ISO a FODMAP Navigation App

November 14, 2019 1:08 PM

I'm having some GI issues and my doctor suggested cutting out FODMAP foods, but it's not very intuitive to know what's ok and constantly scanning a printout to find the answer is tedious an error-prone. Please suggest iOS apps that can help me avoid FODMAP foods.

Additionally, it would be nice if there were some meal and symptom recording facilities in the app to help me discover which foods make my symptoms worse. Avoiding FODMAP is sort of a generic starting point, so any help in discovering what I personally am sensitive to would be a great help.

posted by Cogito to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

Best answer: The Monash University App is the gold standard.

Look up everything you eat on there, before you eat it, and you'll be set. Do note that many items have different quantities listed, so maybe 45 grams is green (good), 75 grams yellow (caution), and 90 grams red (no-go). So don't just see green and think it always means unlimited quantities can be eaten.

I think the app has some way to record foods eaten & symptoms, though honestly I've never used that part.

Generally the way that is handled for FODMAPs is, you stick strictly with "green" foods from 4-8 weeks. Hopefully in that time your symptoms have all cleared up. Yay!

At that point you slowly & carefully re-introduced each type of FODMAP in small to medium to large quantities and using a specific protocol. That definitely works best, though you may discover some by accident in the meanwhile.

Typical detailed outline of reintroduction phase. More. More.

Also the Monash app has a whole education section, and covers reintroduction.

Finally, the r/FODMAPS forum on Reddit seems to be about the most helpful place where you can ask some questions and get somewhat reasonable answers, usually.

By the way, I really, really hate elimination diets and didn't want to go on it at all. But once on it, I really found it not all that hard to follow. No restrictions at all on meat or fat, and you can eat about half of all grains, vegetables, and fruit. You just have look up everything without exception on the app and check it. But there are plenty of things that can be eaten.

The most difficult thing to deal with is garlic and onions are not allowed. Unfortunately many people are sensitive to these, so it's definitely not advised to just keep eating them.

Onions and garlic are easy enough to leave out of your own cooking, but it makes eating out, or eating pre-packaged type meals, almost impossible.
posted by flug at 1:55 PM on November 14, 2019 [7 favorites]

^ Flug nailed it. I came to also recommend Monash, the general approach to avoiding everything then gradually (or accidentally) re-introducing foods, and r/FODMAPS on Reddit, where there are also recipes.

FodmapHelper is a free iOS app that's mostly useful for being a searchable list. I use it at the grocery store when I'm wondering about particular things like persimmons (high) or green beans (low.) They have a premium in-app purchase for personal tracking, which I haven't tried.

It is difficult (and yes, not intuitive!) at first to remember the yes/no foods, but it does get easier with repetition.
posted by Mr Yak at 7:12 PM on November 14, 2019

For tracking symptoms and food connected to symptoms Cara is a great app.
posted by marylynn at 8:11 PM on November 19, 2019