Hello all...just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Shelly. I was diagnosed with Celiac about seven years ago and was doing okay, but then I started having IBS-D every day, several times a day. I've been dealing with this for about 2 to 3 years now. I have tried everything (and seen numerous people and spent an insane amount of money), with no luck. I just stumbled on the FODMAP diet and am starting the elimination phase. How long does everyone suggest I eliminate the FODMAPs and then begin reintroducing them? Also are there any supplements that are suggested while completing this elimination phase? Oh, I'm also about 70 pounds overweight and am stumped as to how someone could suffer from the issues that I have and still be overweight. Hope all is well with everyone and thanks for taking the time to "listen".

Cheers,
Shelly

After a month on the low FODMAP diet, i am able to start adding back some foods. I was tested for celiac just over a year ago, and it was negative, as were my recent tests for lactose and fructose intolerance. I don't know what is causing my pain, and unsure how to add back the foods i love.
I lost 15 lbs in one month, and don't want the weight loss to stop. I am afraid if i add back the gluten, lactose and fructose i will regain the weight.

Bumping this... Just getting started with Fodmaps. For now just going to try to eliminate some of the things that I think may be triggers and see how it goes:)

no more nectarines =

Hi, Alexandra, Ducks and Glock!

I'm glad to see some recent posters as my new gastroenterologist (wasn't happy with the last one who didn't seem to want to discuss food management with me) suggested I try the low-FODMAP diet to manage my IBS-A symptoms. I let him know I didn't want to go on another medicine and he said meds weren't really effective for IBS-A anyway. C or D, but not combination. I've only been on the full elimination for about 1 week now and it's been a bit of a difficult adjustment, so it's good to have a support group to chat to about it.

It hasn't been the cutting out of food that's been so difficult, it's been finding something to actually eat that isn't repetitive that's hard. My husband is vegetarian and I'm personally not a meat-lover (other than bacon and Italian sausage, I'm meh on the flavor of meat), so we tend to eat a lot of meals that use meat replacement foods. WELL wouldn't you know that the meat replacement products we use all either contain wheat or soy? I've been finding a lot of conflicting info on which foods are low or high FODMAP, but it seems that while soy in general is high, tofu and tempeh are low, so maybe we can share a few meals if I find recipes using those.

I suppose the most difficult aspect is that I'm not just low-FODMAP. I was already on a Gastroparesis-friendly diet. While I didn't manage it every day due to time, that meant try to juice (veggie + fruit) twice a day and then have one meal in the evening, possibly with a small snack. Because of my GP and Oral Allergy Syndrome, there are lot of veggies (and fruit) that I don't eat raw. Making all of my experimented juice recipes suddenly off limits and making it forbidden to just buy a veggie/fruit juice from the supermarket if I hadn't had time to prepare one really threw me for a loop.

The dairy change hasn't actually been that bad. The only milk I normally drink is chocolate milk, and I'd stopped recently because it's so high calorie. I'm lucky in that a local store stocks the Almond Dream yogurts which I love. And as long as I can have my hard cheeses (cheese... favorite food in the world), I'm good. Although I am starting to miss chocolate.

Wheat was probably the hardest to cut out just because it's so insidious. I don't eat a lot of bread, but wheat flour and protein is just IN a lot of stuff. I went to get grilled chicken from KFC today thinking "Oh, that'll be something quick I can grab on my lunch break that's a fairly healthy fast food that fits in my restrictions," but it turns out their seasonings include wheat flour. On grilled chicken. *rolls eyes*

Okay, so that's been the difficulty and pain of adapting during first week on the low-FODMAP w/ GP-friendly modifications diet. The benefits? My weight loss plateau has miraculously disappeared. While I'm sure this is partly due to eating slightly less calories from the lack of wheat, I was hitting most of my calorie goals for the entire month with no pound change. About 4 days on this diet... change. Also, I was worried that my GP symptoms would start surfacing if I couldn't juice. But it hasn't been that bad. Like surprisingly good. I think it's the lack of wheat. What I'm putting in my belly isn't the kind of food that balloons up in size when it absorbs liquid (like wheat and other spongy carbs would... I'm not using bread replacements in general) and that's due to cutting out wheat. I also feel like I have more energy and in general I feel more positive. This could be some kind of honeymoon period, but aren't you supposed to feel like crap after you cut wheat out of your diet? I feel good. I mean... I even got ill yesterday and have to be on antibiotics (completely unrelated to food), and other than when I'm directly in pain, I feel positive.

Anyway, thanks for listening! I'm hoping this feeling of well being stays.

Oh.... I do have some anxiety in that I'm going on vacation in about 3 weeks and I should technically still be on my elimination phase then. Buuut... do I really want to pass up stuff on my once a year visit with my step daughter while we're at Disney? Then again, if I have a piece of cake with my husband and his daughter, am I going to make the past weeks of elimination pointless? I don't know... I'm pretty sure wheat at least is a trigger for me because I reintroduced it back unwittingly after I read sourdough was low-FODMAP and found out the next day it was spelt sourdough, not wheat sourdough that could be okay. I had the bread in the evening and bloating the following morning and entire next day. It was the only thing I'd "cheated" on.

Ok, ok, I'll stop talking now. As you can see, I've been obsessing. I think I'm developing food anxiety. lol