Free · Live online · Starts 10 September
Understand your IBS in four weeks. Free.
A live online class for Canadians who have been diagnosed with IBS. Four Thursday evenings, one hour each, taught by clinicians and coaches and built by University of Calgary gut health specialists.
Thursdays 5:00 PM Mountain · 7:00 PM Eastern · One hour each · September 10 to October 1 · Replay after every class
Takes less than a minute to register.
Whether you were diagnosed last month or ten years ago
People come to this class from three different places. All three belong here.
Just diagnosed?
You left with a pamphlet and some advice about fibre.
Managing it for years?
You pick restaurants by the menu and trips by the bathrooms.
Tried everything?
Diets, apps, supplements, and you are back where you started. That is the method failing, not you.
Everyone in the class has one thing in common. A doctor has told them it is IBS.
What You Learn, Week by Week
IBS runs on four factors: food, the link between your gut and your brain, daily rhythms like sleep and movement, and support. Over four weeks you learn how all four affect your IBS, and which ones matter most for you.
Week 1
10 Sept
The four factors that drive IBS, and yours
Dr. Maitreyi Raman, Gastroenterologist and co-founder of LyfeMD, and Dr. Lorian Taylor, RD, PhD, CEO and co-founder of LyfeMD, with Charlie Corlett, Health Coach
What an IBS diagnosis means inside your gut, and why it feels ordinary digestion more strongly. How food, the gut-brain link, daily rhythms and support each act on a sensitive gut. Then a review of the treatment options available today.
Week 2
17 Sept
Food, and how to bring foods back
What actually irritates a sensitive gut, and what settles it. The difference between the two kinds of fibre. How low FODMAP is meant to work, including the part where foods come back. Why how and when you eat matters as much as what.
Chelsey Berendse, Health Coach, with Jackie Allen, Registered Dietitian
Week 3
24 Sept
The gut-brain link, and why it turns stress into symptoms
The two-way line between your gut and your brain, and why it is physical, not in your head. Why a sensitive gut feels ordinary digestion more strongly. What helps, including a breathing practice you do in the session, and how talk therapy and gut-directed hypnotherapy are used for IBS.
Chelsey Berendse, Health Coach, with Charles Corlett, Wellness Team Lead
Week 4
01 OCT
Movement that calms a sensitive gut
What kind of activity helps IBS and how much. What to do on a bad day. A short movement break you can follow along with, and how to start again if you have stopped. Then the four things that most often stall progress, so you leave with a plan you can keep using.
Chelsey Berendse, Health Coach, with Alex Egert, Chiropractor and Kinesiologist
Week 3
23 Sept
After each class, you get back a set of recommendations matched to you, along with the handouts for that week. If you miss a class, the replay arrives the next day.
Who Teaches The Class
The same clinical lead runs all four classes, with a specialist joining each week.
Chelsey Berendse
Health Coach, Clinical Lead
Was the health coach on the IBS 1:1 program in the University of Calgary study. Co-hosts weeks 2 and 4, teaches the gut-brain link in week 3
Jackie Allen
Registered Dietitian
Week 2. A registered dietitian and chronic disease specialist, teaching food and how to bring foods back.
Charles Corlett
Wellness Team Lead
Hosts week 1 with Dr. Raman and Dr. Taylor, and teaches the gut-brain link with Chelsey in week 3.
Alex Egert
Chiropractor and Kinesiologist
Week 4. Has spent five years working with Canadians who have IBS and other gut conditions.
64% of Patients Felt Meaningful Relief
In the research behind this program.
64%
of patients in the research behind this program felt meaningful relief from their symptoms.
This research looked at the 1:1 program. The class teaches the same approach. University of Calgary and Ascend study.
What People Took Away From the Program
People said what they gained was practical tools they still use, more confidence, less fear around food, and feeling less alone.
How this compares to your other options
People said what they gained was practical tools they still use, more confidence, less fear around food, and feeling less alone.
A free dietitian through your province
Usually one appointment, and what you can get depends on where you live. This is four classes plus replays.
Diet apps and gut hypnotherapy apps
Both have real research behind them, and each works one lever. This covers three, and there is someone to ask when you get stuck.
A private dietitian
One to one, and good when the advice is built around you rather than a standard sheet. You pay per visit. We offer a 1:1 program too, and workplace benefits often cover all or part of the cost.
Waiting to see if it settles
Costs nothing, and some weeks are fine. For most people the pattern comes back and years go by.If one of those options fits your situation better, take that route. Better than joining a class that is wrong for you.
Is this a good fit for you?
Quicker to check than to guess.
Yes, if
A doctor has diagnosed you with IBS
You have changed one thing at a time and hit a wall
You want to know why your symptoms move around
You are fine watching a replay if you miss a week
Maybe not, if
You want every session built around your case. The IBS Mastery 1:1 Program does that.
You are still looking for a diagnosis. Start with your doctor.
You want a quick fix. Four weeks teaches you a way of working. It is not a cure.
Free for everyone, or one to one if you want the program built around you
Two ways to get started. Pick the one that fits.
Option One
The IBS Mastery Group Program
The four-week class on this page. Live online, with other people working on the same thing, a check-in after each class, and replays. Free to anyone with an IBS diagnosis.
Option two
The IBS Mastery 1:1 Program
The same approach, built around one person. One to one with a registered dietitian or a health coach. Five sessions over 12 weeks, with support in between. This is the program the published research looked at.
Many workplace health and wellness accounts cover all or part of the 1:1 program. Most of that money goes unused every year. If the 1:1 program interests you, tick the box on the enrollment form and a health coach will go through your coverage with you.
The group class is free for everyone, with or without workplace benefits.
Register for the free class
Takes less than a minute. Four Thursdays · 5:00 PM Mountain · 7:00 PM Eastern · One hour each · 10 September to 1 October · Replay after every class
What Happens Next
A confirmation email with your join link, right away.
A few questions about your symptoms, so the recommendations you get are matched to where you are with your IBS.
A reminder before the first class on 10 September.
Who is behind LyfeMD?
Dr. Maitreyi Raman, MD, MSc, FRCPC is a gastroenterologist and a physician nutrition specialist. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary and directs Ascend, Alberta’s centre of excellence for nutrition in digestive disease. In 2023 the Canadian Nutrition Society gave her its award for putting clinical nutrition research into practice.
Dr. Lorian Taylor, RD, PhD is co-founder and CEO of LyfeMD. A registered dietitian and former research scientist in the University of Calgary’s Department of Medicine, she completed her doctorate on the science of dietary and exercise behaviour change, and holds advanced certifications in motivational interviewing and health counselling.
The program was evaluated in: Eisele M, Yousuf M, Haskey N, D’Silva A, Nasser Y, Franco L, Raman M. Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 2025.
Questions People Ask First
Do I need an IBS diagnosis?
Yes. This is for people whose doctor has already told them it is IBS. If you have symptoms and no diagnosis, start with your family doctor.
Is low FODMAP the answer?
The low FODMAP diet is a useful tool with good research behind it. The diet was built as a short-term test to find out which foods are involved, not as a way to eat forever. The part where foods come back is where most people get left on their own. Week 1 covers how to start the diet and how to come off it.
What does free mean here?
The four-week group class costs nothing. Nothing to pay to register, and nothing to pay during the four weeks.
How much time does this take?
One hour a week for four weeks. Four hours in total, and you can watch the replay instead if a Thursday does not work.
Will someone try to sell me something?
We mention the 1:1 program during the classes, because some people want the program built around them. If you want to know whether your workplace health or wellness account covers the 1:1 program, tick the box on the enrollment form and a health coach will check your coverage with you. If you leave that box unticked, nobody will contact you about coverage.
What if I miss a class?
The replay goes out the next day. About a third of the people in our first group took part that way.
Are my symptoms too mild for this? Too severe?
Neither. In our first group, how severe someone’s symptoms were made no difference to what they got out of the class.
Do I have to talk or turn my camera on?
No. You can watch and type in the chat if you prefer.