FODMAP Advice/ Fructose Malabsorption

[claram123]

Hi, just a quick question, hoping someone has had a similar experience (I'm new to this forum, would love to know if someone has tried this program as well).

I have been on low fodmap diet for ten days so far (five weeks to go) for fructose malabsorption, and my symptoms have been far worse and more frequent (almost constant) since starting the diet. Has anyone found that their symptoms got worse with low fodmaps?

I am fairly sure I would have eliminated any high fodmaps foods, so I don't think that there would be anything new that has caused it. Although I would love to not have any stomach issues, prior to starting low fodmap I only had mild symptoms every second day or so, which was so much better than the medium/severe and veery frequent issues I'm having now (multiple times each day/constantly).

I'm not sure whether it is worth me persisting with the program (supposed to go back to dietician after 6 weeks), as I also don't eat meat and am finding it difficult to find alternative foods (I am a bit concerned about keeping a balanced diet whilst on low fodmap). Prior to this I ate mostly lots of pasta, breads, veg and fruit, which is pretty much exactly what I'm trying to cut out. I'm a uni student so foods like that are a lot easier for me. Unfortunately I can't stand most of the low fodmap grains (I can't stomach rice and buckwheat).

Any tips or advice would be wonderful! Thankyou

[A_IBS]

What are you eating more of now? Soya perhaps? Lots of people are intolerant to soya. Have you always been vegetarian?

[claram123 in reply to A_IBS]

I am trying to eat more rice, oats, and some gluten free flours and breads etc. I've been vegetarian for about 4 years, so its been a while now. Ah maybe the soy milk is causing it, thanks for the reply

[Nicki1984]

Try gluten free bread and pasta. Potatoes are good too. Any major changes to your diet may initially give you symptoms try and stick to it and see what happens. Bananas are a good source of energy. X

[claram123 in reply to Nicki1984]

Thanks for that, I'll give it a try

[Amabile]

Hi

I don't have fructose malabsorption but I did find the FODMAP diet caused havoc with my digestion. As one respondent suggested any change to diet can cause problems. Many on this site find the low FODMAP very helpful but others don't.

Ditto for the grains suggested - lots of pain!

Having been diagnosed with fructose malabsorption does that not mean you require a lower sugar intake rather than a total diet change?

[claram123 in reply to Amabile]

That's interesting, did you find that the problems cleared up after a while on low FODMAP? I thought I would just have to lower sugar and fruit intake, but I've been told to cut out all high fodmap foods for the time being because those foods can trigger issues with fructose. Thanks for the advice

[Hidden]

I would suggest phoning up your dietician and asking whether these are normal symptoms or not (depending what diet you are following, this may be die-off symptoms, or not).

On fructose and food intolerance, you may find this article of interest: sickofibs.com/ibs-triggers/...

There is a handy table which shows high fructose foods and low fructose alternatives.

Hope this helps,

Alison

[Iesgobdafydd]

People react to all kinds of foods, high FODMAP ones are just the most common culprits. If your symptoms got a lot worse it sounds like you might be eating more of something that disagrees with you - it could be the soy you mentioned, I also wondered if the rice might be a problem for you. You say you can't stomach rice, but you're eating more of it on the low FODMAP diet. I know white rice is supposed to be one of the easiest things for us to digest, but some people do have problems with rice, and an awful lot of off-the-shelf gluten-free products contain rice. Also, when I went low-FODMAP I read rice and immediately assumed brown rice would be best for me, because it contains more nutrients; unfortunately, it also contains more fibre, and high fibre is a problem for some people with IBS. I've also seen claims by people that they react to particular types or sources of rice and not others. Buckwheat has been a life-saver for me and seems, remarkably, to contain a good balance of all the essential amino acids, but if it's a problem for you, it can also turn up in gluten-free foods. If you don't react to them, you've got potatoes, oat, rice, corn, buckwheat, millet, yam (but not sweet potato) and tapioca to work with for starch. If you cross out rice and buckwheat, that leaves oat, corn, yam and tapioca. A lot of these are kind of stodgy and hard to make into something very palatable, but millet can be cooked up like rice into distinct pieces, so you can use it with a veg sauce like you used to do with pasta, and same with potatoes. You can try making them into pancakes or flatbreads, and oatcakes you can buy in the supermarket. And you can pop popcorn without fat or oil if you want; it can take a bit of practice to get right but if you can digest it then it's still more interesting to eat than porridge. If you're vegetarian rather than vegan then lactose-free milk, cheddar, cream cheese, cream and fruit yogurts are available in many supermarkets, and (apart from the cheddar) I don't find the flavour or performance strikingly different from the originals.

Be careful with the bananas someone suggested - they are low fructose for a fruit but still contain some, so if you eat a lot it could be a problem.

It's hard not to worry somewhat about getting a balanced diet on a restricted diet, but our bodies have evolved to store a supply of many of the nutrients we need, and you can hit the nutritional supplements for extra vitamins and minerals, so as a vegetarian what I thought I needed to concern myself about most was making sure I got all the essential amino acids. My NHS dietitian was very nice, but what she was doing in terms of checking that I got a balanced diet appeared to be ticking off a list of what I ate against major food groups, so for instance I needed to be eating some dairy and (separately) some other protein to tick her boxes, because dairy didn't count as protein. It seemed to me that there would be balanced diets that didn't tick all her boxes, and eventually I decided I needed the flexibility to try eliminating more foods and different ones than she was suggesting, and took responsibility for my own nutritional research.