Low FODMAP: prepared products, recipes, friends?

mathandcats

I was diagnosed with IBS recently, and my dietician suggested I try the low FODMAP diet. It's a little overwhelming. The no onions or garlic bit is especially difficult, since I often cook with both, and they're in many products. Also, I really enjoy baking, but now have to avoid wheat. So, I'm looking for suggestions (including where you buy them) for the following products from others who follow this diet:

• chicken stock (I do not want to make my own from scratch)
• prepared pasta sauce
• pancake mix - I live alone and like to make a single serving. Currently I use Kodiak Cakes wheat, oat, and honey and like it a lot
• all purpose flour - I like to bake bread as well as things like cookies, cakes, muffins, cupcakes, etc.
• bread - I like rice cakes in place of toast, but curious about favourite gluten free (well, really just wheat, barley, and rye free is what matters) breads for making sandwiches or french toast

I might think of more things to add to this list too. Also, if anyone who follows this diet would like to share some of their favourite recipes and/or be friends to share meal ideas, that would be great too. Thanks in advance!

mtizi

Like Udi's bread & bagels. I think Bob's has the best gluten free pancake mix. Look into tiger nut flour for baking. I love it & it's 1 to 1 ratio to wheat flour.

Um, no, you actually want Gluten free. You be surprised what can contain gluten like soy sauce, vinegar, shampoo, etc. Unless, it says gluten free don't drink beer.

mathandcats

For low FODMAP, it is not gluten that's the problem. It's about the carbohydrates that happen to also be present in wheat, barley, and rye. But thank you for the recommendations.

BinaryPulsar

Hi. I'm also on a low fodmap diet. Mine is even more restricted because I have a malabsorption disorder. So, I can't eat grains, starches, or fodmaps. Hopefully I will recover from this someday. But, I am eating food, gained back my weight (malabsorption caused weight loss), and my health issues all improved 95%. The Monash University Low Fodmap Diet App is helpful.

klburlew

My daughter started the diet strict for Two weeks and then started adding things back. Right now we know here main triggers are garlic and onion. She can have a small amount of barbecue sauce but that's the limit.

I bought the app for my phone. New stuff is added as it gets tested. We are now trying a pro biotic from England

BinaryPulsar

Oh yeah, my Rheumatologist said no gluten for me. She says I have the symptoms of celiac disease. But, I have malabsorption to non-gluten grains as well. And to supplements that are similar to gluten (apparently).

mathandcats

Here's an update of some products that I've found that are low FODMAP:

• chicken stock concentrate: Trader Joe's Savory Broth Chicken Flavour Reduced Sodium Liquid Concentrate, which comes in a box of I believe 12 packets. It says natural flavor and spices on it, but I inquired and while they would not tell me the ingredients, they did assure me there are no onions or garlic. If you don't have a TJs around, I have a hunch that Savory Choice brand's product is the same thing. The ingredients are identical and packaging is extremely similar.
• protein bars: Square Bars. They are pretty tasty, but are obviously rice protein based. But they are pretty good, and based on the ingredients I believe they are low FODMAP.
• bread: Glutino gluten free white sandwich bread is pretty tasty - great fluffy texture. Anything trying to be multigrain or brown tends to have molasses or honey or other issues.
• garlic oil: Trader Joe's sells a garlic infused olive oil for $4 per bottle, and this is a low FODMAP way to get garlic back into your recipes!
• pancake syrup: Log Cabin sells a HFCS free pancake syrup, if you don't want to put real maple syrup on.
• oyster sauce: some contain flour, but Kikkoman's does not.
• salad dressing: Opa Greek yogurt Strawberry poppyseed is creamy and tasty and onion and garlic free. It could be an issue if you are extremely lactose intolerant, but most people can handle yogurt.

I'm still hoping for ketchup and BBQ sauce, but I suspect I will not find any prepared ones that don't have onion or garlic (or, in the case of BBQ sauce, honey or molasses are common high FODMAP ingredients too).

mathandcats

Here's another thing I'm looking for: a low FODMAP option to replace graham cracker crumbs in dessert crusts. Most things I've found that are GF (to avoid wheat) have honey, molasses, or agave in them. I would be happy to blitz up something like animal crackers too, but those have had the same issues so far. Any suggestions?

DaveT

Lots of good feedback on this thread for those of us w/FODMAP issues. My life changed dramatically for the better when I found Dr. Sue Sheppard's book "The Complete Low-FODMAP Diet". It's loaded with recipes and practical tips. I highly recommend it. Best of health to everyone struggling with this!

mathandcats

Oh, I am confused now. Is molasses low FODMAP or not? I thought it wasn't, but now see that it's not in the Monash database but some tables list it as low.

BinaryPulsar

My life is dramatically better since going low fodmap (and also no grains because of my malabsorption). I am definitely continuing to improve and get better and better. And I eat lots of low fodmap veggies, fiber, soluble fiber. So that I will still be feeding the good bacteria. I also drink a very good quality kefir (might not technically be low fodmap, but I can tolerate it and it helps). And I take a probiotic that is 150 billion per pill. So, probably I am ok. I just worry if it could be bad to be low fodmap for a long time. That it could starve out more bacteria and lose my ability to ever digest fodmaps again. But, it's definitely helping me and worth it. When I experiment with adding things back I want to try butternut squash. I want to try it. I just don't want my symptoms to come back. But, do you think we need to be low fodmap for a long time? The app says 4-6 weeks. But, I definitely didn't fully recover that fast. I guess I just need to keep being patient with it. Diet is what's helping me most. It's really amazing actually. I have histamine problems also. But, I have improved a lot.

BinaryPulsar

Honey and agave are high fodmap. I think coconut sugar is high fodmap. I don't know about molasses.

Edit to add: Molasses has not been analyzed for FODMAPs at Monash University but older data in the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference suggest it has excess fructose. 

mathandcats

BinaryPulsar wrote: »

I just worry if it could be bad to be low fodmap for a long time. That it could starve out more bacteria and lose my ability to ever digest fodmaps again. But, it's definitely helping me and worth it. When I experiment with adding things back I want to try butternut squash. I want to try it. I just don't want my symptoms to come back. But, do you think we need to be low fodmap for a long time? The app says 4-6 weeks. But, I definitely didn't fully recover that fast. I guess I just need to keep being patient with it. Diet is what's helping me most. It's really amazing actually. I have histamine problems also. But, I have improved a lot.

I'm far from an expert on low FODMAP, but my understanding is that after the elimination phase, you should slowly be testing your tolerance to the different FODMAPs, under the supervision of a dietician who knows low FODMAP. It is not meant to be a diet you follow strictly (like the elimination phase) forever. I have to find a different dietician who knows more about low FODMAP, as my current one (provided free because I'm a student) doesn't know much about it at all...

BinaryPulsar

Thanks. Yeah, I understand. It's challenging. I hope you find a good one. I have a good Rheumatologist that's my main medical doctor. But, for diet doctors don't deal with that. She did tell me to do a food diary, track symptoms, and eliminate. And to go to someone that could help guide me with diet. She said naturopaths usually understand malabsorption dietary issues better than a dietician. But, you have to be cautious with that as well. And can be expensive. She wasn't saying go to a naturopath instead of doctors. But that they can help with the day to day diet stuff that doctors don't have time for.

mathandcats

I want to update: I don't think Square Bars are low FODMAP. There is not a clear answer about the status of coconut nectar, but since coconut sugar and coconut are both things to be limited, I think the coconut nectar (first ingredient in Square Bars!) could be problematic. Sorry about that.

BinaryPulsar

Yeah. Coconut products tend to be high fodmap. But, I eat a little coconut oil in my cooking.

mathandcats

BinaryPulsar wrote: »

Yeah. Coconut products tend to be high fodmap. But, I eat a little coconut oil in my cooking.

Coconut oil is fine because its entirely fat (FODMAP free since carb free)!

I just heard back from Progresso, and Progresso chicken broth is onion and garlic free as well.

mathandcats

A few more products:

• Protein powder: Quest uses isolates, so it is essentially lactose free, and should be fine. Certainly, before all my digestive issues got really bad, but when I was already lactose intolerant, I was still able to have Quest protein powder and bars.
• Ice cream: several flavours of Lactaid ice cream should be fine. Just avoid the berry crumble, cookies and cream, and salted caramel (they have, respectively: wheat, wheat, HFCS).

mathandcats

I haven't tried any of their stuff, but I just stumbled across Nicer Foods low FODMAP products: https://nicerfoods.com/low-fodmap-food-shop/. They have beef and chicken style bouillon cubes, among other things. (Personally, I think the rest is ridiculously expensive - you can make a bar like that very easily yourself for much, much less, and the spice mixes could be made up on your own too.) edit: Actually, you can find the bouillon cubes on Amazon too.

ladyreva78

Hello! I'll be checking in to this thread regularly. It does give me hope that there are replacement products. I'll have to check what can be ordered online (most of the brands mentioned don't exist here).

I'll pass along anything interesting our group finds in French/German and recipes we might stumble across that pass our field testing. It's a good thing the friend of mine who needs to eat low FODMAP likes to cook and that the group of friends she hangs out with also likes to cook and quite gladly took up the challenge to help her. She was getting a bit depressed.

The dietician she has is at least well versed in low FODMAP so she at least has support from that side.

Best of luck to anyone going through this. It made me realize just how lucky I was to be 'just' overweight but with no dietary limitations.

redraidergirl2009

download the monash app, it has reciepes and good information...also be aware this is NOT a permanent diet. you should try and reintroduce foods to see which ones you can and cannot tolerate and what amounts.

BinaryPulsar

My problem started because I was severely overtreated with antibiotics. Wrongly prescribed because I was being misdiagnosed. I didn't have an infection. The culture came back negative, but they were treating me like I had an antibiotic resistant infection. Then I just had slight histamine reactions. Recovering great. But six months later I was wrongly prescribed a topical vasoconstrictor which I used three times (a week in between each application) which caused a severe rebound disorder and this was trigeminal nerve pain in my face. It got worse from lying down (sleeping), and from eating foods. I was under extreme stress from the pain, barely sleeping four hours a night, and for six months I was eating a lot of quinoa, rice, chickpeas, butternut squash and sweet potatoes, high fodmap. I had malabsorption. But, I was ignoring the symptoms because I was so overwhelmed by the trigeminal nerve pain and I needed to eat. Doctors couldn't help. They just wanted to put me on pain meds, but at that point I wasn't going to take any prescriptions unless it was a life or death situation (the side effects stated it could worsen my conditions). My Rheumatologist's recommendation as well to not take meds. So, my situation was very severe. I slowly over the past four months found a diet that reduced my symptoms by at least 95%. They kept wanting to put me on more and more meds. The side effects state that it could make all my problems worse plus multiple lawsuits for liver and kidney damage (med was pulled from the market in the US, I am in Canada). They said diet had no effect. A month later I showed up all better without meds because of diet change. They agree now and said it was very insightful that I figured this out on my own. It's been rough. I hope I will be basically normal again in another year or so. It's been a year and a half dealing with the impact of meds. I was an exceptionally healthy and happy person before the medical injuries.

mathandcats

I have a couple recipes to share.

I had this scramble while out for brunch with my family. Brunch is by far the easiest meal to eat out while low FODMAP, I think. Just be sure to avoid sausage and ask if there are onion or garlic added to things. Some restaurants may only have an eggs and bacon type option, but there's pretty much always *something* you can eat.

Basil, feta, and pepper scramble
Ingredients:

• eggs
• fresh basil
• feta cheese, firm is best
• red or green pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

The proportions are up to you, of course. For lunch today, I did 3 large eggs, 3 large leaves of basil, 20g of feta, and about a 1.5" square bit of red pepper, diced finely. I give the pepper a bit of a head start in the pan before adding the beaten eggs. When the eggs are cooked, add the basil and feta and give a brief toss before plating.

Ginger carrot and potato soup:
Ingredients:

• 1 lb carrots (Monash says carrots are entirely FODMAP free!)
• 1 lb potatoes (I used yukon gold)
• 4 cups low FODMAP stock (I used 4 cups water and 4 packets of Trader Joe's Savory Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth concentrate. Progresso also sells an onion and garlic free chicken broth.)
• 18g fresh ginger (I use it from a squeeze tube)
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt to taste (I added 1/4 tsp), black pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp ground cumin (I love cumin; you can reduce this amount or leave out entirely)
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Peel and dice up the carrots into 1/2" to 3/4" cubes. Also dice the potatoes to similar size. You can leave the skin on the potatoes if desired.
2. In a large pot over medium-low heat, warm the oil. Add the spices and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the stock and bring to a boil before reducing to a simmer.
3. Add the carrots and potatoes and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
4. If you want a chunky soup, remove some of the potatoes and carrots to another bowl (leaving as much broth as possible in the pot), and simmer the rest until extremely tender, about 10 more minutes. I like to mostly have potato chunks. If you want a smooth soup, just simmer the entire thing for the extra 10 minutes.
5. Use a hand blender to blend what is in the pot until smooth. If you only have a stand blender, it is extremely important that you let the soup cool before blending it, or it can explode out of the blender and cause severe burns.
6. Add the potatoes and carrots chunks that were separated out back into the soup. Add the lemon juice and adjust seasonings to taste.

mathandcats

Do any of you have trouble getting enough fiber? Before starting low FODMAP I had no trouble reaching my fiber amount (often, I was getting more like 40g - which didn't seem to be a problem), but now a lot of my fiber sources are out of my diet for now. I'm getting some from certain fruits like oranges and strawberries, but still have to pay a lot of attention to this now.

Also, do any of you find steel cut oats are not as well tolerated as rolled or quick for you? I vastly prefer steel cut oats for both texture and taste, but am starting to suspect they are contributing to gas.

BinaryPulsar

I can't tolerate grains at all right now. I seem to be doing ok with fiber. I think. Blueberries, oranges, sometimes strawberries, chard, kale, collard greens, carrots, a little cucumber sometimes. I eat some nuts too: walnuts and brazil. Some people recommend a soluble fiber supplement. Larch tree or acacia. I haven't tried it. I worry I won't react too well. But, oats are good. Brown rice. Maybe chia seeds? Potatoes.

mathandcats

I haven't tried them yet, but Aidell's Pineapple & Bacon Chicken sausages are onion and garlic free, and thus based on the ingredients list, I believe they are low FODMAP. I emailed the company to confirm that "natural flavors" does not hide any onion or garlic.

Also, from personal experience: be careful of squeeze bottle ginger! It never occurred to me to check the ingredients until I realized that my carrot potato ginger soup from above was disagreeing with me when it should be very low FODMAP. Turns out fructose was the second ingredient in my squeeze ginger! And I think I am quite sensitive to excess fructose.

mathandcats

This isn't food, but this blog post from Monash may be useful for anyone like me who considered asking for a fructose malabsorption breath test: fodmapmonash.blogspot.com/2016/08/research-update-how-important-is.html.

I'm curious what other people eat for snacks, in particular for ones that are good in a packed lunch. Sometimes I've made a lunch and packed a piece of fruit but still want a bit more, and can't pack more fruit because too much at once disagrees with me. I've gotten Kraft string cheese (0g lactose per serving), lactose free yogurt, GF pretzels, and Lance gluten free peanut butter sandwich crackers, but not much else.

BinaryPulsar

Yeah, the fructose issue is challenging to figure out. I was having trouble from eating too many blueberries at once. I still eat them, but less. I eat a cup of blueberries and one orange. I don't know if that's too much. I had a relapse. But, getting back on track again. Soon I am going to experiment adding back small amounts of yellow light fodmaps occasionally.

SLLRunner

I was just prescribed the low FODMAP diet for IBS, and will see a dietician in about 4 weeks. I've downloaded the Monash app, have been reading all the literature he gave me and doing my own research. I saw the GI on Thursday, but know the FODMAP diet is pretty strict so I will actually be starting on Monday. I hope it helps my symptoms because, well......I'm miserable.

singingflutelady

mathandcats wrote: »

Do any of you have trouble getting enough fiber? Before starting low FODMAP I had no trouble reaching my fiber amount (often, I was getting more like 40g - which didn't seem to be a problem), but now a lot of my fiber sources are out of my diet for now. I'm getting some from certain fruits like oranges and strawberries, but still have to pay a lot of attention to this now.

Also, do any of you find steel cut oats are not as well tolerated as rolled or quick for you? I vastly prefer steel cut oats for both texture and taste, but am starting to suspect they are contributing to gas.

I'm low fiber as fiber messes up my Crohn's and ibs

BinaryPulsar

SLLRunner wrote: »

I was just prescribed the low FODMAP diet for IBS, and will see a dietician in about 4 weeks. I've downloaded the Monash app, have been reading all the literature he gave me and doing my own research. I saw the GI on Thursday, but know the FODMAP diet is pretty strict so I will actually be starting on Monday. I hope it helps my symptoms because, well......I'm miserable.

I hope you find it as helpful as I have. It's difficult at first. But, I got used to it. And getting better was worth it. I am now starting to add some small serving sizes of foods back. But, I still need to be careful.