If you're living with IBS, you know the journey rarely follows a straight line. Between conflicting advice, restrictive diets, and the frustration of unpredictable symptoms, it's easy to feel confused and stuck.
That's why we're excited to share our recent conversation with Beth Rosen, MS, RD, CDN, CSDH —a registered dietitian who specializes in IBS and digestive health, and author of the newly published book, Gut Goals. Beth brings both clinical expertise and personal experience with GI challenges to her work, and her approach is practical and realistic: there’s no single magic fix, rigid food rules can do serious harm, and building a personalized toolkit that actually fits into your life will help you find control on your gut health journey.
We sat down with Beth to talk about what makes IBS so misunderstood, why restrictive diets can backfire, and how to move from feeling embarrassed and uncertain about how to manage your symptoms to feeling empowered and confident.
Q: What inspired you to write Gut Goals: A Practical Plan for Managing IBS?
IBS became a major focus of my work after I experienced my own GI challenges, including recurrent C. difficile, IBS, and SIBO. I struggled to find practical symptom management tools and support, so I understand what it’s like to live with unpredictable digestive symptoms and to search for answers.
I pivoted my nutrition practice to support others who were seeking helpful answers beyond the mixed information that they were getting from social media and practitioners who did not provide a clear roadmap for how to actually manage their symptoms in a sustainable way. I wrote Gut Goals to give people a practical, realistic approach to navigating IBS that focuses on improving quality of life and reducing the intensity and frequency of flares.
Q: There are already many IBS books out there. What makes Gut Goals different?
Many IBS resources focus heavily on strict diet rules or present a single strategy as the solution. In reality, IBS is a complex disorder involving the brain–gut connection, gut sensitivity, motility, and the microbiome. Food can play a role, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle.
What makes Gut Goals different is that it takes a broader, more compassionate approach. Instead of presenting IBS management as a rigid protocol, the book helps readers understand the different factors that influence symptoms and how to experiment thoughtfully with a number of interventions to find what works for their own bodies.
Another way the book stands apart is that it helps readers learn how to advocate for themselves in the healthcare system. IBS care can involve multiple providers and a lot of repeated conversations. In the book, I guide readers in creating their own IBS Story; a clear summary of their symptoms, testing, treatments they’ve tried, and what has or hasn’t helped. Having that narrative can make appointments more productive and help prevent repeating tests or interventions that haven’t worked before.
Q: What topics do you cover in the book?
The book walks readers through how the digestive system works in a body with and without and why symptoms like bloating, excess gas, abdominal pain, constipation, and diarrhea can occur. From there, I guide readers through practical strategies for managing symptoms, including both dietary and non-diet tools to try.
Before beginning to create a personalized tool box, Gut Goals walks the reader through how IBS is diagnosed. Many people assume IBS is simply a label doctors use when they can’t figure out what’s wrong, but that’s not accurate. There are specific diagnostic criteria and a process for ruling out other gastrointestinal diseases with similar symptoms. Understanding that process can help patients feel more confident in their diagnosis and better prepared to discuss it with their healthcare providers.
The book also addresses areas that often get overlooked in IBS care, such as the role of stress and the brain–gut connection, how to navigate dietary interventions safely, and if they are the right tool for you, and how to approach gut health information critically. The goal is to help people move from feeling like they’re constantly reacting to symptoms to having a plan for managing them.
Q: What are some of the biggest misconceptions about IBS that you encounter?
One of the biggest misconceptions is that managing IBS means simply finding the “one food” causing their symptoms. In reality, IBS symptoms are usually influenced by many factors—what you eat, stress levels, sleep, gut motility, and even hormones. That’s why management usually requires a more nuanced approach than simply eliminating foods.
Q: Your approach to nutrition is weight-inclusive. Why is that important when working with IBS?
A weight-inclusive approach focuses on symptom management, nourishment, and quality of life rather than weight or body size as a measure of health. There is a common co-occurrence of IBS with disordered eating behaviors, so shifting the focus away from weight and toward supportive eating patterns can make it much easier to develop sustainable habits that help their digestion and support a healthy relationship with food.
Q: IBS care can sometimes lead people into very restrictive eating patterns. How do you address that in the book?
This is something I see frequently in clinical practice. People often start with a well-intentioned elimination diet, but over time their list of “safe foods” gets smaller and smaller.
In the book, I talk about how elimination diets—such as the low FODMAP diet—can be useful tools when used appropriately, but they are meant to be temporary and structured. For those who are not good candidates for restrictive interventions, I give options for other ways to be able to enjoy potential trigger foods without symptoms (hint: it comes in a green package!)
Q: Many people with IBS feel like they’ve already tried everything. What would you want them to know?
It’s very common for people with IBS to feel discouraged, especially if they’ve been dealing with symptoms for years. What I often tell patients is that IBS management is rarely about finding one magic solution. Instead, it’s about identifying the combination of strategies that work best for you— - that’s how to create your tool box! Gut Goals reviews many tools that are evidence-based, and shares information on those that are not so that the reader will be able to discern what is worth trying and what is best avoided.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from Gut Goals?
My hope is that readers walk away feeling more informed, more empowered, and less alone in their experience with IBS. Digestive symptoms can be frustrating and isolating, especially when people feel like they’re constantly trying to “fix” their gut.
I want the book to give readers a practical framework for understanding their symptoms, communicating effectively with their healthcare providers, and making thoughtful changes without feeling like they have to completely overhaul their lives or eliminate huge categories of food. Managing IBS is often about small, strategic shifts over time, and when people have the right tools, those shifts can make all the difference.
A big thank you to Beth!
We so appreciate Beth’s expertise and her refreshingly practical perspective on IBS management. If you're ready to move beyond the cycle of restriction and frustration, Gut Goals is a great place to start.
Learn more: Gut Goals: A Practical Plan for Managing IBS