To be upset about going back on the Fodmap diet

[AnnoyedALot]

I was diagnosed with a bowel disease a couple of years ago. I revisited the consultant recently to get advice on my medicine/symptoms and he has diagnosed me with IBS as well.

Worse still, he is sending me to a dietician to try the fodmap diet. I gratefully agreed as I need to get my bowel under control again.

But I have already tried this diet years ago and it was awful. Most of the stuff I should eat was out of our budget. So I ended up eating a tiny limited diet. I was so miserable.

Is there anything I can do to make it bearable or affordable this time around ?

I don't understand why you think this is a more expensive diet, you don't need special weird foods. The main things you have to cut out on low-Fodmap are garlic, onions, wheat, rye, milk (but not cheese and butter), beans and peas and some sweet fruit / veg. You can eat meat and fish, eggs, butter, cheese, potatoes, TONS of veg and fruit, corn, tofu, rice of all kinds (inc noodles), polenta, quinoa ...

Many 'ready made' foods are out because they contain onion and garlic powder and other cr@p but although I work long hours and don't cook elaborate food at all, I've never had a problem making meals. My blender and microwave are my friends and there are low-Fodmap herbs and spices which can flavour most things including hing (asafoetida) which is instead of onion and garlic.

The only 'different' things I buy are substitute breads and crackers which are usually made with rice or corn flours and the ones I buy aren't expensive, but you could make your own rice bread, and lactose-free milk (for calcium and vitamins, I wouldn't buy 'almond' milk, there are almost no almonds in it, take a look at the list of ingredients), which is about half as much again than own brand ordinary milk in my supermarket.

I've been on it for 2 years, don't even think about it now, and have benefited so much: no more pain or bloating and I've also lost weight.

I really hope that the dietician can help, they should know more about it than the consultant as it absolutely is not designed to be on for life, but I suppose you are meant to avoid the trigger foods. The five foods above really affect me, so I massively limit my garlic and onion intake.

I agree it's miserable to be eating differently but I was in so much pain I would have tried eating newspaper if I had been told it would help.

For your birthday, I found grilled meat, potatoes and veg a good restaurant meal?

I can't eat in the morning as anything make a my symptoms worse.

I will try celery in soup...I hate celery raw but maybe it will taste nicer in a soup. Willing to try it.

I like rice. It is my go to dish when I am hungry and ill. Plate of boiled rice.

I hate the taste and texture of lentils but I will try them again. Maybe if I keep trying them, I will start to like them.

A big problem is me. I hate the texture and taste of so many things, I make it so difficult. I.e. In fruit I only like apples which I can't eat under Fodmap.
Under veg I only like cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, onions, peas. None of which I can eat now.

Basically my current diet is all on the red side.

I am much happier cancelling, than going out to eat food which I won't enjoy. Watching my friends eat nice food and drink nice things while I have grilled meat and water is going to be too hard at the moment. Maybe once I get use to the idea or find something I can like, I will feel differently.

I am already hopeful that this diet might only be for a few weeks...that would make a big difference.

OP, sorry that you have been diagnosed with a bowel disease but fodmap isn't the end of days. It does require a bit more planning but you won't need to take out a loan or re-mortgage in order to afford to eat

If texture is a problem, have you tried stewed fruit? My DS (has AS) can only eat apples raw, but will eat plums, nectarine, blueberries, rhubarb etc if they're stewed- because of the texture (I don't put sugar in, except for rhubarb of course!)
I know what you mean though- I was vegetarian for 15 years, but the only veg I liked (or would eat!) was carrots and potatoes! It's not v good balance

I haven't tried stewed fruit. Will add to the list.

You have have garlic oil, according to my dietician. Best stuff ever.

For lunch, I made rice with GF soy sauce, stir-fried prawns in garlic oil, ginger, salt, pepper, chilli etc and put some peppers and carrot in it. Miso paste, peanut butter, tamarind... all safe. For dinner, make a kind of thai green curry (check all the pastes), pak choi, spinach, pumpkin seeds. Basically anything with taste and texture. Breakfast, scrambled or poached eggs on either GF bread or make a frittata with mini-potatoes and peppers and kale and things. Oat milk is lovely in tea and coffee (the latter especially in naice coffee shops for a treat).You can get GF pizza base and make your own sauce with passata and basil, topped with lovely things. You can also make your own kale pesto without garlic, which is just shoving some basil and pine nuts and stuff in a whizzer. If I went out, I tended to get steak and chips, or some variation of that kind.

Some (lighthearted) upsides to Fodmap: I can order chips everywhere I go because there's limited options, and nobody can judge me. DH can't put massive bits of onion into an otherwise lovely spag bol. I fucking hated chopping garlic anyway. My spice tolerance has significantly gone up. You can still drink gin.

Basically, I just got better at cooking... if I went back to elimination now it would be a lot harder, because I don't eat meat any more. But I still make loads of fodmap-friendly curries, stir-fries, salads etc.

Also I hate the texture of most fruit and the taste of most vegetables. So I sacked in the fruit and found out how many things I had to put into a plate of rice and veg until it tasted like something that wasn't vegetables

My husband us on this. I cook shepherds pie, Cottage pie , Bolognese, lot's of slow cooker roasts, tuna pasta bake, all with the Knott stock pots minus onions, risotto with fish, prawns, chicken or Richmond's Gluten free sausage, lot's of pitatoesmash , baked, new pits, homemade chips, homemade quiche, omelettes, hotspots. PM my in box for more meal ideas I just leave out onions and substitute with veg he can have plus cheap frozen veg and me and kids eat it. White sauces made with flute free flour and lactose free milk. Don't give up it doesn't have to be expensive.

I can't eat oil or fried food. So chips are out.

YY. To trying make rice & veg actual have a nice flavour !

YANBU but it really really is worth it and it'll be a great deal easier with the support of a dietician. After 20+ years getting increasingly ill with ulcerative colitis fodmap has pretty much cured me and utterly changed my life. I've been on it for 2 years under a hospital dietician.

There's lots of misinformation in posts above eg lentils and tofu (soya) are out, as is more than half stick of celery and many cheeses - certainly in the exclusion phase of 3 months. And you are right, fodmap IS for life. But you will get excellent booklets and support, plus the continually updated fodmap app is about £6.

Meals out are tricky but find somewhere that does a good Sunday dinner as most of that is okay. And home made rice pudding is my treat . Garlic infused oil is great too.

Basically fodmap is not easy to stick to and does cost a little more (eg no cheap bread/pulses) but feeling healthy is a great motivater! Good luck.

I really wish I could cook but cooking rice and previously pasta is my limit. My DH does most of the cooking but everything is garlic onions and meat. No longer suitable for me. So he will cook for kids and him and I will do my own soup or veg & rice.

You can make chicken laska, I think? Cheer up your soup a bit? I can't remember which of the stock pots are fodmap but it's definitely one of them. Chillis are fine, star anise, cinnamon. Rice noodles. Peppers. Carrots. Soy sauce. Monash app used to have tofu in yellow but I think it's changed.

You seem to be almost exclusively focusing on the bits of replies you can’t do, rather than the ones you might be able to.

I think you’re going to have to make a choice to pursue health by being willing to think differently... or not.

To be fair, I can't cook rice.... I mess it up nine times out of ten. It's really hard!

Oooh YY to a proper Sunday roast. And I think the slimming world oil-free chip recipe is basically just "chop potatoes, put in oven, lovely chips." You could make that and put a bit of chicken or something in the oven with it? Stuffed with pesto so its not dry. With loads of salt and pepper, and then a salad (because raw veg is less vile, in my opinion!)

I didn't find Aldi gluten free pasta particularly nice - went too soggy/stodgy. However tesco/sainsburys/etc are fine but you don't need to use quite as much for a portion.
Ask if you can have your bread etc on prescription - especially if you have to follow the diet permanently.

NHS England stopped prescriptions for gluten-free food earlier this year.

Sorry about the spelling mistakes earlier - daft autocue. Risotto is very easy to make with just Knorr stock pot veg and beef ones are fodmap friendly. It can be cooked on hob, in slow cooker or oven. You can add frozen mixed veg or spinach or tin tomatoes. Also use Co-op pasta with either Passat or scene fraiche both once cooked will keep in fridge for a couple of days. Breakfast porridge with fruit that is fodmap friendly or egg muffins in oven which take 10 mins in oven. Again batch cook and keep in fridge add bacon , tomatoes. Cous cous is easy to make just add water. Lot's of helpful blogs receipes on internet and Tesco sell fodmap friendly gravy as gluten free just check ingredients. You can do it - I couldn't cook much either when my husband was first diagnosed but his symptoms are so much better now.

My brother is allergic to onions and uses leeks instead. According to Dr Google, the green parts of leeks are low Fodmap?

Cry in front of the dietitian. The ones I know are really good.

I couldn't cook rice and then I learned how. Everyone has a rice recipe, here's mine.

Put a measure of rice and 2 measures of water in a pan that has a tight fitting lid. Cover. Bring to a good boil, then turn right down to the lowest possible heat. Leave covered, don't keep looking. After ten minutes by the clock, have a quick look if you want to - you shouldn't be able to see any water. If you like, check the texture of the rice, it shouldn't have any hardness left by this point. Turn the heat off and leave undisturbed for at least ten minutes (you can leave it a lot longer). It's ready to eat, doesn't need draining.

I believe you can have some coconut milk on low Fodmap, but talk to the dietitian. It makes soups/curries much, much nicer.

Sounds like an opportunity to learn to cook and try some new foods.

Oh and home bargains now does gluten free pasta.

I will eat plain rice with boiled veg. I will be fine. I am just grieving for all the food I enjoy at the moment.

I have a budget of £10 per head per week. This will get me white rice, jelly, potatoes, leeks, carrots, eggs and frozen mixed vegetable pack.

That will tide me over until next week and hopefully I can find something which is in the subsection of allowable foods and something I can tolerate to eat. Being fussy is not a good thing with this diet.

Oh I don't cook any meat, I hate handling raw meat. So I will eat eggs for protein.

Any idea of how to put some flavour in potato and green leaves leek soup ? I normally put a chicken stock pots in but of course they are on the red side. I will not eat beef or vegetable stock pots they taste bad to me. Or is it salt and pepper only.

I have spent 40 years trying to cook. I am clumsy and despite following recipes to a T I fail at cooking everything.

I will start cooking my own food. I have yo accept it will be bland and tasteless as I can not do better. Good at crocheting mind.