When a doctor diagnosed me with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) years ago, I began a quest to pinpoint which foods were upsetting my system. Was it gluten? Dairy? High-fat restaurant food?
One tool that’s helped me – and can offer relief for others with IBS, a cluster of symptoms that includes abdominal pain and constipation, diarrhea, or alternating bouts of both – is the low-FODMAP diet. It may be a strange acronym, but it can help solve some of those mysteries and help you feel better.
FODMAPs are categories of carbohydrate-containing foods, first identified by researchers at Monash University in Australia. FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. But it’s easier to think of them as groups of foods:
- Fructans: Includes wheat, rye, onions, and garlic
- Galactans: Includes beans and lentils
- Lactose: Dairy foods like milk and cheese
- Fructose: Includes honey, apples, watermelon, and high-fructose corn syrup
- Polyols: These include sugar alcohols like sorbitol and mannitol, and some fruits and vegetables like peaches and cauliflower
These are perfectly healthy, nourishing foods that a lot of people eat without issue. But for some, these foods aren’t digested and absorbed well in the small intestine. That attracts extra water, which can cause bloating and diarrhea. Those foods can also end up in the large intestine, where bacteria break them down and produce gas.
You may be sensitive to just one category or multiple. You may be able to tolerate a small portion of foods in one category or none at all. For instance, I’ll be doubled over if I have a soup containing both garlic and onions, but do fine making a recipe with just one of those ingredients. Eating a large apple on an empty stomach will leave me bloated, but having half an apple along with my lunch is OK.
It can be tricky to figure out which categories you’re sensitive to. Enter the low-FODMAP diet, a well-researched plan that’s been found in studies to bring relief to as many as 70% of patients.
How it works: You eliminate all of the high-FODMAP foods for a few weeks, replacing them with lower-FODMAP foods, like green beans instead of asparagus, oatmeal instead of cereal, soy milk instead of dairy milk, and maple syrup instead of honey.
Then you slowly add one category back at a time, making note of changes to bowel habits and symptoms like gas, bloating, and pain as you figure out what your system can and can’t tolerate well.
This can be a long, involved process, so it’s best to ask your doctor about working with a registered dietitian or other specialist to be sure you’re doing things right and getting enough food and nutrients. It’s important to note that this plan is not designed for weight loss.