I also had initial IBS symptoms (which I’ve had basically my whole life) when I started the Eat For Heat protocol, and it made me doubt if I was doing the right thing. Constipation is especially super frustrating, when you’re having stomach aches and are already super unsure about all the food you’re re-introducing into your diet, and you feel like it’s all just going to get stuck in your intestines forever. I really missed having my psychotically loose stool explosions when I was LCHF, even with all the other terrible symptoms, and it’d make me want to relapse too.
But I swear if you stick to it it really really gets better!! Your metabolism needs chance to recover, and then it will adjust to the new (aka NORMAL, NOT-RESTRICTIVE) diet. A big key is to try not to overanalyze your bowel movements and how your stomach is reacting in general, because it will be freaky and uncomfortable for the first while. Maybe a month. Maybe three months. Or maybe only three weeks!! You won’t know unless you stick to it, but if you do stick to it, you’ll find that the symptoms will go away. And all of that shit that you felt was stuck inside of your body will eventually come out ;) Seriously.
Because my gut health was soooo severely compromised from all of the different diets I’d been on (including Paleo, LCHF, GAPS, and all of the aimless purging/restricting that came before that) I did a sort of “modified” Eat For Heat where I focused on eating foods I know would heal my gut (in addition to eating whatever else I wanted like cookies and bready things and icecream):
-Oatbran porridge first thing in the morning. I made sure it was always delicious, with whole milk, coconut butter, salt, cinnamon, honey. Oatbran helps form a mucuous layer to heal the lining of your gut, and it is an excelling prebiotic to feed your gut bacteria.
-I drank whole milk kefir– sometimes I’d make kefir smoothies or milkshakes with real, whole ice cream, kefir, bananas, and frozen berries. Yum! I always added salt.
-GELATIN! I bought the great lakes stuff because I wanted to make sure it was grass-fed and all-beef, but at first I was using regular store-bought gelatin. I’d put it in my oatmeal, in my milkshakes, and I’d make my own gummy candy with it. As you know from GAPS gelatin is really good for healing the gut, but you don’t have to just eat bone broth all the time (all that liquid will mess you up in the long run). So just get some powdered gelatin and sneak it into whatever else you’re eating!
-Probiotics. I took probiotic pills multiple times a day, and made sure I was getting plenty of prebiotics to feed them (like the oatbran, or other bread products, and chicory on the rare occasion that I was drinking a beverage other than milkshakes). I recommend HMF neuro powder (you can get it on amazon), I felt like it really helped my digestion.
-Swedish digestive bitters. If you put a teaspoon of these bitters on your tongue/swish around your mouth 15 minutes before eating, they’ll encourage digestive enzymes to form in your gut in preparation for your meal, and will generally aid digestion a lot.
Other than those things, I just went for the EFH diet and I was really successful in getting rid of my symptoms. It only took me about 4 months to really get mostly back to normal, where my IBS symptoms only flare up if I’m really stressed out or do something stupid like (over)exercise, but I was only restrictive for 8 years, so it might take a lot longer. DON’T GIVE UP! You will start to see improvements if you just stick with it!
Oh another big thing is SALT! I literally added salt to every single food and beverage that I consumed for at least the first 3 months. I’ve slowly started to ease up on the salt, but that’s because I finally have an actual sense of my own thirst/hydration needs, whereas before I used to drink way too many liquids followed by drinking NO LIQUIDS and accidentally dehydrating myself because I was afraid of bringing my temps down. You gotta find a balance, but before that becomes possible, aim towards oversalting rather than undersalting.
Good luck to you!!!