Anyone done low FODMAP? Not for weight loss!

[Waytoomuch82]

Those who do low FODMAP, could you share your thoughts and experiences?

I am fed up of end of day bloating and farting like a trooper!

I absolutely do not need to lose weight as very underweight, that’s important

Willing to make changes to avoid this bloating and farting though

Bump

Yes we are 3 weeks into the elimination phase - doing it for DH, and because I refuse to cook separate meals, we're all doing it. As a family we've cut out onion, garlic, wheat, lactose, legumes, and an assortment of other random things that are apparently high in FODMAPs like cherry tomatoes and mushrooms.

It's made an immediate positive difference to him which is keeping us going. In a week or so we're going to try adding one thing back and see if he can tolerate it. I suspect the culprits are going to end up being onions and legumes, maybe garlic as well. I think he's probably fine with lactose and gluten but we're cutting them out anyway just to make sure.

It's hard to eat out though - the only truly safe thing we've found so far is sushi - so it's just as well we're not going out at the moment!!

I think it’s a pretty phenomenal way of eating.

I’m fine with onion, thank goodness.

I think garlic may be a culprit, sadly.

It’s actually a really interesting method, I’m not “not” enjoying the process.

Thank you

I did the elimination phase a couple of years ago due to horrendous bloating and not being able to work out what caused it. I then reintroduced foods and eventually narrowed it down to lactose, onions and most fruits (which was a bit of a pain, though can eat grapes, berries and melon.)

There’s no reason you’d lose weight, particularly as the elimination phase is relatively short and you can still eat a good number of things.

Also, buying garlic-infused olive oil has made life a bit easier (make sure it's the kind without garlic bits in it, Waitrose own brand is a good one) and you can use chives or the green tops of salad onions for an oniony flavour if you need it. Successful meals we've made so far:

Anything that's meat & two veg will work as long as the veg is low-FODMAP

Fried rice

Chicken fajitas with corn tortillas - make sure you don't use a pre-made fajita mix as it likely has onion and garlic powder so I just add smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder and oregano to chicken and peppers and stir-fry, serve with cheese, sour cream, small amount of guacamole, lettuce and chopped tomatoes (not cherry)

Okinawa taco rice (basically a burrito bowl sitting on sushi rice)

Roast chicken with oregano and lemon with roast new potatoes, greek salad on the side (no red onion)

Jacket potatoes with all sorts of toppings, tuna mayo, sour cream/bacon/cheese/chives, etc

Marinated boneless chicken thighs in lime, brown sugar and tamari (no honey)

Oh interesting Comtesse - he has cut out fruit but I honestly didn't think it was likely to be the culprit. We'll see how he fares with the reintroduction - likely challenge him with onion first, because it's honestly the one I'm struggling most with. All I can seem to think to make always seems to involve starting with chopping an onion!!

A friend of mine did this and found it really good, but I have to say she lost a lot of weight initially, so you will have to be careful if that's going to be bad for you. Friend was pleased with her weight loss, though it wasn't the reason she did it, and she could afford to drop a stone.

My dd did this about four years ago, it was recommended by her GP. It turned out the culprit was bread, pasta, cakes so basically gluten. She has avoided gluten since but just in the last few weeks has started to reintroduce it and has been fine so far. Her gut has had a long rest and with a bit of luck her pain and bloating will not return.

I did and actually put on weight because I was able to see what was causing severe diarrhoea and bloating.
It’s hard but so worth it.

Fodmap was never really for weight loss though was it?
Id make sure you eat high fat calorie dense safe food/oils in your diet. Look at what you can eat and focus on consuming the highest in calories.

Just just the stems from my broccolini because I read high FODMAP stems

Nope

High FODMAP if broccoli whereas head is low

Low FODMAP If broccolini but the heads are high

It’s a mind field! But I’m enjoying the challenge and I believe in the science behind it - which is important for commitment

“Just cut the stems from my broccolini”

Yes.

And I'm still titrating back up for some items and re-challenging years later but it's no exaggeration to say that it changed my quality of life. (Let's just say I spent years with extended phases of 20+ motions with urgency in a 4hr period.)

I still can't tolerate onions in a soup/stew/casserole but I'm fine if they've been fried with absolutely no water/liquid added and served on the side. But, I can now eat tomatoes and enjoy them enormously. I can eat a slice of bread but no more than 1x every 2-3 days.

FODMAPs literally changed my life.

You can use asafoetida in place of garlic and onion. I often used chives instead of onion as I have loads in the garden.

Need to go back on low FODMAP!

I thought tomatos were very much safe FODMAP foods?

I have to say... dinner tonight, very very low FODMAP... and nothing. No trumping, no discomfort

It’s a revelation

Tomatoes were not 'safe' in the quantity in which I used to eat them. Pretty much my start to every meal was to fry onions and add tomatoes (nothing wrong with the frying onions until I added the liquid to them) and then take it from there.

It took me a while to work out that altho' the 'official 1 of your 5 a day' serving size for cherry tomatoes is 7
www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day-portion-sizes/
the FODMAP Monash recommendations etc. advise 4. And only 100g of tinned tomatoes or similar.

I used to eat such a lot of tomatoes (I used to eat masses during the Summer as a snack/drink). I still enjoy them but it's one medium-sized tomato (or the equivalent) a day.

@EmbarrassingAdmissions

I was under the impressions onions were high FODMAP in any scenario other than just the green bits of spring onion

But if you cooked onions in oil, you could remove the onions and discard but use the onion infused oil for cooking?

Yes - you can use onions cooked in oil and strain them out and use the oil (as you know, fructans are soluble in liquid but not oil).

www.monashfodmap.com/blog/cooking-with-onion-and-garlic-myths-and/

Over time (I started around 2011), I can now eat a small quantity of fried onions that are served separately on the side rather than within a dish. I don't eat "sweated onions" because the liquid seems to condense back onto the onions but I can eat a more 'open pan' onion in a very modest quantity. Roast onions also seem to semi-poach before they roast up so they don't suit me either (I can have a problem when people include them in a mixed roast vegetable tray because the liquid released from the courgettes etc. is a pest).