FODMAP diet

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emmac454
emmac454 Posts: 9 Member
edited August 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys, i suffer with ibs and my doctor told me to try the fodmap diet. It seems a big change... does anyone have tips and stuff? Could really help

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  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    Hi?
  • soapsandropes
    soapsandropes Posts: 269 Member
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    Maybe try to cut out one thing at a time to see if you can find a pattern with symptoms. You may not have to eliminate everything. Keep a food log if you aren't tracking here and note how you feel. Looking at the Standford diet below it doesn't look too bad.
    https://stanfordhealthcare.org/content/dam/SHC/for-patients-component/programs-services/clinical-nutrition-services/docs/pdf-lowfodmapdiet.pdf
  • caffeinatedcami
    caffeinatedcami Posts: 168 Member
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    Hi I also have pretty severe IBS and there is some solid research backing Low FODMAP diets for IBS (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3966170/) but it seems super restrictive for me. So many vegetables and fruits are off limits. I already have celiac and can't eat gluten so cutting out anything else would be hard for me. But it's probably worth giving a try. Good luck. :)
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
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    Welcome to the club:( I'm off gluten aaa well as fodmaps. It's hard!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I've been suffering with chronic (insert whatever my current gastroenterologist is calling it) for 20 years. I sort of have it under control with medication but I'm considering talking to my internist about trying this at my next appointment. I'm in for additional information and others' experience with it.
  • bkerr30
    bkerr30 Posts: 131 Member
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    I also have been considering trying this for my IBS, I already am eating gluten free on doctors orders for other medical reasons but I'm hesitant because its even more restricted. I would live to hear from someone who has had success with it
  • LisaTcan
    LisaTcan Posts: 410 Member
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    Hi I have several gastrointestinal conditions and my gastroenterologist told me to follow a FODMAPS diet. I am strictly gluten free and cannot eat any beans or legumes but I find tolerate some of the fruit/vegetables that are off limits and can have small amounts of lactose (i.e hard cheese, yogurt). You just have to kind of experiment and see what foods aggravate your symptoms.
  • MrsLVF
    MrsLVF Posts: 787 Member
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    FODMAPS is a nice guide, but With IBS the key is to find your trigger foods & avoid them.
    You may also find the way a food is prepared makes a difference for instance raw fresh vs canned veggies
    Or avoiding the skin/ peal on fruits & veggies.
    Or baked vs fried meat.
    You also may be able to tolerate certain cheeses better that others.
    So just log everything & take note as to what triggers you IBS & remove that from your diet.

    Good luck, it's a process.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    A girl at work is on a low FODMAP diet. She has an app that she can look up to see if a certain food is OK or not. I can ask her more about it if you're interested.
  • jackoswacko
    jackoswacko Posts: 4 Member
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    Hey. I do follow the fodmap diet plan because my ibs was getting out of hand. I found cows milk, regular wheat, some types of oil like vegetable oil and sun flower oil along with beans and a few other things set me off quite bad.

    The fodmap list is always evolving so it's good to check online for updated lists in your country. It started in Australia. Kings college in London do some good research into fodmap diets. But where ever you live will have a research centre for it.

    As people have said before its trial and error with what to cut out. Start with obvious stuff you eat lots of and see if there's an improvement.


  • maggiel1710
    maggiel1710 Posts: 1 Member
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    I'm currently doing the FODMAP diet - currently on week 2. The idea of the FODMAP diet is to totally eliminate known irritants for a period of a few weeks to give the gut time to heal - then foods are reintroduced to see if they cause irritation. I already know I am not gluten nor lactose intolerant, however the dietician I am seeing (and really this diet should be done under a dietician) still suggests I remove wheat products and dairy products during the diet stage. While it is fairly restrictive I still find there are a variety of foods I can eat - but I do miss the garlic and onion However, it's only for a short time and hopefully I can find out what is causing the horrible pains and bloating.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    emmac454 wrote: »
    Hey guys, i suffer with ibs and my doctor told me to try the fodmap diet. It seems a big change... does anyone have tips and stuff? Could really help

    It is not supposed to be for life. You eliminate lots of things, then gradually reintroduce them one at a time to see what makes a difference.
  • freeza12
    freeza12 Posts: 33 Member
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    Basically, what Maggie said is correct, and it's not hard to follow considering:

    *IBS affects you every day, for the rest of your life*

    So attempting a diet that seems hard initially - it's not that much of a harsh commitment is it?

    Eliminate all FODMAP foods from your diet initially for two weeks.
    Introduce a certain strain of FODMAP (ie, one of the carb chains) for a week.
    If there's no IBS symptoms, it's likely you're not sensitive to that carb.
    Repeat for all FODMAP foods, taking it one at a time.
    If you find sensitivity in one or more of the chains, then you can assume that is where your insensitivity lies, and you can avoid those in the future, lest you get IBS symptoms.

    For something that is affecting you daily, changing your diet for a few months isn't too much to ask in order to change your life forever.
  • Speckle38
    Speckle38 Posts: 53 Member
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    The first thing you should do is rule out any medical conditions, including Coeliac, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. If you don't have any of these, see a dietitian who knows about the FODMAPs diet. I've had a couple of friends do it. One of my friends successfully did the elimination diet and food challenges under the supervision of a dietitian over a period of several months. The others were just suggested by their doctors and didn't make it through a week.

    For my successful friend, the elimination phase was 6 weeks. During that time, we went away with some friends for a weekend, so we had the opportunity to talk about it. Initially she had no significant improvement, and was quite disillusioned with it, but by the time we went away, she was feeling better and had lost a few pounds. The challenges were very specific - a measured amount of the trigger food every day for 3 days, so she would have them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The challenges were also sequenced so that the first ones were the least common triggers, building up to the most common. At the end of it, she was able to narrow down her triggers to 3: garlic, onions and wheat (not gluten though). She looks great now, much healthier and happier.

    Monash University has put out a FODMAPs app that my friend uses.
  • sherry98008
    sherry98008 Posts: 11 Member
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    I was diagnosed with lymphocytic colitis about two weeks ago and my gastroenterologist suggested the Low-FODMAP elimination diet to me. I educated myself on it, bought some cookbooks and after two weeks my symptoms have gone away. I'll stay on the elimination phase for another 2-4 weeks then I'll slowly reintroduce foods. There are still loads of foods you can still eat while on the elimination phase, but the point is to determine your specific trigger foods so you avoid the triggers but keep the other foods, that while they might be high-FODMAP, aren't triggers for you.

    At this point I'm certain wheat (the carb part, not gluten) is a trigger, and I suspect lactose, onion and maybe garlic. A lot of the other foods I don't think are triggers (apples, peaches, honey, chamomile tea) so I think those will be added back into my diet.

    This has been a game changer for me. I like having control over this situation instead of fearing I'll have to run to the bathroom all the time. As mentioned above, I use the Monash University app as well.

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