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2nd Whole30 going to try low FODMAP but list is confusing please help


HelenLA

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in 2016 I started January with 35 days of Whole30 and kept up that eating 100% of the time with my grocery shopping with the exceptions of adding a small amount of dairy weekly and trying some paleo treats recipes to share with others during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I chose to eat out or at a friend's house no more than twice a week and then I ate whatever they offered or whatever sounded good otherwise my eating stuck to Whole30. I had many health benefits not limited to 71 pounds lost, the end of chronic pain in my lower back and lower limbs, the elimination of eczema, much better control over allergies, almost total elimination of asthma, increased energy levels and more. however I noticed in September that I started to have problems with gas and bloating and occasional constipation. That led me to think I should try another Whole30 in October to get me started for the winter holidays. I only made it 11 days in October and this was due to poor planning on my part but the gas bloating and constipation greatly increased over those 11 days. I started doing some research and came across a great deal of information about fodmaps and how they might be affecting me. Of course all of the FODMAP Foods are my favorites and I eat them three or four meals a day multiple servings at every meal. I decided to start January 1st with a normal Whole30 but the bloating gas and constipation is a daily problem now. I have printed out The Whole30 low FODMAP shopping list and it is confusing to me. First of all it says that the blue items are the best choices the grey items should be avoided but what about the items in Black? Are they middle of the road? Eat however much you want? Limit your quantities? And then I see the cooking fats and eating fats are all black - except for avocado which I eat half of one about 5 or 6 days a week and I will have to cut out that completely,  but the title "cooking fat" and "eating fat" are in blue?? the second thing that I don't understand about the Whole30 low FODMAP shopping list is why it is so incomplete. There is no section for herbs and spices, pantry or drinks. Does that mean I have to leave them all out completely? Trying to research and plan for this is giving me a huge headache. I really want to get a handle on what is causing the gas, bloating, and constipation but I definitely need more options for my cooking in order to flavor my food. there are no vinegar on the list. no fresh herbs, no dried herbs, no spices. Does that mean that all of the previously listed spices, Pantry items and drinks are OK on low FODMAP or they should be absolutely eliminated? Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you.

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Part of the issue I think you're having is that the Whole30 low FODMAPs list is just an adapted version of the standard Whole30 shopping list.  It's not meant to be an exhaustive guide to the low FODMAPs eating protocol.

See a low FODMAPs specific list like this one -- http://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/ -- but also realize it's going to have non-Whole30 stuff on it.

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Monash University is the university in Australia that researched and developed the low FODMAP diet, and they are a great resource. They have a fantastic app which, while not free, is incredibly helpful and user friendly (http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/iphone-app.html). Remember that FODMAPs are carbohydrates, so meat/poultry/fish/eggs and fats/oils will generally be FODMAP-free (though avocados and certain nuts contain FODMAPs). FODMAPs are water soluble, so you may tolerate olive oil that has been infused with garlic (be sure to discard the garlic pieces), but not broth made with garlic. Fresh herbs and spices are generally used in such small quantities that their FODMAP content is low. The current thinking is that we each have a specific level of tolerance for FODMAPs and once we go over that in a day, we may see IBS symptoms like gas, bloating, constipation. Also, most people are sensitive to *some* high FODMAP foods, but not all - this why the low FODMAP diet is intended as a short-term elimination diet (2-6 weeks), which should be followed by a reintroduction period to help you identify which foods are your "triggers." Good luck! 

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I'd second the Monash University app - it's a really helpful resource, especially as you're finding your feet with FODMAPs.

Have a read at >this article< too, and you may find the traffic light system foods list helpful. I ate from the green list for quite some time and then systematically reintroduced foods from the amber & red sections, paying attention to portion size, food combinations, no of servings on consecutive days before symptoms appeared etc. It was a long slow process but I'm pretty much back to eating all the eliminated foods again, I'm just careful now about not over-loading in any one meal/day, although I tend to avoid garlic powder - it seems to be MUCH more potent (to me) than fresh.

You may find looking at the list that you can identify which of the groups is most problematic for you (for me it was fructans & polyols) - that will be helpful when it comes time to reintroduce again.

In the meantime you can make a few simple changes to meals to make them FODMAP friendly - use the green parts of spring onions in place of onions, use white potato or parsnip in place of sweet potato, switch to garlic infused oil, and ditch your avocado in favour of home made mayo.... Allow the gut to heal, & then start back with re-introducing.

Best of luck to you :)

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On 1/15/2017 at 6:07 PM, kirkor said:

Part of the issue I think you're having is that the Whole30 low FODMAPs list is just an adapted version of the standard Whole30 shopping list.  It's not meant to be an exhaustive guide to the low FODMAPs eating protocol.

See a low FODMAPs specific list like this one -- http://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/ -- but also realize it's going to have non-Whole30 stuff on it.

thanks for your response and the link. I love The Whole30 and most of the materials they have shared with us have been great. I really think they should have done a better job with adapting this food list. It is difficult enough to restrict my diet so much without having to do so much searching just to figure out if I can use cinnamon or mustard or bay leaves in my cooking. I don't think it would have been that hard for them to adapt the original list including the things that were okay. Now I have done a bunch of research and spent many hours and learned many new things that I hope will help me out.hopefully this is something that they can improve in the future to help someone else out.

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On 1/15/2017 at 7:57 PM, LDish said:

Monash University is the university in Australia that researched and developed the low FODMAP diet, and they are a great resource. They have a fantastic app which, while not free, is incredibly helpful and user friendly (http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/iphone-app.html). Remember that FODMAPs are carbohydrates, so meat/poultry/fish/eggs and fats/oils will generally be FODMAP-free (though avocados and certain nuts contain FODMAPs). FODMAPs are water soluble, so you may tolerate olive oil that has been infused with garlic (be sure to discard the garlic pieces), but not broth made with garlic. Fresh herbs and spices are generally used in such small quantities that their FODMAP content is low. The current thinking is that we each have a specific level of tolerance for FODMAPs and once we go over that in a day, we may see IBS symptoms like gas, bloating, constipation. Also, most people are sensitive to *some* high FODMAP foods, but not all - this why the low FODMAP diet is intended as a short-term elimination diet (2-6 weeks), which should be followed by a reintroduction period to help you identify which foods are your "triggers." Good luck! 

thanks so much. I have done a great deal of reading on the Monash website. the app maybe something I get in the future if I figure out if this low FODMAP diet is what I really need.

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On 1/16/2017 at 2:24 AM, jmcbn said:

I'd second the Monash University app - it's a really helpful resource, especially as you're finding your feet with FODMAPs.

Have a read at >this article< too, and you may find the traffic light system foods list helpful. I ate from the green list for quite some time and then systematically reintroduced foods from the amber & red sections, paying attention to portion size, food combinations, no of servings on consecutive days before symptoms appeared etc. It was a long slow process but I'm pretty much back to eating all the eliminated foods again, I'm just careful now about not over-loading in any one meal/day, although I tend to avoid garlic powder - it seems to be MUCH more potent (to me) than fresh.

You may find looking at the list that you can identify which of the groups is most problematic for you (for me it was fructans & polyols) - that will be helpful when it comes time to reintroduce again.

In the meantime you can make a few simple changes to meals to make them FODMAP friendly - use the green parts of spring onions in place of onions, use white potato or parsnip in place of sweet potato, switch to garlic infused oil, and ditch your avocado in favour of home made mayo.... Allow the gut to heal, & then start back with re-introducing.

Best of luck to you :)

thanks so much! I really do like the traffic light system. I actually ended up taking my original Whole30 shopping list copied in black and white and got out the three colors of markers and went through and colored everything on it according to this list. there were some things not on the list so I had to research them a bit more and some I had to write in. I'm definitely going to start with the foods in the green column for at least a couple of weeks and see how I'm feeling and slowly reintroduce from the other two lists yellow first and then read. I'm hoping I will get to the point that you're at where I can go back to eating the foods I love and maybe watching the amounts and combinations each day. it's really a struggle since I swear to you that cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, mushrooms, garlic, onions and avocados make up a huge portion of my diet right now. And they always have so I'm not sure why I would have started last September having problems so who knows what it is but hopefully I can get to the bottom of it.

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