Game for a Low-FODMAP Diet?

You’ve heard it a million times that an apple a day, keeps the doctor away. And that onion, garlic, watermelon and honey are healthy foods with loads of health benefits. But here’s a diet that is contradictory to our preexisting knowledge of the foods we eat. It comprises a detailed list of foods that are high and low in FODMAPs, which one should stay away from and can consume safely. The idea being, to follow a Low-FODMAP Diet. Read on to know more...

What is it?

FODMAP means Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosacchrides and Polyols, which are basically short chain carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed by the digestive system and thus, result in symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and other digestive related disorders. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, cramps, diarrhoea, and constipation. Sometimes eliminating FODMAPs from the diet may also relieve migraine caused post-meals, explains Pallavi Srivastava, fitness nutritionist, proprietor — Q-Slim Fitness Studio, who has prescribed this diet to her clients suffering from IBS and other forms of digestive disorder. But she has also added few more eliminations like spicy and raw foods.

Some foods to be eliminated in this diet are cauliflower, mushrooms, green peas, apple, watermelon, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), cashews, pistachios, to name some. Low-FODMAP alternatives include kiwi, strawberries, zucchini, quinoa, oats, pumpkin seeds, walnuts to name some.

Srivastava further adds, “It has three phases: Elimination Phase/Low-FODMAP Diet, Reintroduction Phase/ Re-challenge Phase and the Adapted Diet. Your nutritionist/dietitian will first eliminate all the FODMAPs, then slowly, after two to six weeks, reintroduce certain foods that were restricted before, which will help determine the body’s tolerance towards each food. This diet can begin to show results  from the Elimination Phase itself. Thirdly, in the Adapted Diet Phase, the expert will closely monitor which foods are tolerable and in what quantity, thus make a balance of which FODMAPs you have to avoid or introduce in limited quantities and which ones are well-tolerated.” 

A restrictive diet

Some foods the Low-FODMAP Diet discourages are garlic, ginger, onions, wheat legumes, milk and milk products, grains that contain gluten like barley, rye, fruits like figs, mangoes, litchees, berries, honey and even most vegetables. Luke Coutinho, Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine — Holistic Nutrition, says, “While this diet was designed to heal individuals complaining of gut issues, it is also quite restrictive and bans major food groups like fruits and vegetables, that can actually cripple immunity and lead to major vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Also, not all high-FODMAP foods are bad, most  promote good gut health too. For example, it discourages ginger and garlic, which are the very base of most Indian dishes. They are also highly anti-inflammatory, immunity boosting and serve as great prebiotics, which is of high value to heal gut issues. So if one has to follow this, it should be extremely personalised and only those food items should be eliminated that a person cannot digest.”

Time taken to see results

Coutinho says the time taken to see results varies from person to person and is dependent on a lot of other factors like age, emotional health, stress levels, quality of sleep, activity levels, level of inflammation and acidity in the body, exposure to drugs till the time of diagnosis, level of toxicity in the body and much more. Still, it can take about six months for the entire gut to heal properly.

Is it suitable for the Indian palate?

This diet can be customised as per Indian food habits, but it should be done only under an expert’s strict supervision, warns Srivastava. There are many healthy foods that are eliminated in this diet, thus, to not cause any nutritional deficiency, proper supplementation should be added. Also, this is not a permanent diet. An Adaptive Diet post your symptoms are alleviated, should be made only by your utritionist/dietitian so that all the food groups are balanced in your daily diet.

Nutririonist, Karishma Chawla of Eat Rite 24x7, says, “It’s important to understand that any foods that cause discomfort must be abstained from regardless of the food culture or geographical background or food habits. This is a temporary measure to deal with IBS until the foods are better tolerated and unless, if the problem is chronic enough for further investigation or treatment.”