IBS--Free at Last!

Should I start the FODMAP-elimination diet before or after my holiday?

Q. I’m going on vacation next week; should I start the diet now or wait till my holiday is over?

I just returned from a lovely holiday, and I hope that you have one to look forward to as well. As you get ready to start the FODMAP-elimination diet, you might be wondering about timing your start date before or after your vacation.

If you have a few days before the holiday it might be worth the effort to get started right away. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a vacation that isn’t punctuated by anxiety about where to find the next toilet? If you will be off work at home or visiting your mom who wants to help you try some new recipes, it could be an ideal time to focus on your own health and nutrition. However, if you will be traveling and eating in restaurants or in other people’s homes where you can’t control the food, you might want to wait until after your schedule gets back to normal,

Q. 5, 6 and 7 #fodmapchat Adding glucose, conflicting info and which FODMAPs

Question 5: Can you comment on the use of glucose to improve absorption of fructose?

Question 6: Why are there so many conflicting FODMAP food lists out there?

Question 7: How do you work out which FODMAPs are a problem for you?

 

Q. 3 and 4 of #fodmapchat Fiber, Recipes

Question 3: Any tips for getting enough fiber on a low FODMAP diet?

Question 4. Any reliable sources for low FODMAPs recipes?

 

Q. 2 of #fodmapchat Vegans and Vegetarians

Question 2: How can vegetarians or vegans do a FODMAP restricted diet?

 

Q.1 of #fodmapchat Adding Flavor

Hello! Did you miss tonight's twitter chat about FODMAPs? You can read everyone's tweets by going to twitter and searching for #fodmapchat. Or, you can click on the links below for my attempt at making a transcipt of the chat. As you will see, a twitter chat is kind of like 20 people all talking at once, with overlapping conversations. I think you'll be able to pick out some juicy tidbits, though.

 

Question 1: What are your favorite tips for adding flavor to food without the FODMAPs?

Any Absolute Avoids?

Are their any foods one must absoutely avoid post-challenge phase of the FODMAPs elimination diet? No. That is the whole point of this program. You can eat any foods that you tolerate, in the amount that work for you. (Of course, keep in mind the dietary requirements of your other health conditions and goals.)

Planning ahead for FODMAPs-friendly Thanksgiving

This year, Thanksgiving dinner doesn't have to be a gut-buster. You can follow all of the suggestions on my menu for a very low FODMAPs dinner. Or, you can follow MOST of the suggestions, and splurge on one or two higher FODMAP treats in small portion sizes. Personally, I can't imagine Thanksgiving dinner without a scoop of my mother-in-law's sausage stuffing; I'll be leaving plenty of room in my "bucket" for that by going low FODMAPs on everything else. Click on the link below to download a pdf of the menu. Enjoy, and let us know what FODMAPs-friendly thanksgiving treats you have planned.

Download FODMAPs-Friendly Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

Can FODMAPs Elimination Help my GERD?

Theoretically it might offer some indirect relief. The large bowel (colon) wraps all the way around the abdominal cavity and passes close by the stomach in the upper abdomen. If the colon is distended with fluid and gas due to FODMAPs ingestion, it could put some physical pressure on the stomach. The upward pressure might encourage reflux of the stomach contents into the esophagus, as it does during pregnancy. We might guess this effect would be more likely in people with a lot of abdominal body fat or short-waisted body types.

How strict must I be when following the FODMAPs diet?

It is one thing to be strictly following an elimination/challenge protocol, and it is another thing just to eat "low FODMAPS".

An “elimination diet” is a strict, temporary, learning diet that we do to learn what foods or food categories trigger symptoms. A FODMAPs-restricted (or low FODMAPs) diet is what we do going forward after we learn what our problem areas are, with the ultimate goal of the most liberal, varied diet possible. Sometimes a low FODMAPs diet is the way to go from the outset, when doing the whole elimination/challenge enchilada isn't practical or medically appropriate.

Please be clear with yourself which one you are doing. While a particular food might not meet the criteria for the strict elimination phase of the diet, it might be perfectly fine in real life, later on, while just trying to balance everything and eat low FODMAPs overall. This will help you evaluate whether is OK to eat foods that contain borderline amounts of FODMAPs. Remind yourself of your "elimination v restricted" status as you review confusing or seemingly contradictory information. While it is not recommended to eat raisins or green beans during the initial stage of a FODMAPs elimination diet, for example, going forward you may find you are perfectly well able to tolerate small, controlled portions of these foods.

If you are doing a the elimination diet and challenge process described in my book, you will learn much more if you follow the protocol strictly for the few weeks it takes to complete the process. After that, you only need be as strict as it takes to manage your symptoms; you can eat whatever you can get away with given your new-found knowledge.

Intolerance to a Single Food; Don't Overgeneralize.

This question comes up frequently: If you know you react to a food within a group (eg wheat/fructans) can you assume that you will react to all foods within that group.. in other words could you react to some fructans but not others?

Good question. Remember with FODMAPs we are trying to assess tolerance to a type of carb (ex. fructans) in our food rather than out tolerance to individual foods. If you do an organized challenge process, the outcome might be that you learn you do not tolerate fructans in general very well. But you cannot assume that just because you react to a single food in a group that you will react to others.

Here are a few reasons why: You might be allergic to that food; you might have celiac disease or non-celiac gluten intolerance(in the wheat example you gave); other foods in the same group might have much less fructans per serving than the one that bothers you; your portion size of other foods in that group might be much smaller, the specific type of fructans in the food might be more or less rapidly fermentable than others, etc.

It's important not to overgeneralize, because its a nutritional mistake to unecessarily restrict your diet.