The FODMAP diet consists of removing foods that arefermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols from your diet. Examples include fruits like apples, pears and mangoes, dairy products, white wheat and beans.
These types of foods are poorly absorbed by the intestine, and trigger intestinal bacteria to ferment for longer periods. This can lead to symptoms such as indigestion, abdominal pain, excess gas, and diarrhea that can alternate with constipation.
Foods rich in FODMAP are normally excluded from diets to manage and prevent the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, a chronic inflammation in the intestine that can be caused by stress or poor diet.
How to start the FODMAP diet
To start the FODMAP diet you should remove all foods that are included in the list below for a period of 6 to 8 weeks, and monitor for any improvement in symptoms. If there is no improvement, the diet can be stopped after eight weeks and a new treatment should be started.
If the symptoms do improve, after eight weeks you should gradually reintroduce each food again, starting with one group at a time. For instance, you can start by introducing fruits first, such as apples, pears or watermelon, and see if the intestinal symptoms return.
This slow reintroduction of foods is important in order to identify foods that can worsen bowel symptoms, and that should be avoided or consumed in very small quantities.
Precautions
The FODMAP diet can lead to a low intake of important nutrients, such as fibers, carbohydrates or calcium. Thus, it's important for a doctor and a registered dietitian to supervise the diet to ensure the person remains in good health.
In addition, it's important to remember that this diet is effective for about 70% of patients with IBS. For those that do not benefit from this diet, a different treatment approach should be considered.
FODMAP foods to avoid
FODMAP foods that should be avoided can be classified into five different groups:
It is also very important to pay attention to the list of ingredients on processed food labels, since they may contain some of these foods.
What you can eat
The foods that can be included in this diet are:
- Fruits, like tangerines, oranges, grapes, pineapples, passion fruit, starfruit, kiwis, strawberries, blueberries, papayas, lemons, bananas or melon;
- Vegetables, like pumpkins, celery, chives, eggplant, olives, red peppers, tomatoes, spinach, zucchini, lettuce, carrots or cucumbers;
- Lactose-free dairy products, like lactose-free milk, lactose-free yogurt, lactose-free cheeses, or ripened cheeses such as parmesan, brie or camembert cheeses;
- Proteins like meat, tofu, fish, eggs or chicken;
- Seeds, like chia seeds, flaxseed, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds;
- Nuts, likepeanuts, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, walnuts or Brazil nuts;
- Tubers, such as cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams or tapioca;
- Plant-based milks, such as coconut milk, oat milk or almond milk.
Your dietitian may also consider the use of probiotics as a complement to regulate the bowels, as it's proven that people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome sometimes have an imbalance in gut bacteria. Some studies show that probiotics can help to directly relieve symptoms.
Also recommended: Probiotics: 12 Health Benefits, Foods, Supplements (& How to Take) tuasaude.com/en/benefits-of-probioticsFODMAP diet meal plan
The following table gives an example of a three-day meal plan for a FODMAP diet:
It's important to remember that you must monitor for foods that trigger bowel symptoms. This diet needs to be followed for six to eight weeks, under the supervision of a doctor or nutritionist.
The quantities included in the above plan may vary according to age, gender, physical activity and associated health conditions. Ideally, you should visit a registered dietitian for a thorough assessment in order to develop a more individualized meal plan according to your needs.
