FODMAP recipes?

[SarahH12]

I've been having a lot of issues with food - indigestion and other issues further down. I've been recommended the FODMAP diet but am struggling with what I can actually eat during the elimination phase.

Has anyone done this and what did you eat?

Breakfasts:
a small amount of porridge made with unsweetened almond milk
2 rice cakes each spread with a tablespoon of peanut butter
Eggs

Dinner:
Baked potatoes with prawn or tuna mayonnaise. You could add a spoon of sweetcorn to the tuna. You can also have a little cheese.
New potatoes with fish (seasoned with capers, lemon and parsley)
Egg fried rice (use sesame oil) with prawns, chilli, broccoli and soy sauce.
Kedgeree, but you'll have to omit the onion. www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/s/smoked_mackerel_kedgeree.html
Spanish omelettes/frittatas made without onion. Flavour with herbs and add extras such as ham, red peppers and courgette.
Pork chips, mustard, roast potatoes (vegetable oil), carrots and cabbage

Tesco do a buckwheat flour pasta www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/297484732 and a brown rice flour pasta www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/297484710
You can make your own pasta sauce (without onion) with no more than a 400g tin of tomatoes between 4 people. I like to add a roasted red pepper, courgette, lots of herbs and chunks of roast chicken.

There’s a good website that has lots of FODMAP friendly recipes here www.shecanteatwhat.com

Who recommended that you should try this approach though as it should only really be done under the supervision of a specialist dietitian...

Thank you both!
@Ricekrispie22 sadly I dislike eggs so I think I'm really limited on what I can eat. Are tomatoes restricted then? We tend to make our own pasta sauce using passata. I didn't realise tomatoes should be restricted too though.

@Blondie1984 I wish I could do it under the care of a dietician. Sadly the NHS are yet to refer me and I can't afford to go private.

LowFODMAP worked very well fir me, but the meat in my diet increased dramatically.

I ate lots of steak and salads. And GF pasta. I'm more of a lentils person but lentils were out. There are some good recipe books - try your library.

Now I make and drink kefir regularly and can eat what I want again.

You can low FODMAP perfectly well and safely without involving a dietician.

Ahh thanks @TheClitterati (nice username btw)

I was thinking it'd be a lot of salads involved. I love lentils but yes they are out. What did you have for breakfasts?

Is there any particular way of reintroducing foods after the elimination phase?

I'm not big on breakfast really. I had smoothies, GF bagels etc. GF stuff really is shit food (read ingredients) but kept me sane for a while.

Thing quickly settled down when I went lowFOD. I ate lots of salad but otherwise my diet deteriorated IMO. Very dull.

I started experimenting with introducing foods and found my triggers: lentils, bread and stone fruits were out. But I could tolerate dairy and small amounts of garlic - onions ok if I boiled them before using them.

It's a massive relief to feel your IBS settle down so quickly when you start the diet. Then trial and error to find what you can tolerate. Italian or proper French bread were ok. Other bread = agony.

Stone fruits were my hell.

What "cured" me was getting some kefir grains and making kefir and taking it daily. Miraculously I could then eat anything - having stone fruits this summer for first time in years. Kefir has transformed my life.

That's so good kefir helped you so much!

I'm so fed up of feeling ill I'd happily eat rubbish food (tastewise) during the elimination phase if it meant I was less ill!

Is it a case of introducing foods one or two at a time to figure out your triggers?

I've been on a FODMAP diet for almost a year now. It's a struggle to eat out but I have a pretty varied diet at home now and my guts are definitely happier for it although I still have unexplained flair ups from time to time.

The first thing I'd do if I were you is to download the Monash FODMAP app. It costs about 10 pounds (I'm in Canada so I paid dollars) and is totally worth it as Monash University who make it test new products all the time so it has the largest database of tested food products. Great to take on a shopping trip when you forget what you can and can't eat.

Recipe wise there are lots of websites with ideas. My favourite is A Little Bit Yummy which also has a good reintroduction schedule.

I eat oats mostly for breakfast, either as porridge or overnight oats. I add seeds, nuts, dark chocolate or fruit to mine with lactose free probiotic yogurt. I have also found a sourdough bread that works for me (sourdough has much lower levels of fructans than ordinary bread) so I can have eggs on toast if I'm in the mood.

I don't eat very much gluten free products as a) lots of them have FODMAP including ingredients in them b) they are expensive and c) lots of them are really not very nice. I do miss pasta but eat lots of rice now (I mix it up by using japanese and thai varieties and I also have black, red and brown rice and millet and quinoa sometimes too) and I eat lots of Asian style food as it tends to be less wheat and milk based. Lots of garlic, but luckily you can use garlic infused oil instead. I can also eat up to a tablespoon of onion which is really helpful although I've found that I can substitute things like parsnip or daikon, and you can also grow spring onions and just use the tops for a strong onion taste. One thing to watch is not to remove all sources of fibre from your diet, and not to wait too long before trying to reintroduce.

re reintroduction essentially you switch to no FODMAP containing food for round about eight weeks. Then you very carefully reintroduce each FODMAP (ie fructose, lactose, olygosaccarides, GOS, polyols etc) starting with a small portion and gradually increasing it until you react. It took me another couple of months to do that. Then you can work out your new more permanent diet. Apparently you should retest from time to time as tolerances can change.

Yes that's it Sarah.

You will quickly feel massive relief from your symptoms and that is a great motivation re low FODMAP diet. Enjoy some time with that. After years of misery it is bliss to feel relief and it will spur you on.

Then Take things slowly from there re sampling possible triggers.

I too found some locally made proper sourdough I could tolerate. Cheese was ok. I ate broccoli ok.

You start to realise how many mueslis (for example) contain Apple or are sweetened with fructose - both big no no's. You need to read ingredients carefully.

My kefir is growing quickly. If you are in uk I can post you some. PM me your details

Kefir grains I Jean - so you can make your own.

Mean not Jean.

Sleep calls

Oh gosh I wouldn't have thought of that re the Muesli.

Thank you @Ihuntmonsters and @TheClitterati. I really appreciate you giving me your time to talk through this.

I thought certain cheeses were allowed. I keep finding mixed info about what's allowed and what's not online. For example I'm sure the sheet my GP gave me a while ago said no broccoli but one sheet online I saw said up to one cup of broccoli is allowed.

Basically to me the elimination sounds like a diet of mostlt plain meat, salad, some vegetables, some fruits, potatoes, rice and oats.

Sleep calls - ahh, yes. Tell me about it. Sadly I'm suffering with insomnia this morning.

Start with your next meal. I felt 1000 times better within days. You could be a "new woman" by Wednesday.

@TheClitterati problem is I'm going to the States soon and worried I won't be able to keep it up over there. Do you think I am better off starting when I get back?

absolutely do it now.

Muddle through in USA. You'll feel better for it.

I replaced about 90-95% of my foods. So the adding back some high FODMAP food after a while was tolerable. You may find as I did that it become about balance. After initial hard core period, I found I can take 15-20% high FODMAP foods ok. Over that I felt unwell. Though some foods I could not tolerate at all - stone fruits, certain breads. You will work it out.

@TheClitterati - can I ask where you first bought your grains from? There are so many different sources out there! Id rather go by personal recommendation.

And is kefir similar to Actimel, Benecol etc? My DH has Crohns and swears by either of these 2 drinks but I've read that they don't have enough variety of bacteria to be of any benefit. He's obsessed with brands though!

I got mine from a neighbour- we connected over Next Door Ap. The "grains" are living and grow. I've divided and shared mine many times now.

Actimal is a bacteria yogurt drink. Kefir is an ancient source of bacteria and yeasts - it is many many many times more powerful than Actimal. I usual have it on muesli or make a smoothie. Super easy to make at home - just add milk.

www.yemoos.com/pages/milk-kefir-overview

I've ordered 3 bottles of kefir from the live kefir company just to see if we like it first. They do a starter pack of 3 x 500ml bottles - one goats milk, one cow's and one coconut milk.

Good luck. I think bottled kefir will be pasteurised so not as potent as home grown.

Pm me if you are in uk and would like me to post you some grains.

That's a lovely offer @TheClitterati and I might take you up on it. I'll see if I like the taste first. I'm a bit nervous at the fizziness of it. Fizzy milk! Same with kombucha - fizzy tea!