Sensibly Sprouted provides individualized IBS nutrition counseling with registered dietitians who support IBS and related digestive concerns. Virtual nutrition care is available across Washington, with in-person options in select locations.
Many plans include nutrition counseling benefits
Virtual & in-person available in Washington
We verify your coverage before you begin
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Simple steps. Insurance handled. No surprises
Tell us your goals and insurance in minutes. We’ll take it from there.
We verify your insurance benefits before you begin and explain what your plan shows. Coverage and patient responsibility vary by plan.
Meet with your dietitian and build a plan that fits your real life.
We look at bowel patterns, meal structure, fiber, food restrictions, and other factors so you can test changes deliberately rather than keep adding food rules.
Not everyone with IBS needs low-FODMAP. Fiber, meal regularity, adequate intake, or another strategy may be a better place to start.
More restriction is not always the next step. A dietitian can help review what changed, what helped, and whether some foods can come back.
Your first visit is focused on understanding your symptoms, goals, health history, routines, and priorities so your dietitian can build a plan that feels practical and personalized.
No. IBS may involve constipation, diarrhea, or a combination of both, and those patterns can affect which nutrition strategies make sense.
Someone dealing mostly with constipation may need a different approach than someone dealing with frequent loose stools or urgency. Other people alternate between the two.
That is one reason generic IBS food lists have limited value. A recommendation that helps one person may be unnecessary—or may make symptoms worse—for someone else.
Your dietitian can help tailor nutrition changes to the pattern you are actually experiencing rather than treating IBS as one uniform problem.
Fiber can help some people with IBS, but the type, amount, and pace of change matter.
Clinical guidelines support soluble fiber for overall IBS symptoms. At the same time, increasing fiber too quickly can contribute to gas, bloating, or discomfort.
A dietitian can help consider whether changing your fiber intake makes sense, which type may be appropriate, how quickly to make changes, whether your current intake is already high, and how fiber fits with constipation, diarrhea, or bloating.
Not everyone with IBS needs a low-FODMAP diet.
For some people, a structured low-FODMAP approach can be useful. For others, meal regularity, fiber, adequate intake, or another nutrition strategy may be a better place to start.
A low-FODMAP approach is also not intended to become permanently restrictive. When it is used, the process generally includes a time-limited restriction phase, structured reintroduction, and personalization based on individual tolerance.
If you already eat a very limited range of foods, have a history of disordered eating, or are concerned about getting enough nutrition, discuss that before beginning a restrictive approach.
More restriction is not always the next step.
If you have already removed several foods or tried multiple restrictive diets, a dietitian can help review what you have changed, what seemed to help, and whether some foods can be brought back.
A more structured approach can make it easier to learn from each change instead of continuing to add rules.
An IBS dietitian can help you make sense of symptoms, eating patterns, and previous diet changes so you can take a more structured approach to nutrition.
Depending on your situation, an assessment may look at:
Nutrition strategies may include changes to meal structure, fiber, hydration, food choices, or—for some people—a structured low-FODMAP approach.
A useful intervention should have a reason, a reasonable timeframe, and a way to tell whether it is actually helping.
IBS nutrition care is individualized rather than built around one universal list of foods to avoid.
Your dietitian may help you:
IBS symptoms can fluctuate, so the goal is not perfect symptom control every day. The goal is a more informed and manageable approach to eating without adding more food rules than you need.
You do not need a perfect food diary or weeks of tracking before meeting with a dietitian.
Helpful information may include your main digestive symptoms, when and how often they happen, your typical bowel pattern, any IBS diagnosis or gastrointestinal testing, medications and supplements, foods you have already removed, a few examples of your usual meals if available, diets or strategies you have already tried, situations where symptoms interfere most with daily life, and questions you want answered.
Irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, is a disorder involving recurring abdominal pain along with changes in bowel movements, which may include constipation, diarrhea, or both.
IBS can be uncomfortable and disruptive, but it does not cause visible damage to the digestive tract. Symptoms such as pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea can also occur with other gastrointestinal conditions.
For that reason, IBS should not be self-diagnosed from a symptom list. Medical clinicians diagnose IBS by considering symptoms, medical history, and, when appropriate, testing to evaluate for other conditions.
Nutrition counseling can support IBS management, but diagnosis and medical evaluation belong with an appropriate medical clinician.
Talk with a medical clinician if your digestive symptoms have not been evaluated or if you have concerning signs such as rectal bleeding, bloody stools, black or tarry stools, unexplained weight loss, anemia, persistent vomiting, severe or constant abdominal pain, or other new, worsening, or unusual symptoms that do not fit your established pattern.
Our team includes Jess N. Douglass, MS, RDN, CD, Alexia L. Davila-Hicks, RDN, CD, Serena E. Melik, RDN, CD, and Kylie A. Ferguson, MS, RDN, CD. We’ll match you based on care needs, insurance, location, preferences, and availability.
About this page
By Sensibly Sprouted
Clinically reviewed by Jess N. Douglass, MS, RDN, CD.
There is not one diet that cures IBS. Nutrition strategies can help many people manage symptoms, but IBS management may also involve medication, lifestyle changes, and gut-brain therapies depending on the individual. The goal of nutrition counseling is to identify useful strategies without assuming that one food change will eliminate every symptom.
Not everyone with IBS needs to stop eating gluten. Some people with IBS report symptoms after eating gluten-containing foods, but randomized trials of gluten-free diets in IBS have produced mixed results. If celiac disease is a possibility, talk with a medical clinician before starting a gluten-free diet because removing gluten before testing can interfere with diagnostic results.
The timeframe depends on the intervention. Your dietitian can help define what you are testing, how long to test it, and what would count as useful improvement.
Yes. Having tried low-FODMAP before does not necessarily mean you need to repeat the same process. A dietitian can help review what you tried, whether the restriction phase was appropriate, whether foods were systematically reintroduced, and whether a less restrictive personalized eating pattern may be possible.
You do not necessarily need to have every digestive question resolved before meeting with a dietitian. However, a dietitian does not replace medical diagnosis. If your symptoms have never been evaluated, have significantly changed, or raise concern for another condition, medical follow-up may be recommended before or alongside nutrition care.
This page is for people with diagnosed IBS or recurring IBS symptoms who want a more structured, individualized approach to nutrition.
We will help you understand your coverage, match you with a dietitian, and guide you through the next steps with clarity and confidence.