Low Fodmap Diet?

[sabrinah]

Have any of you been told to do the Low FODMAP diet by your doctor? How did you survive it? Was it expensive? The only things I have in the house that fit in the diet are peanut butter, bananas, and broccoli. Of course, I currently have a buttload of cherries, peaches, nectarines, and homemade blackberry jelly that I'm not allowed to eat for the next 6 weeks. I'm annoyed that I have to go buy a ton of gluten-free stuff.

 

[Columbine]

I've had friends do the low FODMAP diet, but have never tried it myself (largely because I don't react too well to a number of 'allowed' foods on this plan). I am coeliac, though, as well as having countless other dietary restrictions, so can hopefully help you a bit.

First off, try choosing permissible foods that are naturally gluten free (rice, oats, buckwheat, quinoa, potatoes etc), rather than highly processed (and highly priced) gluten free versions of common foods - bread and bakery products are the first that come to mind here. The exception I'd most readily make is for gluten free pasta, especially ones made from a single grain (e.g. rice pasta, buckwheat pasta etc).

Major dietary changes like this are always hard, but become easier once you're past the initial learning curve and know which foods are ok. It will definitely be worth it in the long run, especially if it helps you figure out which foods are triggering your symptoms.

As for the surplus of temporarily banned fruits, I'd chop and freeze them, ready for cooking or blending into a smoothie at a later date

This link clearly sets out which foods you can eat. It might help you get your head around the rules and reasons for them
FODMAP Food List | IBS Diets

 

[sabrinah]

The doctor gave me a little packet with the Stanford version and I'm dreading my life for the next 6 weeks. Everything I already have has wheat in it! The list you linked to allows a little chocolate, but the list from the doctor cuts out all chocolate Obviously, I like the list you linked far better.

Is rice pasta good? I've never tried it and I can't go 6 weeks without some kind of pasta! I saw spinach pasta once but I'm not sure if there was wheat in that... It's bad enough I can't have beans and I really love beans. I'm allowed to have mozzarella though, which means I can at least get a gluten-free frozen pizza when I'm desperate. It's only day one and I'm hungry, grumpy, and I have a headache I'm being good though and not going grocery shopping until I have a plan so I don't end up buying a ton of things I can't actually eat.

My symptoms are odd so I don't know if this will help. I'll temporarily be unable to eat certain things unless I want severe nausea and chills, but then a few months later I can eat them again. One of the worst right now is avocado. This is my second round with being unable to eat avocado, the first occurring 5+ years ago. In another month or two I'll be able to eat it just fine. For a period of a month or two nearly every year, I become unable to drink coffee or tea, but then everything is fine again. It's even happened with pitifully plain salad, no dressing or anything. I'm skeptical about this diet, but hopefully between this and the plethora of tests that were ordered something will be figured out.

 

[Columbine]

Rice pasta is pretty good imo - it just overlooks a little easier than regular pasta, so you need to be a little more careful with the cooking Buckwheat pasta is good too, though that's a little pricier (at least, it is round here).

There are so many FODMAP charts out there these days that it can get a little confusing. Stick to the one your doc gave you if you can. Try not to stress too much, hun. I'm sure it'll be easier than you think once you get going

Wow, your symptoms sound so frustrating and complicated I hope you can find something that helps soon, whether it's this diet or something else

 

[sabrinah]

Everyone else is eating Oreos and I can't have any I want to act like a toddler and throw a fit! On the plus side, I'll most definitely lose weight on this diet! I'm sure I'll hate it less when I'm not so bitter about all the food I can't eat. Although, I despise cooking and it seems like this diet is going to make me cook so maybe I won't hate it any less I hope it gets easier! 1 day down, 45 to go!

 

[Columbine]

It will get easier hun. Things like baked potatoes cooked in the microwave served with, say, salad and rotisserie chicken, tuna or cheese don't take much in the way of cooking. You can always buy pre cooked microwaveable rice to use as a meal base too. I'm not familiar with a lot of the US brands (I'm in the UK), but I know Amy's Kitchen do a lot of gluten free (and even dairy free) meals, so that might be worth investigating. Some vegan ice creams can be pretty good too As for breakfast, things like gluten free allowed cereal with non dairy milk and allowed fruit are virtually instant, and smoothies only take a few minutes to whip up in a blender.

I know chocolate is banned, but it looks like pure cocoa is allowed. If you add that to smoothies, or even just one of the sweeter tasting non dairy milks (rice milk is one of the sweeter ones), you can get that chocolate taste without breaking the diet. Cocoa mixed with pb (or other nut butter) is another way to get that chocolate hit.

I hope that's given you a few ideas

 

[sabrinah]

Losing chocolate would be far less painful if they allowed the sweet, yummy fruits. Amy's would probably be good for this diet if it wasn't so darn expensive. I really like the lasagna but it's like $6 per little single serving. Every gluten-free thing I looked at was soooooo pricey. I went to the grocery store today and gluten-free bread was $8! The pizza was $10! That's insane! Why is this stuff so expensive? Or was I just raised to be ridiculously cheap? I'm going to be eating absurd amounts of tofu for the next 6 weeks since my usual beans aren't allowed. I ate a whole block of tofu today!

Pure cocoa with peanut butter sounds really good. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[Columbine]

Yeah, gluten free stuff is insanely expensive Its because they have to be manufactured and stored an a 'clean' environment, totally free of gluten containing grains etc. This goes right down to where and how the grains are treated and stored at harvest. Tiny traces of gluten can be enough to make a coeliac person sick. It's not quite the same as in, say, a nut allery (coeliac causes primarily digestive issues rather than anaphylaxis), but just as crucial.

It sounds like you're a fellow veggie too Sorry for the meat based suggestions...I just assume others eat meat/fish etc unless I'm told otherwise I guess you'll be eating lots of tofu and nuts to get your protein until this is over.

 

[sabrinah]

I knew it was hard to truly avoid gluten, but this is ridiculous! How do you do it?

I always assume everyone eats meat too! The list is very restrictive on nuts (for example, I'm allowed less than 10 almonds) so I think it's just a lot of peanuts for me. I worry that I'm going to go through this whole diet and a bunch of tests (which are hard to schedule because the semester is starting soon and I can't miss class for appointments since I'm missing 2 days for my brother's wedding) and still not have an answer. If I make the mistake of talking to my parents about it I get an "it's all in your head, you need to toughen up and get over it" lecture.

 

[Columbine]

Avoiding gluten just becomes a habit after a while. You get VERY good at reading ingredients labels though I think I found out I was coeliac maybe 7 or 8 years ago now, and it does get easier. It helps that I don't eat out though (I have other digestive issues too, which are even more limiting ).

It sounds like peanuts and tofu will feature heavily in your diet for a while. You could play around with different seeds too, if you fancy a change.

I really hope you get some answers soon. You might find this link interesting When Food Sensitivities Take Over: The Mast Cell Connection | Natural Nutmeg Magazine. It fits with the pattern of a food suddenly going from being fine to causing a reaction. Just another path to investigate, especially if these tests give no answers.

 

[sabrinah]

I can't imagine how hard it would be to eat out. There's always the risk of getting one of those servers that think gluten-free is all just a ridiculous fad and give you the regular pasta or whatever instead of the gluten-free stuff.

I think I can have sunflower seeds so I may be eating a lot of them. Thank you for that link!

 

[sabrinah]

That mast cell thing sounds like a definite possibility. I read more on it after reading over that article and it sounds pretty spot on. I wonder if my gastro doctor considered it as a possibility. She ordered so many tests (except an allergy test!), none of which would be helpful for a mast cell issue. Hmmm...

 

[Columbine]

The gastro you're seeing may well not have thought of it. It's certainly not the first thing that comes to mind with chronic digestive issues, especially with gastro doctors. I'm guessing it'd be under something like immunology, or maybe rheumatology (which also covers many autoimmune conditions, so they know what to look for with mast cell disorders).

 

[sabrinah]

I'll bring it up when I see her again in 6 weeks after all the testing, provided that I can get all the testing done around my school schedule. I have a suspicion the testing isn't going to show much of anything.

 

[sabrinah]

Store bought gluten free pizza dough is terrible. I have extremely low standards for food, but this thing is horrid. It's like it doesn't cook! It's just all gummy and raw and full of disappointment. Is there a trick to it or something or is all store bought gluten free pizzw dough like this?

 

[Columbine]

Ugh - any kind of gluten free bread or dough is very hit and miss. There's no trick as such, just trial and error until you find a brand you like. I've used gluten free tortillas/flatbread as a pizza base before, but that's kind of a low carb option that doesn't have the same feel as a proper pizza does. @blueyedgirl5946 is coeliac, I believe, and she's in the US too. Hopefully she'll have some brand recommendations for you I found this gluten free recipe thread from a while back. There isn't a pizza base recipe, but it may give you some ideas.

Winchester - you're TCS's baker extraordinaire Do you have any good gluten free pizza base recipies?

 

[sabrinah]

I hate wasting food so I'm going to eat it anyway, but I can't help but hope my dog will steal it off the counter and swallow it first...He's hardly shown any interest in it even though it's easily within reach, which can't be a good sign! The dog will usually eat anything.

Thank you for the link to that thread! Hopefully, I can find something I can make work with this diet. I'm on day 10. It has gotten easier and it did eventually make me feel better until I ate this horrid pizza. I cooked it until it was burning and the middle of the very burned edges is still raw and doughy! I hope I can return the unopened one...there's no way I could eat two of these things.

 

[Winchester]

Winchester - you're TCS's baker extraordinaire Do you have any good gluten free pizza base recipies?

Columbine Bless you. You know, I used to have America's Test Kitchen's gluten-free cookbook and it had pizza in it. I gave the book away. However, I found a link to the recipe: The Best Gluten-Free Pizza | America's Test Kitchen Now, I don't know if anybody will be able to see it; ATK wants you to pay to access their online recipes; if you can't let me know and I'll print it out and post it. ATK also has a recipe for their own GF flour blend: America's Test Kitchen Gluten-Free Flour Blend | America's Test Kitchen Again, I'll gladly print it out and post it if you can't access it and would like the recipe. I made it, simply because I like to experiment with baking and it wasn't bad; I used it for cookies and some biscuits. Just to see.

Would this help? https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/gluten-free-pizza-crust-recipe It's gotten quite a few excellent reviews (and a bad review here and there, too). You don't have to use King Arthur's flour; you can use a brown rice flour blend to make the recipe and there's a recipe to make the blend on the same page. Again, they want you to use their ingredients, but I see no reason why you should. If anyone tries it, please let me know how it turns out. Read the reviews on the page; a lot of times, you can learn something from the reviews, too.

Oh, and I bought King Arthur's Measure for Measure GF flour and it really is excellent. Our DIL has been GF for a while now and our son wanted beef pot pie for our Christmas dinner. I used M for M GF flour for the pot pie squares (a bit more difficult to roll the dough out, I thought) and it really was good. We were pleased. I also made chocolate chip cookies with it and they turned out well. You can NOT use M for M GF flour in items that call for a lot of rising (breads and other yeast products); it simply won't rise as high as it should. That being said, it's a great flour to use in cookies and other food items that don't call for a lot of rising. Easily stored in the freezer, too. A little on the expensive side, but if that's all you can use, then it's worth it.

I hope this helps! You know me; I'll post a book about baking! Sorry for the post length.

 

[sabrinah]

Thank you so much! I can see the ATK recipe. It looks simple enough I shouldn't screw it up too badly! I swear my cat knows this is about pizza. She's rubbing her face against my tablet so aggressively it's hard to hold on to. Like me, she struggles to survive without pizza. She always tries to steal it.

I was looking at king Arthur flour earlier to make my favorite pancakes! It is far more expensive than the cheap Pillsbury option, but as long as it makes a pizza that cooks all the way through it's worth it! Because I'm miserably lazy I think I'm going to try the king Arthur recipe first simply due to it requiring one less type of flour. Yep, I'm that bad. I wish I enjoyed cooking. I don't mind baking too much. I've been doing my best to resist finding a cookie recipe that fits in this diet. I can go 6 weeks without sweets, right? I'm trying to convince myself I can.

 

[Columbine]

Cookies are easy. I just use regular recipies, but substitute a good gluten free all purpose flour for the regular sort. I've never had a fail with this approach (other than losing track of time and burning them.....or dropping them ....I really shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen sometimes )