This is a guest post from Oli, from The Sporting Blog about his experience with the low FODMAP diet.
Some time back I wrote a piece on the things that I had learnt after trying a Low Fodmap Diet, in an effort to demystify a few things, as well as help people get through the elimination stage without going mad.
I think this time around I will write some things that you should bear in mind when embarking on a low Fodmap diet, and I hope these suggestions help you get started or at least think about starting.
Why try a low fodmap diet?
The truth is that I was not 100% set on starting it, but I also didn’t know where to start in terms of addressing my main issues of aching joints, sluggishness and brain fog. I have had IBS on and off, mainly revolving around anxiety and alcohol, but I knew in the past when I had cut down on drinking the IBS tended to go away as well.
Getting rid of the brain fog and the other stuff was a different ball game. Where to start? Dairy? Wheat? Sugars? It was a bit daunting just trying to think about it all.
So in actuality the low fodmap diet came bouncing into my life as a bit of a one stop shop solution. If I could stick to the 6 weeks of that, with the amount of stuff that you have to remove, maybe I could solve the aches and pains and the fogginess too.
Be prepared
So my biggest mistake at the beginning was not being prepared. I don’t mean be prepared mentally or throwing away all the cakes, I mean being actually prepared for that first meal.
I woke up on day one and was a bit like… “What can I eat?”. Looking around the pantry it became pretty obvious that I couldn’t eat very much of what we had in the house. Not because it was all bad, but because my breakfast habits were not very routine, and generally focused around bread, cereals, breakfast bars and when I had time bacon, eggs, and sausages.
In case you are interested, In the end I went with an omelette, but that’s beside the point.
One thing I learnt before was that you should get a low FODMAP recipe book. Not to knock up extravagant meals using only low fodmap foods, although that is an option, but to get some ideas on even the very basics.
Just knowing that peppers are used an awful lot brings ideas to mind. Just get a book, make a shopping list of things that make up combinations of foods (important) and buy the stuff so you are prepared from day one.
Read next: 15 tips for starting the low FODMAP diet
Substitutes are OK, but only OK
So there are a million bad-tasting versions of things that taste good, designed to replace items containing Gluten, Dairy, Sugar, you name it, it can be replaced.
However, if you are really honest, most replacements are not great and through the nodding grin that they are ‘quite nice’, you can see written on most people’s faces that they are not very nice at all.
My advice here is to not worry about replacements. You are on this diet for 4-6 weeks only, not forever. You will eat cake again. You will have that piece of bread again, but you may just well know that afterward you will take a hit because you ate it.
Substitutes are frankly trying to make you feel like you are eating normally, but we all know that we are not. Some gluten-free breads may well be OK, if you simply HAVE to eat toast or a sandwich, but frankly, we are trying to find out if bread is your trigger. Eliminate it completely, substitutes and all for this period to also help get out of the habit of NEEDING bread in the morning and at lunchtimes because of its convenience.
To repeat, try and forget the substitutes, just for 4-6 weeks whilst you figure stuff out. Change your habits here and I almost guarantee you’ll lose some weight too because you will literally only eat stuff that it worth eating.
To sum up
These 2 things will honestly help you get through this stage. Buy a recipe book for low fodmap foods. After that, be prepared for day one and get ready to start your journey to better gut health.
Next, make peace with the fact that you are going to lose out on some of your favourite foods for a few weeks. Again, after that you won’t miss the stuff as much as you thought you might.
Did the low FODMAP diet work for me?
In my case, the low FODMAP diet had mixed results, but mainly because I started in whilst suffering from the mild symptoms of Covid, which wasn’t the smartest move. I stuck with the diet for about 16 days, and I noticed straight away some changes, especially in the bloating department.
I would put this mainly down to wheat, although I would need to start a low FODMAP diet again whilst feeling a bit stronger to really get a good idea of how my healthy body would react, as opposed to the one fighting against Covid.
I would highly recommend trying it as it is not a diet for life. It is an experiment for 4-6 weeks to let your gut heal and for you to eliminate all foods that might irritate it. Thereafter during re-introduction you can highlight exactly what sets you off and what doesn’t.
