Low FODMAP support thread 2023

[Sammy900]

Hey folks

Around this time last year after going to the DR's and having blood tests, etc I was diagnosed as having IBS and the DR's advised me to try the low FODMAP diet to try and figure out what my intolerances are. I had given it a proper shot and got to about 8 weeks in, completed the elimination phase which was really tough and was slowly re-introducing foods in that were deemed 'safe'. I could see massive improvements, loads more energy, no puffy swollen face, no rashes, quality sleep, less loose stools, etc

Then I went on holiday and it all went tits up. I just had every food and drink going and then as hard as I tried I couldn't quite ever get back on track.

Every week I say, right back to day 1 Monday and by the end of the week I'm out. This has literally been on-going for nearly a year.

It is hard because it's a very restrictive diet to follow initially, but I've had a really bad few weeks again feeling bloated and ill, no energy at all, I feel like my whole body is retaining fluid as part of an intolerance reaction and it's kicked me into getting seriously back into the mindset of strictly following Low FodMap again.

I'm toying with the idea of getting advice from a dietician, has anyone else tried this?

I've got the Monash University App which I found really helpful.

Anyway I obviously need some support and find if I go a bit nerdy and slightly obsessive initially it helps switch my mindset on, and then ease off on the obsessive searching for information once i'm in the swing of things.

So thought I'd start this space for anyone following the same diet and to share tips and support, low fodmap friendly food suggestions (U.K based if brands) and anything else really.

Looking forward to hearing your journeys, success stories and offering mutual support

Hi OP sorry I’ve only just seen your thread now but I’m also in a similar situation re:bloating, anxiety, abdominal discomfort etc.

I wanted to try the diet a few months ago, downloaded all the apps but found it so daunting and confusing that I think I lasted a day!

I would love to get some famous MN support in this.

Hi Elopelo

Thanks for joining me! Have you started on the diet yet? It really is hard at the beginning but you will hopefully see results even 2 weeks in.

Once you've got you head around what you can eat, just think initially that its no processed food...I also went dairy free along with gluten free so was basically having Oat milk, homemade chicken broths, using coconut milk to cook with, spring onions (the green bits), chives, corriander, lemons to flavour things. Roast beef, salad and rice cakes for snacks

There's quite a few veggies and fruit that are good for you but could be an IBS trigger, like onions, garlic cabbage, apples, etc so it's not simple as just healthy eating which can be confusing at first

I've stuck to it for 2 weeks and am feeling much better than I was when I wrote this opening post

I'd like to know U.K brands that aren't advertised as lowfodmap much actually are...

Hi @Sammy900 thanks so much for your update and glad to hear you are feeling a lot better! Credit to you for doing fodmap, gluten and dairy free at the same time. That’s amazing!

No I haven’t started it yet, I keep delaying it because I just find it so daunting and I don’t think have much willpower to go it alone. However this week my stomach has been feeling really rough so I think I must go for it. I’m a social eater so I think that’s going to be the hardest part for me, seeing everyone else eating ‘normally’ etc.

When are you planning to start the reintroduction phase? After the first couple of days do you get used to it and it’s not as hard to stick to anymore?

Thanks again.

Just to offer support - my DH did it under a dietician about six years ago. It has been life changing for us all - he is so much better, come off some meds and although still can’t eat some things he knows what these are and has adapted to it. The initial diet was awful (and he was grumpy throughout!) but worth it.

I was actually in the process of working out which foods acted as triggers when I came across the concept of a low FODMAP diet which confirmed my own findings but still check on foods I am uncertain about. Bay’s Kitchen produce a range of low FODMAP sauces which liven up a very boring diet. Expensive but so worth it. https://www.bayskitchen.com/

I keep swaying between thinking I need to start fodmap right now to thinking maybe it’s not for me. I need someone to give me a big push!

I find my symptoms are always worse when I’m anxious and over the last couple of years have developed health anxiety which I’m currently getting CBT for. So I don’t know if my trigger is stress and anxiety as I can go months eating the same foods and feeling fine and totally not bloated. If it is would fodmap still help me?

Also can you do it alone or do you need a dietitian with you for support? I haven’t been officially diagnosed with IBS either my GP said I may want to try it to see if if it helps. I know it’s worth doing to know either way but I’m just feeling really daunted by it all and don’t know if I can last on it.

Could anyone recommend a fodmap friendly bread that’s easily available in supermarkets? I think that would help a lot in sticking with the diet.

My husband follows a low Fodmap for IBS and GF diet for coeliac disease - with various tweaks! We all kind of follow it now as it's easier to cook for everyone this way than make individual meals. He tends to avoid all processed foods. One thing that has helped is buying a rice cooker as we eat a lot of rice! It also makes congee (chinese rice porridge) which he finds really soothing on his stomach and he can make it sweet or savoury with different toppings.

Onion and onion powder is in everything and is the bane of our lives!
Our local Booths sold a great brand called Fody who made lots of different low Fodmap sauces with no onion! But I haven't seen them on the shelves for a while. It looks like you can still buy on-line.

Eating out can be a bit tricky .... but if you are ever up in the North West there is a restaurant in Lancaster that can cater for Fodmap diets The Quarter House

Stress and anxiety is a massive trigger for my DH with his IBS. Regular exercise and taking time off work at regular intervals really seem to help. Also, anti-depressants helped for a while when he was first diagnosed and totally overwhelmed with all the dietary changes. They did help to calm the system down a bit.

It's taken him a couple of years to work out what he can reintroduce and in what quantities. I don't think it's an exact science as there are so many variables (like stress etc.) but he is much improved. He has accepted he will never be cured so to speak. But he knows how to manage the bumps in the road better now.

Great idea to start a support thread as it's a very hard diet to follow and people don't generally understand it. Lots of our family think we are bonkers and on some fad diet.... If only!

Aaah thanks for the advice :D

Elopelo...just go for it and see even if you only last a few weeks you might notice a big difference! I would recommend a dietician as you are understandibly feeling overwhelmed and they are the pro's - they can also help with making sure things are balanced and you aren't just eating rice cakes...as G.P's and NHS are actually advising and recommending that people go on this diet there should be loads of dieticians around who understand it

Also I was going to say the Schar - gluten free breads I have found are a good substitute and you can toast them etc and use flora or sunflower spread instead of butter

When I first started last year I read this book and I found it helped change my mindset in the first two weeks when I was feeling bored, obsessing about foods

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225417751100?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338757644&toolid=20006&customid=4f5eb414c2adcb77056702049a0a252f

Hi OP I am also 3 weeks in and sometimes do feel so bored and annoyed. Some things that work for me...
Overnight porridge in slow cooker with chia seeds and defrosted blueberries
Getting a breadmaker and making my own oat bread (can post the recipe if anyone wants...many recipes did NOT work)
Cooking with asofoetida powder which gives onion and garlic flavour
Chicken tacos
Baked potatoes
Making my own quinoa and banana energy bars for exercise
Drinking iced mint tea

Would love to hear others' successes / ideas!!!

@Elopelo I gave up with trying to buy affordable low fodmap bread!! Hence baking my own in a machine! I use the lakeland one...the machine must have a gluten free setting.

I find a small amount of sourdough is OK. In moderation it seems better than normal bread.

As long as I'm not in the midst of a 'flare', I can tolerate a small piece of toasted rye sourdough. It has to be real sourdough though, which isn't cheap, but it lasts a long time in the fridge or you can freeze it.

The toasting process knocks out more of the problematic structure of the gluten.

I've been lowFODMAP eating for nearly two years now and it has become a way of life. All I've really been able to reintroduce are very small amounts of gluten (see above) and very small amounts of lactose, and I have a little kefir daily for my gut biome.

I did this a couple of years ago and it has transformed my life. It took from September to mid Feb so I had a really boring Christmas that year but was so sick to death of being too ill to leave the house after meals. Goof luck everyone that's doing it!

Re bread I read at the time that spelt sourdough was the only low fodmap bread (that wasn't one of the gluten free types). They only sell it in waitrose AFAIK so I go and get several loaves at a time and keep it in the freezer, and toast it. It's pretty dense/dry but I've got surprisingly used to it and don't miss normal bread at all. (Unfortunately fructans in normal bread is one of my triggers so still avoid all these years later).

The spelt sourdough though was the reason I was able to keep going - I tried low fodmap once before and got derailed early on because I just can't sustain not having something bread or toast for lunch!

And I struggle so much with gluten free bread.

@MrsToadster I could have written your post!

DH suffered terribly until fodmap. It's life changing.

The biggest issue is that everyone has different tolerance levels. For example DH can eat a ton of bread and garlic but onion, even a tiny bit of onion or onion powder will upset his stomach for a few days. Anxiety is the other trigger which has gradually got worse and he is on the waiting list for CBT.

Symprove is a big help and worth trying. He says his symptoms aren't so bad when he takes it every day should be have a flare up.

Bays kitchens Thai green curry sauce was lovely until they recently doubled the chilli and made other changes so it's no longer tolerable.

What would be a big help is sharing ready made, spice mixes or anything without bloody onion in it.

For example Lloyd Grossman pasta sauce is the only one without onions and great for a quick shortcut. Fodmap does mean cooking from scratch a lot if not all the time. So time saving tips would be so helpful!

There's an Asda passata carton which comprises tomatoes, chilli and peppers which is mildly spicey and has no onion and garlic in it at all.

I'm trying it out on some gluten free pasta today. I've had a sample amount (a couple of spoonfuls) as a tester. Seems ok so far.

If I survive it I'll have a bowl of it later with some black olives.

Low-FODMAP absolutely changed my life! I can tolerate sorbitol pretty well and a little over the threshold of GOS but everything else is off limits. Onion and garlic is the real kicker for me. I'm also completely GF, DF and egg free.

Love the Bays Kitchen products and Fody bars.

Some brilliant tips here guys thankyou! Deffo gonna try some toasted sourdough...such a good idea for a breadmaker - can you recommend a make/model? and yes please share any homemade tried and tested recipies :D

Definitely going to try Asda Passata and the lloyd grossman one

I've been making my own spice blend for curries and add it to coconut milk and tomatoes....ginger, paprika, madras, tumeric, celery salt, cardomon pods, corriander

Thanks for the Asda sauce tip!

@Sammy900 which Madras powder do you use?

We will try celery salt too.

Asoefitida is great but you only need a pinch and it has to be cooked in the oil before you add anything else. Wish someone had told us that, it's a very strong flavour!

I also recommend peppermint tea everyday. DH has completely quit tea and coffee and has a cup morning and evening after dinner, he says it definitely helps.

There is a stock cube that has garlic but no onion that we use sometimes. Purple box, Kallo I think.

Ocado has the Bays kitchen sauces which is really handy. Also lots of good spelt sourdough breads which like others have said are much better tolerated. Life without toast is no life at all 😆

I use the Massel 7 stock cubes - buy in bulk from Amazon. They're certified LF