Bloating, cramping, and gas. Do you ever wonder why some foods wreak havoc on your digestive system, while other foods pass through unnoticed?
As it turns out, many foods that we commonly enjoy are high-residue foods. This means that they leave a lot behind for bacteria to feed on. When bacteria feed and proliferate, this is what is known as fermentation.
When food ferments or rots in the gut, our inner ecosystem gets thrown out of balance.
These foods are called FODMAPs.
FODMAP is an acronym that stands for fermentable, oligo- di- mono-saccharides and polyols. These are sugars that we cannot digest, which end up feeding bacteria and fungal overgrowth in the gut.
Gastroenterologist Dr. Peter Gibson developed the FODMAP list of foods to treat patients with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).
Do you feel like you have to avoid certain foods to steer clear of unpleasant digestive systems like cramping, bloating, gas, and even headaches? Trigger foods, known as FODMAPs, can wreak havoc on your digestive tract by causing fermentation to throw your inner ecosystem out of balance.
What does this rapid fermentation look like? There may be:
- Bloating
- Abdominal cramping
- Gas
- Heartburn
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Depression
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Brain fog
When we eat FODMAP foods, there is a chance that small amounts are well tolerated. While each person has their own FODMAP threshold, the FODMAP trigger foods fall into 5 categories.
The FODMAP List
- Beans and lentils: Oligosaccharides are short strands of simple sugars. Common foods in this group are several varieties of beans and lentils.
- Wheat, onions, and cabbage: Also an oligosaccharide, wheat contains a type of sugar called a fructan. Fructans are found inulin and other common foods such as Jerusalem artichokes, cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and cauliflower, onions, scallions, garlic, and avocados.
- Dairy: Lactose is a milk sugar and a disaccharide. Cow, sheep, and goat’s milk all contain lactose.
- Fruit, agave, and honey: Fructose is fruit sugar and a monosaccharide. Fruits high in fructose fall into this category, such as mango and watermelons. Some sweeteners contain fructose, such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), honey, and agave. Apples, peaches, celery, and pears are natural sources of polyols (sugar alcohols).
- Xylitol: Polyols are sugar alcohols. Examples of sugar alcohols are xylitol, maltitol, and sorbitol. These sugar alcohols taste sweet but are not absorbed as sugar. They are commonly used in “diabetic candy”, sugar-free mints, toothpastes, and chewing gum.
Solutions! Tips to Make a Low-FODMAP Diet Work for You
If you find that you still have episodes of bloating, gas, and other signs of digestive discomfort, you may want to experiment with combining low-FODMAP rules with the principles of the Body Ecology Diet.
Fructans: Onions contain fructans. If you like to cook with onion, experiment with low-FODMAP choices like chives or the green portion of scallions. You can also gently warm crushed cloves of garlic in coconut oil or ghee until the garlic flavor infuses into the oil. This method only works with oil - not water such as in a broth - because the fructans in garlic are water-soluble.
Lactose: If you avoid dairy and are concerned that you are missing out on key nutrients, ferment your favorite dairy with a Kefir Starter. If you decide to avoid dairy altogether, a high-quality fish oil is rich in vitamin D. Also, experiment with ghee, a type of clarified butter. While ghee boasts a number of nutrients, it contains very little common food irritants, such as milk sugar and milk proteins.
Fructose: Because we can only digest 20-25 grams of fructose in one sitting, it is essential to remember the Body Ecology food combing principle and the principle of 80/20. If you eat more fructose than your small intestine can absorb, it will ferment, becoming food for bacteria.
Polyols: If you find that you have trouble with sugar alcohols like xylitol, try using Stevia or Lakanto, which contains erythritol. Erythritol is a four-carbon polyol and, unlike other polyols, it is well absorbed.
If you are on the Body Ecology Diet, chances are you have already eliminated several FODMAP foods. With the Principle of Uniqueness, it is important to track your FODMAP intake to ensure that you can identify and avoid trigger foods to protect your inner ecology!
What to Remember Most About This Article:
For so many people, certain foods trigger digestive issues, while others don't cause a reaction at all. Many foods that wreak havoc on the digestive tract are high-residue foods, which leave behind large amounts of food particles that bacteria can feed on to cause fermentation.
Foods that ferment quickly in the digestive tract are known as FODMAPs. This fermentation quickly leads to symptoms like bloating, cramping, diarrhea, fatigue, headaches, and much more. Even though small amounts of FODMAP foods may be well tolerated, each person has their own threshold for these trigger foods that fall into 5 specific categories, including:
- Beans and lentils
- Wheat, onions, and cabbage
- Dairy
- Fruit, agave, and honey
- Xylitol
To get rid of unpleasant digestive symptoms and protect your inner ecology at the same time, consider a low-FODMAP diet used with the Body Ecology Principle of food combining. Just like the Principle of Uniqueness states, we all function differently. Make sure to track your FODMAP intake so that you can avoid trigger foods and keep your digestive health on track.
you can have no more than 1/4 avocado at one time
Posted on May 10 at 1:46 am
Debbie, I found your comment re: changes to FODMAP tolerance changing in the leadup to menstruation interesting and helpful. I've only been on a low FODMAP diet for a little while and it has made a big difference for me. However, as it draws near to that time of the month I have noticed some of my symptoms coming back even though I am still following the diet. I had started to wonder if hormones was the culprit as I know that in the past I have always seen a change in the way my gut behaves leading up to/ during my period. Reading your comment has reassured me that I'm not imagining things, and also that I shouldn't give up on the low FODMAP diet. I'm now confident that things will get better once my period starts and is over.
Posted on Dec 17 at 8:41 pm
My daughter who has a very good diet finds that a week or so before her monthly period makes
her FOODMAP tolerance changes. Foods that normally do not bother her are now only tolerable
in small amounts. She had steamed vegetables for four days before her period started. These
included cooked onions,cauliflower,brocolli, and cabbage along with potatoes. Normally she
could eat these and be ok with no bloating and other symtoms. For myself I found that If I ate anything with fructose sugar in it after this kind of meal then I bloated up. Otherwise I was fine.
So I wonder if fluctuations in hormones figure into this also.
Posted on Aug 21 at 1:59 pm
In response to Sean Carson, while I can appreciate where you're coming from, I'm fructose and lactose intolerant, so for me and people like me it is unfortunately not as simple as 'repairing out gut with probiotics etc'. I simply cannot digest these foods, and no amount of probiotics is going to make that go away (in fact in some instances probitoics can actually be hazardous to people with these intolerances). I agree that we shouldn't be afraid of natural foods and blaming them for our problems with digestion. I am fully aware that my gut is the problem, but in my case it has resulted from a stomach parasite I was unlucky enough to get a few months ago, which has resulted in an inability to digest certain elements of natural foods such as those covered by the FODMAP diet. I'm not afraid to eat these foods because they're on this list, I'm afraid to eat them because I cannot physically digest them adequately and consequently they make me feel like death!
I'm thankful research has been done on FODMAPs and the like, because without lists like this I'd be constantly playing Russian roulette with me digestive health.
Posted on Jul 10 at 9:13 pm
Indeed, these foods all contain complex sugars that get broken down in the distal gut; however, it is precisely these foods that our good, probiotic bacteria feed on to produce short-chain fatty acids like butyrate and other compounds healthful to the gut. There is a trend these days to make a big deal about newly "uncovered" constituents of natural foods and how they are now "dangerous' to us - lectins are a great example of this. When we take this reductionistic, allopathic perspective of nature's bounty, we literally miss the forest for the trees. If one has a difficult time digesting "FODMAP" foods or foods with much maligned lectins, then the problem is that one's gut is in pretty bad shape and needs to be seriously. Let me make it very clear: It's not natural foods that are now unhealthy for us; we're the problem - our post-antibiotic, mutated gut ecosystem. While one might have to temporarily reduce or eliminate these kinds of foods, the focus should be on repairing the gut terrain with probiotics, fermented foods, and other foods that change the gut terrain more favorably so one can start eating more widely again, which should be the ultimate goal. It's easy to miss the point of these articles and become "afraid" to eat great foods - onions for example - just because they are on a "FODMAP" chart!
Posted on Jun 21 at 11:28 am
I found a great product recently which is Raw Coconut Aminos. Such a benefit since soy and wheat had to leave my eating progrtam as they were trigger foods for me. Thanks
Posted on Jun 17 at 6:34 pm
What about fermented cabbage? Is it alright to eat it? It is one of the staple foods in the BED diet.
Posted on Jun 10 at 12:48 pm
I have all of those plms. But where can I buy in Canada? I live in province of Ontario.
Posted on Jun 7 at 8:25 pm
Doesn't fermenting cabbage negate this issue??
Posted on Jun 7 at 2:04 pm
>>>Fructans are found inulin and other common foods such as Jerusalem artichokes, cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and cauliflower, onions, scallions, garlic, and avocados.<<<
Serious??? What are we to eat then? We try to eat healthy and we put avocados in our green smoothies every day along with BED Greens and Potent Protein! Is that too much avocado?
Posted on Jun 7 at 9:44 am
Thanks for a very informative article. As a hydrotherapist I know that lots of people suffer from bloating.
Posted on Jun 7 at 6:30 am