I need a map. A FODMAP map.
June 5, 2014 10:24 PM   Subscribe

So after all of the recent hubbub about how gluten may not be the culprit in many cases of indigestion/discomfort, I learned for the first time about FODMAPs and realized, "Wait a minute... I have gotten painfully bloated from eating ALL of those high FODMAP foods!" BUT. When I search the internet for FODMAP resources I find a lot of woo and a lot of really bland recipes. Is there a way to try a low FODMAP diet without dying of boredom?

I'd like to do a 2-week low FODMAP diet to see if I notice a difference, but I want the food to be flavorful. (Otherwise, I'll take a lifetime of indigestion, thank you.)

Can anyone point me to:
- food/recipe blogs with interesting recipes with low FODMAP ingredients
- a 2-week meal plan
- *reputable* sources and studies on FODMAP (when I search, I get so many of those click-bait sites -- I'm interested in verified research and medical studies!)
- your own favorite things to make in this category
posted by rogerrogerwhatsyourrvectorvicto to Food & Drink (7 answers total) 41 users marked this as a favorite
 
From the wiki article on it, there's this article from what seems to be a legitimate medical journal.
posted by empath at 10:50 PM on June 5, 2014


Best answer: Do you have an iOS device? The FODMAP app is a great resource. It's pricy, but it was made by researchers, it has a whole bunch of recipes, an index of good/ok/bad foods, and I think there is a one or two week meal plan.
posted by third word on a random page at 10:57 PM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


There is a cookbook called practical paleo that has 30 day meal plans and every recipe notes if it has FODMAPs or not (among other common allergy foods).
posted by MillMan at 11:10 PM on June 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


Diced celery and red bell pepper sort of take the place of garlic and onion as flavoring in omelets and stir fries.

I used herbs and spices that are supposed to help with digestion: fennel seeds in homemade pickled vegetables, turmeric on eggs and chicken, ginger in stir fries.
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck at 4:14 AM on June 6, 2014 [3 favorites]


University of Arizona has a PDF of guidelines which includes a bibliography of scientific study sources
posted by kbuxton at 8:16 AM on June 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: My friend who runs this blog here, has been living low-FODMAP for almost two years now. She's a former pastry chef and an excellent hostess and cook.

You may wish to contact her directly; she loves to answer questions about it, or just take a look at some of her cookbook reviews and FODMAP-related posts. She talks a lot about how's she's adapted to this new diet.
posted by PearlRose at 8:30 AM on June 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Yeah, the FODMAP app from Monash University is great. And yes, it's a very challenging diet. The good news is that the FODMAP umbrella covers a lot of different individual compounds, and you may not be sensitive to all of them. There's the fructose group (fructose, fructans, fructo-oligosaccharides), the lactose group (lactose, lactulose, sometimes galactose), the oligo-saccharides group (glucans, fructans, and galactans), and the polyols (sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, sometimes stevia). But it can take a long time for the low-level irritation to heal, so they recommend doing a complete elimination for three to six weeks and then adding stuff back in.

the hard stuff is wheat, milk, onions, and garlic. And you can't just go gluten-free, because a lot of GF stuff has added oligosaccharides to make up what it's lost in the wheat. Because low-level irritation can really mess up your gut, I would recommend going whole hog for a short time instead of messing around with low-fructose fruits and low-lactose cheeses etc. Just spend a week or two (or three) eating nothing but eggs, meat, fish, or poultry seasoned only with salt and herbs (some people find some spices irritating), and peeled potatoes and white rice. It sounds terrible because it is terrible, but that should get you back to a solid baseline. Then you can add foods back in and discover what you're sensitive to.

When you do the re-add, don't do it by half measures. Like if you're challenging milk, drink two big glasses of milk at a go. sneaking stuff in can lead to low-level reactions that you don't really spot for a while, and then you're just back where you started. Of all the folks I know with FODMAP issues (my daughter has fructose malabsorption disorder, so through our various support groups I know a lot) there are only two or three who have to stick to the ridiculous elimination diet, and those are people with conditions like serious Crohn's disease or children who were born very early and had necrotizing enterocolitis -- people with major, major gut insults who have serious medical problems. You may discover that you have terrible lactose and polyol problems but can eat onions and wheat at every meal. Or you may learn that you have to avoid oligosaccharides of all kinds, but simple fructose and lactose give you no problems whatsoever. My daughter, after four months on the strict elimination diet, can eat anything of animal origin including dairy, wheat bread and pasta but not pastries or cookies, oatmeal, onions and garlic in normal cooking quantities, unsweetened peanut butter, and about a half a cup of fruits and vegetables from a very limited list on any given day, but virtually no sugar. We're going to try re-adding legumes this summer I think.

Once you discover what you're sensitive to and what quantities you can tolerate, you can start figuring out how to work your life around it. If you turn out to be particularly sensitive to fructose things, memail me, because we are really starting to get our feet under us after my daughter's diagnosis in August.
posted by KathrynT at 10:03 AM on June 6, 2014 [18 favorites]


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