Low FODMAP: prepared products, recipes, friends?

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  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    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
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
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    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
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
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    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
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    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
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
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    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
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
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    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
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    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
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    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
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    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
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    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.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    singingflutelady wrote: »
    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

    I know I am always recommending soluble fiber. But, of course, for some people lower fiber is best.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    With IBD (not IBS but not sure) when you are flaring they always put you low residue and sometimes liquid. For some reason anything that isn't low fiber gives me massive diarrhea so I avoid it. Unfortunately that means hardly any fruits or vegetables but I test it every once in a while and even a tiny piece of lettuce has my gi tract not even attempting to digest it and it goes through super fast (it goes through in about 4 hours meaning I can see pieces of the "bad" food in the toilet sorry very tmi). The d hits sooner but it usually takes way more than 4 hours for something to go from mouth to *kitten* even with d. The joys of Crohn's lol
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    That's what happens to me if I eat grains! Exactly what you just described.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    BinaryPulsar wrote: »
    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.

    Thank you. I also plan on keeping a food symptom dairy from when I start through when I start adding foods back in. I am already lactose and soy intolerant, and I don't drink soda because it exacerbates my acid reflux/gastritis, so I think I'm off to a good start. :)
  • pjowkar
    pjowkar Posts: 36 Member
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    I had a recent flair up from my Crohn's and I'm at the point where I'm nervous eating raw fruits and veggies. I know that melons are low- residue so that's been my go-to for fruit. I'm used to drinking green smoothies for breakfast but lately I've reverted back to old habits of cheese (for some reason cheese doesn't affect me like plain milk does) and eggs, despite eating a plant-based diet.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    @pjowkar, cheese is actually on the green list for the FODMAPS diet, which makes me happy as well. Being lactose intolerant, I can only eat the aged cheeses. Anything with lactose gives me a migraine except for aged cheese and Greek Yogurt. However, I just started the FODMAPS diet today as prescribed by my GI, and only lactose free yogurt for me for awhile. I will be interested to see how all turns out with this.
  • mathandcats
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
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    Trader Joe's has started selling ginger paste that does not have fructose in it (like every single other one I've seen anywhere). This is really convenient if you don't like peeling and grating fresh ginger.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    mathandcats wrote: »
    Trader Joe's has started selling ginger paste that does not have fructose in it (like every single other one I've seen anywhere). This is really convenient if you don't like peeling and grating fresh ginger.

    Wonderful! I love ginger!

    After being on the low fodmap diet for 3 weeks, I feel significantly better.

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