Are you suffering from stomach cramps and gas, diarrhea or constipation, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or other gastrointestinal conditions?
If yes, then it is recommended that you should follow a low-FODMAP diet to manage your symptoms. This diet is primarily focused on eliminating unnecessary food from your diet and adding the food that your body needs.
FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. This diet plan was first introduced in 2005 in Australia and after that, it has been adopted internationally as a diet management strategy (for IBS particularly).
A normal diet creates a group of short-chain carbohydrates that are not digestible (in the small intestine) and get to the colon undigested which creates osmotic effects, leading to lots of water absorption and gas production due to bacterial fermentation in the intestines. This trapped gas and water in the intestine result in troubling gut symptoms.
That’s why it is recommended that you follow a low-FODMAP diet. When the symptoms start to relieve, you can start introducing the high-FODMAP foods into your diet one by one, according to the type and tolerance level of your body.
It is essential before introducing this diet plan into your routine to consult and diagnose your IBS with the doctor. Then, the doctor tells whether you should follow this diet plan as a treatment or not.
According to the guidelines, this diet plan should not be followed forever. This will help you to know what you should eat and what to avoid or eat within limits.
In this diet plan, the first thing you should know about is the food that comes under high or low fodmap. What should you consume or what you should not? According to the diet plan, you should avoid high-FODMAP that can aggravate your gut, which includes:
- Dairy-based foods: milk, yogurt, soy milk, soft cheese, and ice cream
- Wheat and barley-based products: Cereal, bread, biscuits, crackers, and snack products
- Beans and lentils
- Some vegetables: garlic, onion, artichokes, cauliflower, mushrooms, snow peas, green peas, asparagus, etc.
- Some fruits: apples, apple juice, dried fruits, mangoes, peaches, watermelon, cherries, blackberries, plums, etc.
- Sugar and sweeteners: honey, high fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, etc.
- Nuts and seeds: cashews and pistachios
Now, these low-FODMAP alternatives that you should start eating in your diet, including:
- Vegetables: eggplant, green beans, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, celery, Bok choy, lettuce, zucchini, pumpkin, kale, and spinach.
- Fruits: grape, kiwi, orange, banana, pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe, mandarin, honeydew melon, and guava.
- Dairy products and their alternatives: Almond milk, camembert cheese, mozzarella cheese, hard cheese, lactose-free milk, feta cheese, Colby, Greek yogurt
- Nuts and seeds: macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, linseeds, and sesame.
- Protein sources: eggs, firm tofu, plain cooked meats (without marination), seafood, chicken, beef, pork, etc.
- Bread and cereals: corn flakes, rice cakes plain, oats, sourdough bread, etc.
- Sugar and sweeteners: dark chocolate, maple syrup, rice malt syrup, and table sugar.
- Oils: coconut and olive oils
- Condiments: cumin, saffron, cinnamon, paprika, coriander, cardamom, soy sauce, fish sauce, etc.
And here are some foods that you can eat on a low-FODMAP diet but should consume within limits. These are the following:
- Avocados: consume ⅛ portion of a single avocado a day.
- Sweet potato: consume ½ cup portions of sweet potato.
- Broccoli: consume ¾ cup of broccoli in your meal.
- Cabbage: consume ¾ cup of serving in low-FODMAP.
- Canned pumpkin: consume ⅓ cup of serving in low-FODMAP.
- Almond: consume 10 almonds a day, not more than that.
There are 3 phases for proper implementation of a low-FODMAP diet plan:
- Elimination phase
- Reintroduction phase
- Personalization phase
- Elimination phase: In this first phase, you start eliminating the food that contains high-FODMAP and starts introducing low-FODMAP foods. You need to follow it for 2-6 weeks (about 1 and a half months) then move to the next phase. During this elimination process, your dietician or nutritionist identifies the FODMAPs food which can easily be removed and replaced from your diet, and introduces a low FODMAP food alternative, so that it does not affect the nutrient balance of your diet. This is important to improve gut health and reduce GI triggers.
- Reintroduction phase: Once the gut health improves, reintroduce the high-FODMAP again in your diet. This phase varies from person to person, but it usually lasts 6 to 8 weeks (about 2 months). In this phase of reintroduction, the dietician or your health provider tries to add the high-FODMAP in a structured way so that this food does not trigger Gastrointestinal problems.
- Personalization phase: As the name implies, personalize your diet plan according to your needs. You can add all the food with high-FODMAP to your diet again which does not trigger GI symptoms. And you can also eat food that triggers the symptoms only when you exceed the quantity in your diet. But you should avoid the food completely that triggers the GI symptoms. In that case, you can eat low-FODMAP food as an alternative.
Keep one thing in mind: FODMAP tolerance can change over time. So, you need to retry again high-FODMAP to check if they still triggered the symptoms or not.
A Low FODMAP diet plan is an effective treatment plan for people who have IBS. More than 70% of patients with IBS can reduce their symptoms. Only follow this diet plan, if your health provider recommends you follow it as a treatment for your IBS condition.
Want to know what the rules you need to follow every day while adopting this diet plan? Make your health better by following the best diet plans that are made only for you. Contact us (718-DORAL-55) now to get your diet plan!