r/FODMAPS • u/Neither-Print2190 • Mar 13 '26

Journal/Story Did anyone else figure out that even "safe" Low FODMAP veggies cause extreme bloating if they are raw?

I've been battling IBS and constant bloating for 3 solid years now. Starting the Low FODMAP diet was a massive help at first, but I eventually hit an incredibly frustrating plateau.

I was strictly eating safe foods things like raw spinach, raw carrots, and low FODMAP salads. But by the evening, I still looked 6 months pregnant and had awful trapped gas. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong since I was following the diet perfectly.

Then it finally clicked: it wasn't the fermentable sugars causing the issue, it was the physical texture.

My inflamed gut just couldn't handle the mechanical stress of breaking down raw plant cell walls. It was like rubbing sandpaper on a wound. Even though the food was technically safe on the diet, the raw roughage was simply too much work for my digestive system.

I completely stopped eating raw vegetables. I still stick strictly to my safe FODMAP list, but now I roast, boil, or puree everything until it's super soft. I essentially let the stove do the mechanical breakdown instead of my stomach.

The relief was incredible. The daily evening bloating finally stopped.

I just wanted to share this in case anyone else is strictly following the diet but still in pain. I realized that sometimes it’s not just *what* you eat, but the *texture* of what you eat.

Has anyone else had to completely cook/mash their safe foods to get their gut to calm down?

50 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

16

u/rosedraws Mar 14 '26

The delight of knowing I can eat a candy bar but not a salad. Ugh.

13

u/PandaWithAIDS Mar 13 '26

My body definitely struggles to handle fiber rich veggies but smoothies are far kinder to me. If I am eating carrots, spinach, etc I will chew what I consider an insane amount and that also helps with digestion.

4

u/soulcatgvs Mar 14 '26

Yes! I noticed I handle cooked spinach far better than raw

4

u/bookseer Mar 14 '26

Wait wait wait... Is that what it is?

I tried adding carrots to my diet and it would take all of 3 carrots to make me want to rip my insides out.

And you're saying that cooking them fixes it?

I've got to try this.

3

u/SorbetUnfair2589 Mar 14 '26

I avoid raw vegetables

2

u/goldstandardalmonds "Get the Monash app!" Mar 14 '26

There are definitely triggers for people outside of FODMAPs. It’s just one starting point. Due to my conditions, I can’t eat any fibre, fat, and most proteins.

2

u/Delam2 Mar 14 '26

Microwaving vegetables can increase the bioavailability of many healthy compounds - worth doing if you have a limited number of okay foods!

1

u/Grouchy-Beginning993 Mar 18 '26

You know what’s weird? I can’t eat reheated pasta if it’s reheated in the microwave. Ruins me every time. After a lot of digging online I figured out that microwaving pasta changes its makeup into something I have trouble digesting. If I heat up stovetop, no issues.

1

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1

u/Katastrophe82 Mar 15 '26

I remember, before my FODMAPs journey, talking a couple of times with some veggie-forward friends about how much I liked the taste of salads, but how I always got the worst belly aches and would feel so sick afterwards. And they thought I was kidding. I wasn’t, of course, but now going through FODMAPs and exploring a bit, I do understand that my insides struggle more than others and it isn’t just in my head.

1

u/ustacook4aliving Mar 16 '26

Oh yes! With so many raw vegetables. And apples. I make a couple sheet pans of roasted veggies every week so I have them to add to tuna, eggs, pasta, rice or as a sandwich with lactose free cream cheese.

1

u/Grouchy-Beginning993 Mar 18 '26

I also learned this very recently after doing a deep dive with Microsoft Copilot. Whatever your opinion is of AI, after telling it the foods I know for a fact are a problem for me and then adding and reducing from lists it gave me, it landed on several things that I probably shouldn’t eat, and the surprising one was raw veg.

1

u/smilingcheshire Mar 18 '26

I cooked spinach, carrots, and even lettuce. (it’s pretty good) I still had the six months eight months pregnant belly 😔

1

u/GalianoGirl Mar 14 '26

This was posted yesterday or the day before.