# Just started low FODMAP diet, help!



## cade1988

I have just started the low FODMAP diet (5 days ago) and have been struggling. My dietician has been no help, i paid $90 for a consultation and all she gave me was a list of some food i can and cant eat, not much of an explanation on anything, So i have bought the book "food intolerance management plan" which has been very helpful but does not answer all my questions. Like apparently i can eat nutella but it has like skim milk powder in it, so i dont understand, as i look at the food labels on everything to make sure i can eat it, but i may be looking at them and thinking i cannot it it but in reality i can, if u get what i mean? anyone else confused? also im confused about lollies and why i cannot eat these anyone know? my dietician said i could eat hard boiled lollies, but i look at hte ingredients on a pack of hard boiled lollies and normal gummy ones n they were like the same so i am very confused. If anyone could shed some like on this it would be greatly appreciated,thankyou.


----------



## Kathleen M.

Can you cook? Usually these kinds of diets are a lot easier if you can eat a lot of foods that are as they come from the farm and don't have ingredient lists. It can be a lot of work at first to get used to cooking food rather than buying stuff in cans and boxes.With anything like candies there is going to be a lot of variety of ingredients and a lot of them will have stuff you can't have. I think hard candies are more likely to not have gums of various kinds which can be a problem, but again it will depend on the brand and sometimes the general rule doesn't always apply to every single individual case.


----------



## cade1988

Kathleen M. said:


> Can you cook? Usually these kinds of diets are a lot easier if you can eat a lot of foods that are as they come from the farm and don't have ingredient lists. It can be a lot of work at first to get used to cooking food rather than buying stuff in cans and boxes.With anything like candies there is going to be a lot of variety of ingredients and a lot of them will have stuff you can't have. I think hard candies are more likely to not have gums of various kinds which can be a problem, but again it will depend on the brand and sometimes the general rule doesn't always apply to every single individual case.


what are the gums that are problems? i didnt know they were problems


----------



## cade1988

also i ate japaense mayonaise tonight which i thought was fine for FODMAP diet, but now im bloated and gassy and wondering if the mayonaise caused this.


----------



## whiterose1713

cade1988 said:


> also i ate japaense mayonaise tonight which i thought was fine for FODMAP diet, but now im bloated and gassy and wondering if the mayonaise caused this.


The gums you should try to avoid include xanthan gum and locust bean gum, but it's really difficult because they are in almost every prepared food. I find I tolerate them fine in small quantities but if I've had other foods that contain FODMAPs, like a small serving of fruit, then the gums might give me problems. It's a fine line with most people. Also, the gummy lollies that you like probably contain corn syrup, which is a FODMAP trigger.Japanese mayo (aka Kewpie) is usually made with dashi in addition to the usual mayo ingredients of eggs, oil, and vinegar. Dashi is Japanese soup stock and can be made from many things including mushrooms, which are a FODMAP trigger. Homemade mayo using oil, vinegar, eggs, and lemon juice is really delicious, though, and easy to make!Prepared foods should be avoided as much as humanly possible for at least the first two weeks while you assess your reaction to the low-FODMAP diet. It's the only way to get clear results that aren't thrown off by the millions of mystery ingredients in packaged foods.I wish the US used E-numbers like they do in Europe. A lot of people don't realize how much artificial #### is in packaged foods.


----------



## cade1988

whiterose1713 said:


> The gums you should try to avoid include xanthan gum and locust bean gum, but it's really difficult because they are in almost every prepared food. I find I tolerate them fine in small quantities but if I've had other foods that contain FODMAPs, like a small serving of fruit, then the gums might give me problems. It's a fine line with most people. Also, the gummy lollies that you like probably contain corn syrup, which is a FODMAP trigger.Japanese mayo (aka Kewpie) is usually made with dashi in addition to the usual mayo ingredients of eggs, oil, and vinegar. Dashi is Japanese soup stock and can be made from many things including mushrooms, which are a FODMAP trigger. Homemade mayo using oil, vinegar, eggs, and lemon juice is really delicious, though, and easy to make!Prepared foods should be avoided as much as humanly possible for at least the first two weeks while you assess your reaction to the low-FODMAP diet. It's the only way to get clear results that aren't thrown off by the millions of mystery ingredients in packaged foods.I wish the US used E-numbers like they do in Europe. A lot of people don't realize how much artificial #### is in packaged foods.


im confused because people and books n that keep telling me different things, and often they dont tell me other stuff i can or cannot eat, its driving me crazy! grr, like that xantham gum, it says i can have that in the "food tolerance management plan" ,and some recipies have like chocolate in it which i thought i couldnt eat


----------



## Kathleen M.

This is a fairly new diet and I'm not sure everyone really has agreed on all foods. People may have different working definitions. One way to deal with this is start by only eating all the foods everyone agrees on as OK. Try processed foods with "bad" ingredients, and foods on the "in small amounts" type lists after you've found is the strictest form of the diet works well. So be really strict for a couple of weeks. May take some planning for that period if you don't normally cook all your food. If really strict helps then you can start experimenting with the disputed ingredients to see if you tolerate them, or at what amount you tolerate them.Or, since we know no one agrees on what is a fodmap pick one list and do it, and don't try to make all the lists agree when this is still in the early stages and no one is going to agree.Still, avoiding processed foods is probably the best bet. First you avoid all the questionable things, and overall real food generally is more nutritious than anything that comes out of a factory.And a lot of people have issues with things other than fodmaps so some people may add things to lists because even if they don't meet the strictest definition of fodmap, they may be common problem foods for people with things like IBS.Be willing to not have perfect results. Food is not the one and only trigger. If you are stressed out, not sleeping well, the weather is bad for you, you have other illnesses putting physical stress on you, you can't exercise because you don't feel well, you are over-training, etc all that may cause symptoms, too.


----------



## LisaW

Kathleen M. said:


> This is a fairly new diet and I'm not sure everyone really has agreed on all foods. People may have different working definitions. One way to deal with this is start by only eating all the foods everyone agrees on as OK. Try processed foods with "bad" ingredients, and foods on the "in small amounts" type lists after you've found is the strictest form of the diet works well. So be really strict for a couple of weeks. May take some planning for that period if you don't normally cook all your food. If really strict helps then you can start experimenting with the disputed ingredients to see if you tolerate them, or at what amount you tolerate them.Or, since we know no one agrees on what is a fodmap pick one list and do it, and don't try to make all the lists agree when this is still in the early stages and no one is going to agree.Still, avoiding processed foods is probably the best bet. First you avoid all the questionable things, and overall real food generally is more nutritious than anything that comes out of a factory.And a lot of people have issues with things other than fodmaps so some people may add things to lists because even if they don't meet the strictest definition of fodmap, they may be common problem foods for people with things like IBS.Be willing to not have perfect results. Food is not the one and only trigger. If you are stressed out, not sleeping well, the weather is bad for you, you have other illnesses putting physical stress on you, you can't exercise because you don't feel well, you are over-training, etc all that may cause symptoms, too.


----------



## LisaW

Read Patsy Catsos book IBS FREE AT LAST and then go on her website. Her book explains the FODMAPS diet in detail. This diet saved my life! That dietician you went to was a waste of $$. I could not find one dietican in Houston Tx who had even heard of the FODMAPS diet so I educated myself. Then I educated my clueless GI DR!! You must follow the diet without cheating until you learn your triggers. Good luck... the diet really is the best for IBS people


----------



## mamarati

cade1988 said:


> what are the gums that are problems? i didnt know they were problems


As recent as March, an RD checked and xanthan gum is fine in small amounts. Also, the same RD says that corn syrup isn't necessarily unfriendly, but high FRUCTOSE corn syrup is (see comments on this blog). But later she says, "Yes HFCS is a definite NO as it is a source of excess fructose. In general, we have allowed corn syrup but with further testing this may change-syrups are complicated. Glucose is well absorbed so not considered a FODMAP." Another person (Patsy Catsos, author of IBS-Free at Last) says, "By the way, 'regular' corn syrup is almost 100% glucose (dextrose), so it is allowed on a FODMAPS elimination diet." So regular corn syrup has the same basic composition as sugar. But NOT HFCS.All that said, we are just avoiding all sugars (even table sugar and maple syrup) to be on the safe side because I'm paranoid and have read that some people seem to have a problem with it anyway... I'd been meaning to for a long time and now, my better half's unfortunate stomach issues are serving as a darn good reason.


----------



## cade1988

so anything with chocolate is bad?


----------



## whiterose1713

I agree with LisaW's advice and mamarati. Patsy's books and website have been great resrouces to me.According to her 2012 update, chocolate is fine, BUT you have to check the ingredients. No dairy, inulin, xylitol, or other sugar alcohols. A high-quality dark chocolate should be fine.As far as corn syrup goes, I've started avoiding it completely because I'm suspicious that some food manufacturers may not be totally accurate with differentiating between regular corn syrup and high fructose. I had a bad reaction to marshmallows that were made with regular corn syrup and didn't contain any other suspicious ingredients.


----------



## cade1988

so my dietician tells me my symptoms can get worse week 2 of the LOW FODMAP : ELIMINATION DIET, and im on day 9 and my worst symptom has come back, im wondering if my dietician was right or im eating something i shouldnt


----------



## cade1988

also i just ate jelly, i hope it was ok to, anyone know? jelly as in jello in america, im in australia


----------

