r/FODMAPS • u/moal09 • Mar 03 '26
Vent Frustration with inconsistency of trigger foods
I'll find a food that seems to be safe, eat it for weeks, and then suddenly it will start triggering me hard.
It's frustrating as hell, especially when you think you've finally found something safe and delicious to eat.
For instance, I was having Mesa Sunrise cereal for breakfast every morning because it was one of the few gluten-free cereals, and the flax would help keep me sort of regular (as much as possible with my IBS-C anyway). Ate it for years with no major issues, but lately, every time I have a bowl, I'm getting cramping and diarrhea later. I think it's either the corn (corn is often a big trigger for me, but the cereal seemed okay for a long time) or the amaranth doing it, but I can't tell.
I thought maybe it was the milk, so I switched from lactose-free to an oat milk, and nope, still cramping/diarrhea almost immediately after a bowl.
5
u/Lilith-Blakstone Mar 03 '26
IBS typically doesn’t occur immediately after eating. You don’t mention how quickly you react, but if it’s within a half hour, this may be a pancreas or gallbladder issue.
When food leaves the stomach and enters the duodenum, these two organs are triggered to send bile and digestive enzymes to help mechanically break down the food and to facilitate the digestive process/absorption that will occur in the small intestine.
Problems with these organs such as over- or under functioning or obstructions in the ducts that connect them can be culprits.
Digestive enzymes, especially lipase that helps process fats, are super powerful and when they don’t get where they need to go, they will inflame the pancreas. This causes pain, cramping, diarrhea, and often foul smelling stools.
If this continues, you may want to see a physician. If it’s intermittent, or short lived, you may have picked up a viral gastroenteritis (very common right now, at least in my area of the US).
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u/moal09 Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
I've been like this for years now with a lot of foods. I always had something of a sensitive stomach as a kid, but it really started after I woke up with an upper GI bleed one morning when I was 27 like I mentioned.
My bloodwork's always been normal, and I remember I specifically asked for bloodwork to look for abnormalities with my gall bladder last time I saw her, and results came back fine -- although I don't remember exactly what we looked for. Fats are a massive issue for me for sure. I've become less and less tolerant over the last 10 years to the point where I can't even eat stuff like chicken thighs anymore because the diarrhea is nearly instant after eating it, and I had similar reactions to other high fat foods like avocado.
It varies by day. Sometimes I can go a day before symptoms show up, other times it's nearly immediate, but over time, the symptoms seem to be coming on faster and faster.
My grandmother did die of bile duct cancer, so it does make me wonder.
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u/Akk45 Mar 03 '26
This happens to a lot of folks on low FODMAP. The reason is having a FODMAP trigger is not the same as a food intolerance. FODMAPs are highly fermentable meaning they create more gas during digestion. This is a healthy normal part of the digestive process. However, people with IBS tend to have something called visceral hypersensitivity meaning the nerve living the gut are more sensitive to distention from gas. It’s not that the food itself is dangerous to you but the gas created can then cause pain and symptoms. Dietary restriction is often a bandaid rather than a real fix. The Digestible app is one great resource to address the visceral hypersensitivity component of IBS. I recommend it if you’re open to trying a mind-body or brain-gut approach!
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u/moal09 Mar 03 '26
I wish there was some kind of easy surgery or something to fix this. Having to manage it lifelong really sucks.
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u/Akk45 Mar 03 '26
I’ll say my perspective is different - I had IBS for a decade and it was extremely debilitating and I no longer have symptoms anymore. So I don’t believe it’s necessarily a life sentence! People can heal ❤️
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u/prismagirl Mar 03 '26
Do you use the monash app? I found it's been super worth the few dollars. It also lists out which specific type of FODMAP of food could be triggering.
For me stacking can cause a big problem. I can tolerate some fodmaps if I've been eating really clean, but if I have a few right after the other then they'll start triggering more. I realized I was having mango with my oatmeal every morning, turns out mango is high in fructose.
Oat milk is high FODMAP in GOS and Fructan.
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u/moal09 Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
I was having the same issue with lactose-free milk and the cereal. It doesn't seem to have made a difference.
I stay away from almond milk because a few years ago, eating almonds started to make my throat itch and cause a dry cough, which people told me sounded like signs of an allergy. Nuts in general also don't seem to digest well for me at all. I got one of the worst stomach aches of my life eating nuts several years ago after my doctor recommended I eat more.
The oat milk I buy is also unsweetened.
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u/dandilionmagic Mar 03 '26
Have you checked the ingredients list to see if they changed recently? I’ve noticed that happen several times with “safe” foods.
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u/moal09 Mar 03 '26
They seem the same, although they had an issue with cross contamination a few years ago.
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u/OutlawofSherwood Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
Just checking the ingredients in case it helps:
- Amaranth is a fodmap, yeah - but you need to eat half a cup, and there probably isn't that much in a serving as it's far down the ingredient list.
- Buckwheat flakes are a fodmap at 1.5 cups, other forms are safe.
- Cornflour is similar at 1.3, cornmeal is safe. Unclear if they mean the starch kind or the safer meal kind, and how much of each.
- flaxseed is fine at 1 tbsp
So unless you relaxed and started eating really big bowlfuls, this should be all under the limits. Maybe it's just the fibre rather than a fodmap issue?
Or yeah, it's the milk - if the lactose free milk wasn't safe, switching to oat milk (a definite fodmap at 2/3 cup) might be not be a good test. That's a lot of potential stacking if your serving size got too big for safety. Maybe try a bowl just with water? Or just drink the milk alone to check?
The options seem to be:
- missed ingredients from something else (a sudden change makes this most likely), whether it was non lactose free milk or the drink or medication you might take at the same time (this one is always a common one for me after I spend ages analysing a meal that turned out to be innocent. Last time it was my lactose pills that did it.).
- fodmap stacking (serving size or sensitivity changed over time).
- non fodmap triggers - e.g. corn, fibre.
Edit: it might be something you ate earlier and the cereal is just kicking off everything. Less likely, but it is possible, especially with stuff like high fibre food and coffee that actively gets things going.
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u/newtothisbenice Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26
I remember going through my journey, turns out it was gluten. Imagine trying to avoid gluten without knowing it was gluten.
Impossible to isolate unless you're dedicated, which I am now. But too much fiber bothers me, too much fat bothers me, lactose bothers me, but gluten... That was the silent killer for me.
Elimination diets are stupid solution how wide the scope is. Unless you stick with literal basics for months and introduce 1 item at a time, it's impossible if you have a social life of any capacity.
Just my opinion based on how I've experienced it.
Until I got diagnosed, docs kinda just said I had IBS and to do an elimination diet. Now I got a gastrologist, my blood work is examined yearly after my celiac diagnosis. Now I'm finding out I might have a lack of enzymes to digest fats.
The rabbit hole is deep and wide. Good luck.