A different approach to FODMAPs

July 31, 2021 1:22 PM

My doctor wants me to try a FODMAPs diet, but not the usual routine. The usual approach is to spend a month or more eating no foods with FODMAPs and then introduce challenges. But my doctor wants me to try to eliminate one group per week while continuing to eat foods from the other three groups. Week one, eliminate oligosaccharides but continue to eat things from the other three groups. Weeks two through four, eliminate di-, then monosaccharides, then polyols while still eating from the other three groups.

For this to work I need to eliminate one and only one group at a time. It would be useful to have a list of what foods are in each of the four groups so that I don’t inadvertently go a week without polyols when I’m supposed to be eliminating something else.

The usual fodmaps list breaks foods down differently and is pretty general.

I want something more specific that names actual foods–potatoes, rice, peaches. Can you point me to such a list, or maybe give me a better way to approach this? I want to get this done in August so that in September I can hopefully eat intelligently on our trip to the land of good restaurants.

Any help you can give will be appreciated, including whether a fodmaps trial actually helped you. Thanks.

posted by sevenstars to Health & Fitness (5 answers total)

I did this the way you did, and found I needed to eliminate 2 of the 5 categories. I should redo it.

I followed this guide, which my mother got from a dietician in Ontario.

Good luck!
posted by Valancy Rachel at 1:47 PM on July 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

The Monash University FODMAP app has a food guide that will tell you specifically which FODMAPs are in any given food. I don't see a way to search by specific FODMAP rather than by food but it helps track what you eat and symptoms. It is quite specific about foods including a lot of packaged foods and you can search by country.
posted by leslies at 1:52 PM on July 31, 2021 [4 favorites]

My gastro gave me a print out, which of course I can no longer find, but it was a lot like this guide.
posted by Stoof at 1:58 PM on July 31, 2021

Yes, the one and only answer here is the Monash University FODMAP app. It is by far the most comprehensive list of foods and FODMAP content and is continually updated. You can easily look up just about anything.

Well, not every kind of manufactured food item that includes 20 or 30 different ingredients, that is impossible. There are hundreds and thousands of different brands and products and they vary widely depending on your location. So, depending on where you live, only a small selection of such things will be listed.

But every basic ingredient and a number of more common processed foods will be there and that gives you the information you need.

For processed or combination foods, you read the ingredients list of every one completely and carefully, and look up every ingredient item.

Every other list of foods other than the Monash app is, relatively, very partial and incomplete.

Final pro tip: Avoid foods with "natural flavor" and "natural flavoring" on the ingredient list. Natural flavors can contain onion & garlic flavor, and don't need to list it separately.

Related, my suggestion here is to stick with more basic foods vs processed or restaurant food. That is the only real way to understand what is or isn't in the food. Just for example, most anything you buy that is a processed food or from a restaurant is going to have a garlic and/or onion base or seasoning. And garlic/onions are one of the biggest FODMAP triggers.

Cook things from scratch using basic whole-food type ingredients and look up literally every ingredient on the FODMAP app first.

And there you go.
posted by flug at 2:11 PM on July 31, 2021 [4 favorites]

I found this paper which, if you click on the thumbnail for Table 1 at the bottom, gives you a teeny tiny list that has what you are asking for. Good luck!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 10:55 AM on August 1, 2021