Do you experience intestinal bloating, gas and pain on a regular basis or even diarrhea and or constipation? Have you seen your gastroenterologist and been diagnosed with IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome? You are not alone. The data shows that this common disorder affects 10-15% of Americans. The low FODMAP Diet comes from Monash University in Australia and is rapidly becoming known as the diet of choice to help improve IBS symptoms.
The FODMAP diet is an elimination diet which means that it is a diet that aims to explore and discover what foods trigger unpleasant gut symptoms. It is not a diet that one is placed on for life- but is a short-term diet to discover food intolerances. FODMAP itself is an acronym describing what foods could cause certain gastric symptoms. These foods are fermented by gut bacteria and often poorly absorbed causing distress like gas or bloating and pain.
FODMAP foods are fiber foods and some sugar foods. They are carbohydrates in the form of short chain sugars such as milk, fruit, honey or high fructose foods or even fiber foods like wheat, rye, onions, garlic, beans or inulin. For some people these FODMAP foods hold onto water and ferment rapidly in the intestine causing the intestines to painfully expand and hold onto water resulting in diarrhea. Eliminating these foods and reintroducing them into the diet one by one can help someone suffering with IBS identify their specific FODMAP trigger foods.
If you have been diagnosed with IBS and your physician recommends a low FODMAP Diet- please consider making an appointment at The Biome Kitchen!
For more information on the low FODMAP Diet and get more information on IBS please see this excellent video link from Monash University for patients: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stdYoA4G9Dg