I’ve been a personal trainer in London for over 20 years, and my clients have asked me about literally dozens of different diets. One such diet is the FODMAP diet, which stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols.
Generally people drawn to this diet have some kind of gut inflammation issues, such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), and the FODMAP diet is designed to eliminate potential gut-irritating foods, namely the food-groups listed above. The FODMAP foods are hard for some people to digest and absorb because they are all short-chain carbs which are not entirely absorbed by the gut. For those with digestive problems, these foods pass into the colon (large intestine) and ferment, causing pain, bloating and diarrhoea.
Most people can eat FODMAP foods with absolutely no issues, but for people with inflammatory bowel disorders, it may be worth trying the FODMAP diet (under supervision of your GP or other healthcare professional such as a registered dietitian). The diet is a kind of experiment, to see which foods may be causing the bowel irritation, so there’s an elimination stage of all FODMAP foods, followed by a steady re-introduction of each group of foods over a period of 10 weeks to test your reaction.
What are the low-FODMAP foods?
All non-dairy proteins, such as eggs, meat, chicken, fish.
Some fruits, such as blueberries and oranges.
Non-lactose dairy products such as lactose-free milk, Greek yoghurt.
Some vegetables such as carrots, celery, spinach.
Some grains, such as oats and quinoa.
What are the highest FODMAP foods to eliminate?
Oligosaccharides: such as wheat (bread, pizza-base, pasta), garlic and onions.
Disaccharides: such as milk, some yoghurts, soft cheeses.
Monosaccharides: many of the fructose-rich foods such as apples, mango, honey, all foods containing high-fructose corn syrup.
Polyols: such as cauliflower and mushrooms.
(This is not an exhaustive list of foods, so consult a registered dietitian)
(Dominic Londesborough is a personal fitness trainer in London and an online nutrition coach)
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