People with allium intolerance please speak to me!

[Ohwtfnow]

I’m really hoping that some of you are out there as I am not having fun and need tips.

My bowels currently rule my life. I’ve always had IBS but it’s worsened over the past few years to the point that every day is miserable. I used to be very adventurous with food and I particularly loved strong flavours, spicy foods and so on. A few years ago I developed an intolerance to nightshades and cut most of those out (I seem to be ok with potato). Over the last 2 years it appears that alliums are causing a problem. Does the following sound familiar?

I can eat something containing onions and within 3-4 hours I have extreme bloating, nausea and tummy cramps. I will then have diarrhoea and the food which contained onions will come out in that - I can actually see the pieces of it if they are big enough and I can smell the food exactly as it smelled when I ate it. It doesn’t seem to be digesting. Is that what happens to other people with this intolerance? I’ve been trying digestive enzymes recently and they help a bit and at least delay the exodus until the next day, but I still get the foul smelling wind and diarrhoea eventually. Yesterday, I ate a pastrami sandwich from a supermarket which had mustard mayo and a bit of chopped up gherkin in it - thought I was safe. It turns out that there was a tiny amount of onion in with the gherkin because here I am 24 hours later with wind and diarrhoea that smells exactly like that bloody sandwich did. It’s absolutely disgusting.

Do I have to cut out all alliums? Is there no other way? I have already had to stop eating leeks and chives as they are the worst offenders but onions and garlic weren’t quite so bad until the last 6 months. Garlic seems to be the lesser of the evils. If I cut them all out what on earth do I add to food to make it taste of anything? I’m sick of awful, bland food. And if I accidentally ingest a tiny bit of onion after cutting it out completely will I make myself really ill?

I have to avoid garlic, onions, leeks, shallots etc. so I sympathise (also sweetcorn triggers my IBS as well)

You could try asafoetida from the herbs and spices bit of your local supermarket. It's a bright yellow powder and gives a bit of taste

I have to avoid onions, garlic, spring onions, leeks and cabbage.

I found out doing Monash University's low FODMAP exclusion & re-introduction diet. It was really worth it, even the very strict phase.

Also, I have to be careful not to each too much food in any one meal, and to cut down on gluten and dairy intake, and/or to eat it slowly and chew well!

As for flavourings: I'm ok with black pepper, fresh herbs like mint, coriander, basil and flat parsley, fresh ginger or 'easy' ginger in a jar with syrup, jars of sliced jalapenos in pickle juice, spices like ground ginger, cumin and coriander; and spice mixes like garam masala are fine. Use the syrups and pickle juices in cooking for extra flavour - they go very well in dished based on rice, potatoes and pasta.

Finally, very occasionally I can tolerate a tiny bit of onion powder and garlic powder in a pot meal.

Onions are the worst for me, bloating, wind, diarrhoea etc, however if they’ve been cooked to the point that they've been liquidised - e.g in a sauce, I’m able to tolerate it a lot better.

DH has really severe IBS and absolutely cannot eat onions and many spices. Green herbs seem to be mostly ok. He recently bought a fodmap/monash approved onion flavoured powder to put on food once it's cooked to add flavour. There is an online fodmap food specialist shop that has some seasonings too.

Another revelation has been Chat GPT.

He instructed it to design a week's dinner menu using only the following ingredients......

It came up with some really good ideas, I was really impressed.

It's worth taking the time to slowly add in new foods one at a time. Painful but worth it. You have my sympathies, it requires so much planning.

Oh one more thing that has worked a treat is a prescription medication. I think it's for depression but at a very low does helps reduce anxiety induced IBS attacks. He takes half the minimum dose before bed. Not sure if that helps but also worth looking into

If you can tolerate celery that works as an onion replacement. It doesn't add as much flavour but it's better than nothing.
Solidarity. It's shit being intolerant to things that seem to be in all food, everywhere.