I Can't Eat What?!
To follow the FODMAP diet on top of being Gluten Free and Dairy Free can feel very overwhelming. Good news, is that besides learning to understand what tweaks you need to make on meals or while ordering food, you can still eat quite a bit!
For starters: I would strongly recommend printing this out and putting the list on your fridge so that while building your grocery list you know what foods to try and avoid. I would also keep a copy in your purse so that you can take a quick sneak peak while out to eat or at the grocery store (as there are lots of foods to stay away from/limit yourself from).
https://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/
Again, when you look at this list you will probably panic and be like OMG THERE IS SO MUCH I HAVE TO AVOID. Realistically, you probably don’t eat Sea Buckthorns, Tamarillo, Currants, Persimmon (WTF is that even?)…. SO take a deep breath and notice that when you actually look at this, the “Bad list” isn’t as long as it looks. Instead, look at the green list and mark all of the foods that you already eat and when you are first learning to follow this diet build meals off the top 10-15 foods you eat the most off this list.
When you first start this diet you will feel like you are eating the same thing day in and day out, but as the days go on you will notice you have more confidence to try new recipes and add more of the ingredients into your recipes.
There are the 2 cookbooks I would recommend to start using, especially if you have any picky little kiddos who have to follow this diet as well. See my favorites below:
I would really recommend when you start this diet to follow the green list as closely as possible!! Then after a few months of no symptoms you can try adding certain things back in, for example avocados. These still do not sit well with my tummy so I avoid them all together. However, you will notice in many recipes online and even in this book, you may see some that do show you can have avocados. This back and forth makes the FODMAP diet seem so overwhelming as you get mixed messages. So again, to start I strongly recommend just going off the list above, and leaving ingredients out that are not listed in the green list for now.
Personally,I was in so much pain that I followed the green/red list to a T for the first 2 years because I was so scared to get those pains back. However, everyone is different, so don’t feel guilty if you want to try and experiment after a few weeks! Below I will just list out a few of my Go-To Meals so that you can try these for the first week or so.
Breakfast:
*Gluten Free Oatmeal with Coconut or Soy Milk, bananas, and some brown sugar
*Rice cake with Deli Meat slices and a fried Egg
*Cereal with Coconut or Soy Milk
*Eggs and Bacon with Hash browns
*Omelets with FODMAP friendly veggies and no cheese
*Gluten Free French Toast (I only use egg as the batter, no milk)
Lunch/Dinner:
*Sandwich with Mayo and Mustard *Grilled meat of your choice with rice & FODMAP friendly veggies
*Tacos/nachos with Corn chips and FODMAP friendly toppings
*Homemade pizza with no cheese but lots of pepperoni and FODMAP veggies
*Gluten Free Spaghetti with Meat sauce (Ground Turkey and plain pasta sauce)
*Shredded pork or chicken sandwiches on Gluten Free Bun and BBQ sauce
*Ground Beef/ Turkey/ Chicken mixed with Rice or Quinoa and Hot sauce
Snacks:
*Coconut Chips
*Banana Chips
*Pretzels
*Veggie Straws
*FODMAP Friendly Fruit/ FODMAP Friendly veggies
*Lunch meat and GF crackers
Drinks:
*For the first few weeks months I would honestly try to avoid wine/cider/ and GF beer at all costs. This was one of the main things that upset my stomach even to this day. Rather if you are going to drink at all, do hard liquor mixed drinks.
*Avoid Tea if possible
*Limit your coffee intake (ha! Yea right :P, this is one thing I refuse to give up!)
*Avoid Sparkling beverages
*Try drinking water, flat flavored water, get creative but stay away from acidic juices and those carbonated beverages. That is the biggest harm for me.
** MAIN THINGS TO AVOID**
Garlic
Onions
Brocolli/Cauliflower
Wine/Beer/Pop/ Sugary Juices (for now)
Cheese
Raisins
Harmful FODMAP veggies and fruits
Here are just a few ideas to help you go through the first week of the diet. However, I am always here to help you come up with new recipes to try. There are awesome recipes in the first cookbook like banana bread and chicken tenders so try some of those out too! Hope this helps as much as it did for me. Xo- A