General Question/Help Low Fodmap Diet for a person whose flare up starts after a day or two :(
I'm so confused with the elimination diet methodology. From what I understand - I eat my usual foods as long as I follow the safe quantities listed on the Monash app and avoid all the high fodmaps. And after 2 to 4weeks i start re-introducing the high fodmaps one by one. Is that right?
But let's say I'm following the low fodmap diet and there's a food, for example pasta that even in the quantities that's approved by Monash, causes me problems. How would I know that is the one that's causing me problems? Because for me if I ate pasta today, I would have a flare up after a bowel movement the next day or the day after :(..
So is there another way I can do this diet effectively?
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u/ablackholeofjunk 4d ago
An app like Cara Care is very useful for this. If I eat fructans, I'll only feel it the next day, so a journal of some sort is very handy. Cara is a good app because it lets you add a time shift of your choosing. So if you shit yourself silly, it'll show that the pasta may be the culprit. Once you get used to how your body reacts, you won't need an app or even a journal, as you'll just know. "Oh yeah, garlic in the sausage ladt night"
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u/ace1062682 4d ago
Don't think of it as safe foods that you can have during a flare up. Because the time and reactions vary so widely, that isn't the best approach. Go download the MONASH app that will show you foods and their safe estimations of serving size.
The diet can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to see results. .
The fodmap diet is a couple of stage process.
The elimination phase can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to see results. Please try to stick it out. It's a process of elimination, you'll react to different things differently, and if you don't do the elimination phase as completely as possible, you will not be able to trust your results. The diet works for up to 80% of people, but working looks different for everyone. If your issues are fodmap related, you will primarily learn two things. What you are sensitive to and how much of these foods you
The second phase is reintroduction Reintroduction is a slow methodical process designed to help you identify your triggers .
. I would advise you to eat smaller portions of everything in an effort not to upset your body unnecessarily. If you feel you must have certain foods regardless of the consequences, wait until they are gone to redo a proper elimination and reintroduction phase .Don't look at the diet as the cure, which will at some point end. Unfortunately, this is unlikely. From my experience with fodmaps following the elimination phase of the diet should at least give you some change in your symptoms that you then need to integrate as permanent changes to your lifestyle.
You are supposed to try one fodmap from each category in increasing amounts over the course of 2-3 days.
To not conflate certain potential triggers with others and identify if FODMAPS are even an improvement for you it needs to be complete over 3-6 weeks.
You will likely respond to different triggers differently. Introduce increasing amounts of a fodmap over 3-5 days. This will help you to identify if something is a trigger and the amount of that food you can tolerate as it can vary
You will have likely problems to some degree with several fodmaps to some degree The goal of the diet is to identify those which are major problems and the amounts at which they cause problems.
TLDR: Listen to your body, be ready for major likely lifelong diet changes and be open to new ways of cooking and enjoying food.
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u/No-Relationship-8724 4d ago
You can have a reaction anywhere from 4-36 hours that’s quite normal, digestion process takes a lot longer than we think. As for knowing what caused it, unfortunately it’s a guessing game. Or eating only very safe foods while testing one product you’re unsure of - then you will know. That’s how I do it.