Fructose Malabsorption awareness

greenmeena

Hi all,
I just wanted to share something that has happened for me in case it helps someone else. I have had chronic IBS since I was a child (hell, I was had colic as a baby) and it has been a struggle for me my whole life. I've always envied those nice flat bellies everyone else who is fit seems to have. Even at my thinnest, and running like a nut every day, I always had a bloaty belly and embarrassing gas problems. These problems were partially fixed by going Paleo a few years ago, but never completely.

Well, recently I really wanted to kick my sugar addiction so I started the Whole 30 plan to eat clean. Another reason I did this cleanse, to remember how to eat clean, is that I've been lifting heavy for 4 months now after a strong metabolic reset (eating plenty of calories) and my weight and inches would NOT budge. Lifting heavy and my pants were getting tighter! So three weeks in to Whole 30, I felt frustrated. Wow, did it make my IBS worse- I'd look 6 months pregnant, and had terrible gas- painful and humiliating! And I was not losing the inches like everyone else seemed to be! So I figured out what I was reacting to the most (coconut butter, my favorite fat source), did a little digging and found Fructose Malabsorption (FM). After reading the description of symptoms- gas, bloating, depression, failure to lose weight, water weight gain, etc I looked into the FODMAPs elimination diet to take fructose, fructans and polyols out of my diet. One interesting thing I read is that people who have this problem often will think they're sensitive to all sorts of things (I thought I had gluten sensitivity, etc etc...). There was even a great website about Paleo and FODMAP that talked about Paleo really bringing it to light because you end up eating even more of the fruits and veggies that cause problems! So that's what happened! After kicking cheese, gluten free products and kefir/ yogurt out for the month, it was a ragingly obvious problem.

Anyway- I chose to still follow Whole 30, but modified for FODMAP by eliminating the "no" foods (like apples, avocados, coconut (sob!), onion, garlic to name a few) and WITHIN 3 DAYS I have lost 5 inches around my waist, undoubtedly gas and water inches.

YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!

Yes, it sucks to have such limited choices, and it restricts what I can do; but I started the Whole 30 journey to heal and there you have it. I already had told my friends I wouldn't be drinking or eating things at parties, so they were prepped; most folk are pretty supportive when they learn you're trying to heal yourself.

Things I've read say that if you carefully eliminate for a while, and take herbs like slippery elm, bitters, mallow and ginger, not to mention probiotics like sauerkraut juice (I make my own- cabbage is out, but there are lots of fermented veggies out there to make!) you can heal the gut lining and eventually start to slowly, one item at a time, introduce things back in. There is some theory that this is related to leaky gut syndrome, which is the result of chronic inflammation (yeah- IBS!) but it can be healed.

I'm so excited right now to be feeling and looking better that I had to share, in case someone out there is doing everything right and still frustrated. 40% of the Western type population is suffering from FM, largely because of our ****ty diets of highly processed carb foods and HFCS, lots and lots of sugar, no bitters or ferments... it is possible to figure it out and possible to feel better.

cheers

Thyme4change

Thanks Greenmeena, I think I am on the same road. I hv slowly found myself moving to primal lifestyle. I feel 80% better. YEAH! Then I started to notice I would still had bouts of low energy, bloating and feeling over all just plain yuk. I cut out all dairy w the exception of butter, cream and cheese. In turn I added coconut milk, almond milk and avocados. Then cut out the cream and used more coconut milk and avocados...I am actually feeling more sick and the smell and thought of coconut is starting to turn me off..So, I feel it's time to further eliminate and try a fructose malabsorption diet.

Thank you for your post, it helped. I was seriously thinking about doing the whole 30 too, not thinking about my possible coconut issue. So, no whole 30 for now and will start eliminating the fructose foods..