FODMAP diet

I tried a variation on it after being diagnosed with fructose malabsorbtion. You might try googling that, especially if this is something that has been bothering you more and more in the last five years or so (as HFCS became more ubiquitous and snuck into everything, I was having more and more pain and issues). I did not have to do the whole FODMAP thing, just cut out processed foods sweetened with high fructose corn syrup or fructose, as well as honey, agave, and any fruits with more fructose than glucose (like pears, mangoes, apples). I went from being miserable and sick all the time to feeling great.
On this diet, you can basically eat anything on the meat, dairy, and produce areas of the grocery store (with the exception of a few fruits) if you stay out of the middle (although I buy rice, bread, and beans from the middle but that's about it). Also BTW if you have fructose malabsorption the list posted above won't help too much because things like relish for example are really bad (has HFCS) or honeydew (has high fructose content). I hope you get some relief!

It's pretty close to what I've got to eat (for medical reasons), yeah.

One thing that helped me starting off on these kinds of diets - soup and stew. Make a few really big pots (or crockpots) of meat soup from scratch. Throw in some of the veggies, broth - if it's not being made with the meat - seasonings. Keep some rice to add for when you serve it, or dumplings for a chicken soup. And then just eat that for the first week or so.

It's a nice way to just have the food ready, without having to figure out what the heck to cook every day. Instead, you just pick 2-3 soups or stews and you can relax for a little, see if it helps you, you know?

Also, I'd check out the Monash low FODMAP diet. They've been working on this the longest, and they've had the best information and resources, in my experience. Including a phone app that can help, actually. http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/

That said - you might want to consider getting tested for celiac disease, if that hasn't been done yet. One has to be eating at least 2 slices of wheat bread a day, or the gluten equivalent, for a few weeks straight, though, or the test is invalid, so it might be something to look at before starting a diet like this.

Good luck - miserable thing to have issues like this when you can't find the answer. :-(

I remember seeing that dr. oz episode. My daughter has issues with some of her food too. It's basically eliminating a lot of things, and then slowly one at a time adding it back in to see if that was what was making you sick, bloated, diarreah, or whatever your problem is. The people he had on the show who did it, ended up with only 2-3 specific food that they actually needed to keep out of their diet. Finding those few things that are bothering your system, is the hard part.
I keep trying to get my 19 year old to log her food and write down when she has problems and try to identify what food may of caused it, and eliminate it for awhile, then add it back once and see if the symptom is back, that is one of the problem foods. But she's too lazy to bother with it. Her dr gave her the pamphlet on the low fodmap diet too. Hope you can figure out what the trigger foods are.

What works for one may not work for another. I personally think the GI doc I saw didn't look further into what I have and I don't think it was gerd. I was on Kapidex and it didn't help much. Once I moved and switched jobs I no longer had insurance. Since I have not gone back, I am sure there is more to my symptoms. This works for me so far. Now I have to give it more time to really tell.

I hope that you all get to the bottom of it as well!

Happy to meet all you lovely ladies who are experiencing the same symptoms that I am. I have had these pains (which I believe is IBS) off and on for about 3 years. But lately, I've had it non stop. I tried Paleo, but I was starving myself and not feeling any better. I am going to see my Doctor on Monday to begin testing (which will take about a month to complete!!!) I am going to start the FODMAPs elimination. Here goes ....

KylaDenay wrote: »

shrinkingtina wrote: »

If this doesn't work I will try keto.

Do your research and do what works best for you. The elimination diet will help you to find your intolerance.

This, you eliminate everything and then introduce back foods until you can identify what you have a problem with.

Good luck; and be prepared to cook your own food. I would imagine it hard to find things at restaurants without some of the more common spices and seasonings (onion, garlic, etc).

Has any of you found any exercises that have helped to decrease your bloating and gas pains. I found some yoga poses on pinterest that I may try. Bogus info ?

JennetteAllan wrote: »

Has any of you found any exercises that have helped to decrease your bloating and gas pains. I found some yoga poses on pinterest that I may try. Bogus info ?

Yoga is marvelous. Good ahead and try the poses your found.

I'm so sorry your doctors were no real help. So much sympathy for that. And I just wanted to wish you well on your search for what's going on; you can totally do this!

I was sick for quite a while, myself, and while the GI doctors found one thing wrong, they were no help at all most of the problems. I ended up doing a lot of food elimination for a few years, dropping foods that didn't work and trying to figure out what the heck was going on. But I kept getting sicker. I started noticing that some smells were making me sick, so I avoided those. Some chemicals were making me feel sick, so I avoided those. Exercising was making me sick, so I tried to cut down on that.

And I felt crazier and crazier, but I still kept researching and trying things out, trying to find correlations to my symptoms and known illnesses and problems, and I finally found it. I went in to my doctor to ask about a rare disorder that seemed to match my symptoms, he referred me to a specialist, and lo and behold, that's what I had*.

I guess I'm just sharing this as a 'you can do this' kind of encouragement, you know? Even if you end up doing most of the leg work, the internet today is a GREAT place to try and track down what's wrong with you, and you can go back to a doctor to get confirmation, if needed.

Personally, if this diet doesn't work, the GAPS diet is one where they drop the foods way, way down, and then slowly build it back up, with homemade probiotics at the same time, to try and improve gut health. The theory behind it is so-so, but I know many people with bad stomach issues who found it useful as a diet to help them figure out what foods were causing problems, you know?

And if THAT doesn't work, I would highly recommend doing things like checking out, say, the celiac.com forums, or forums for other conditions that have symptoms to match yours. Because many times, these folks have had to search for years to find out what's wrong, and they often know of many OTHER diseases and conditions that could be the problem, so they can be useful source of information in your hunt for what could be wrong, you know?




*If you're curious, I have something called a mast cell activation disorder. It's where the body starts having allergic reactions to things that its either not allergic to, or that aren't even allergens at all. So you can start having allergic reactions to foods, pollen, chemicals (even the chemicals that make up a scent), physical stress, even wacko things like changes in altitude or temperature, sometimes!. Like I said, it's really rare, and if I can finally get help for something that oddball? There's definitely hope that you can find help for gut issues, right? ^_~

Have you tried finding a doctor (most gastros will test for this though) that tests for Sibo (Small Intestional Bacteria Overgrowth)?