

Cooked from live only

Cooked from live only

Eggs

All

Small quantity as a minor ingredient only (e.g. in baked products)
Not as a major ingredient in a meal.
  None raw

Small quantity as a minor ingredient only (e.g. in baked products)
Not as a major ingredient in a meal. 
None raw

Nuts and Seeds

  • All flours or “smooth butters”(pastes)
  • Derivatives of nuts and seeds marketed as nut or seed “milk”
  • Coconut

No whole nuts or seeds

All
Except pumpkin seeds

All flours or “smooth butters”(pastes)
Except pumpkin seeds
Derivatives of nuts and seeds marketed as nut or seed “milk”, including coconut

Spices

None

All, except:

  • Cinnamon
  • Anise
  • Nutmeg
  • Clove
  • Mixtures containing these spices (e.g. curry powder, chili powder)
  • Yeast extract

None

Herbs

All

All
Except thyme and anise

All
Except thyme and anise

Alcohol

None

None

None

Vinegar

None

White distilled vinegar
Avoid all others

None

Coffee

None

Any without artificial ingredients

None

Tea

Herbal teas only

Herbal teas only

Herbal teas from allowed ingredients only


 

Food Category

IBS

Histamine- Restricted

Combined

Fats and oils

All, including clarified butter and margarines
Except:
Margarines containing whey 

All without additives
Except olive oil

All without:

  • Additives
  • Whey
  • Milk solids

Except olive oil

Sugars and sweeteners

  • Honey
  • Sucralose
  • Cyclamate
  • Saccharine
  • Stevia

Any except: date sugar

  • Honey
  • Sucralose
  • Cyclamate
  • Saccharine
  • Stevia

Except date sugar

Artificial colors, flavors, preservatives

Any

None

None

Chocolate

None

None

None

Condiments and seasonings

  • Wheat-free soy sauce (“tamari”)
  • Salt
  • Cooked garlic
  • Cooked ginger

Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Ginger

  • Salt
  • Cooked garlic
  • Cooked ginger

Using the Chart to Obtain Complete Balanced Nutrition

In spite of the restriction, it is extremely important that all of the nutrients necessary for good health are included in the diet at all times.

The simplest way to ensure this is to eat a balanced diet with ingredients from each of the macronutrient categories (protein, carbohydrate, and fat) at each meal.  At achieve this, every meat should included at least one food from each food category:

  1. Protein
  2. Grain or Starch
  3. Fruit or Vegetable

To ensure the correct balance of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), it is wise to take a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement while following any restricted diet.  Although each of the diets discussed above will have its own requirements, one supplement that will be suitable for all diets is probably easiest.

Such a supplement should include both vitamins and minerals and fulfill the following requirements:
Free from: wheat, yeast, corn, lactose, sugar, salt, artificial colors, artificial flavors, preservatives, niacin (niacinamide should be included)

 

Suggested Meal Plans for the Combined Diet

Food Category

Food Type

Specific Food

Protein foods

Meat

Plain cooked:

  • Beef
  • Buffalo
  • Lamb
  • Moose
  • Pork
  • Rabbit
  • Veal
  • Venison

Any other wild meat

Poultry

Plain cooked:

  • Chicken
  • Duck
  • Grouse
  • Ostrich
  • Pheasant
  • Pigeon
  • Quail
  • Turkey

Any other bird

Fish

Any frozen, or freshly caught, gutted and cooked:

  • Bass
  • Cod
  • Halibut
  • Mackerel
  • Orange Roughie
  • Perch
  • Plaice
  • Red Snapper
  • Salmon
  • Sole
  • Tuna

Any other
And see endnote below1


Food Category

Food Type

Specific Food

Protein Foods continued

Shellfish

Cooked from the live state:

  • Abalone
  • Clams
  • Cockles
  • Crab
  • Limpets
  • Lobster
  • Mussels
  • Prawn
  • Scampi
  • Shrimp
  • Whelks

Any other crustacean
Any other molluscs

Eggs

Only as a minor ingredient in an allowed cooked or baked product such as cakes, breads, muffins, scones, pancakes, etc.
  Do not consume raw.

Milk and Milk Products

Lactose-free and non-fermented milk and milk products

Nuts and Seeds

Flours and smooth “butters” (pastes) from those allowed

Grains and Starches

Whole grain

Amaranth
Basmati rice
Millet
Quinoa
Rice
Sago
Tapioca
Wild rice


Food Category

Food Type

Specific Food

Grains and Starches continued

Flours

  • Amaranth flour
  • Arrowroot flour and starch
  • Bajri
  • Bean flour
  • Besan
  • Rice flour
  • Cassava
  • Chickpea flour
  • Lentil flour
  • Millet flour
  • Pea flour
  • Potato flour
  • Quinoa flour
  • Sago flour and starch
  • T’eff flour
  • Tapioca flour and starch

 

Pasta

All gluten-free

  • Amaranth
  • Bean
  • Buckwheat (soba)
  • Chickpea
  • Potato
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
  • Wheat

Breakfast cereals

  • Puffed rice
  • Cream of Rice
  • Rice Bran
  • Puffed amaranth
  • Puffed millet
  • Any allowed whole grain, cooked


Food Category

Food Type

Specific Food

Grains and Starches continued

Starchy vegetables

All plain cooked:
Potato
Sweet potato
Yam
Root vegetables such as:

  • Beetroot
  • Carrot
  • Cassava (Manioc, Yucca)
  • Parsnip
  • Radish
  • Rutabaga
  • Swede
  • Taro

Lentils
Split peas

Vegetables

 

All cooked:

  • Asparagus
  • Broccoflower
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Cabbage
  • Cauliflower
  • Celery
  • Chard
  • “Chinese greens”
  • Cucumber
  • Endive
  • Garlic
  • Green beans
  • Green onion
  • Lettuce of all types
  • Mint
  • Onion
  • Parsley
  • Runner beans
  • Sprouted seeds, cooked, such as:
    • Alfalfa
    • Bean sprouts
  • Sweet peppers (red, yellow, green)
  • Yellow wax beans

 

 

 


Food Category

Food Type

Specific Food

Fruit and Fruit Juice

 

All pure, cooked, pasteurized, canned:

  • Apple
  • Apricot
  • Blueberries
  • Dragon fruit
  • Figs
  • Longans
  • Lychees
  • Mango
  • Melons of all types
  • Passion fruit
  • Persimmon
  • Pomegranate
  • Rhubarb
  • Starfruit

 

NOTE: Some authorities recommend avoidance of scombroid fish because of the occasional risk of histamine toxicity by bacteria, such as Morganella morganii in the fish gut.  The bacteria produce the enzyme histidine decarboxylase, which acts on histidine in the flesh of the fish, converting it into histamine.  However, there are only occasional outbreaks of “Scombroid fish poisoning” in wild fish, because conditions need to be right in order for the bacteria to multiply. So in most cases the fish are safe to eat.  Nevertheless, some people prefer to err on the side of caution and avoid the species most at risk for histamine development.

Scombroid fish species include:

  • Bonito
  • Mackerel
  • Marlin
  • Skipjack
  • Tuna

 

Non-scombroid species that may also be responsible for “Scombroid fish toxicity”:
 

  • Amberjack
  • Bluefish.
  • Herring
  • Mahi-mahi (dolphinfish)
  • Sardine
  • Yellowtail

 

 

 

 

Source of Data:

 Dr. Janice Joneja.   Histamine Intolerance: A Comprehensive Guide for Healthcare Professionals.  2017 Berrydales Publishing
https://www.amazon.ca/Histamine-Intolerance-Comprehensive-Healthcare-Professionals-ebook/dp/B077FXQJPK

The Amazon links are
 https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B077FXQJPK/   (Canada)
 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077FXQJPK/   (US)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077FXQJPK/  (UK)

Dr. Janice Joneja.  The Beginner’s guide to Histamine Intolerance.  2017  Berrydales Publishing

[Please insert URLs for ebook and paperback]

Joneja JM Vickerstaff. Digestion, Diet and Disease: Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Gastrointestinal Function. Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, New Jersey. August 2004 ISBN 0-8135-3387-2
https://untoisete.firebaseapp.com/aa829/digestion-diet-and-disease-irritable-bowel-syndrome-and-gastrointestinal-function-by-professor-janice-vickerstaff-joneja-0813533872.pdf

 

 

 


 

 

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