FODMAPs Friendly Recipes

Gluten-Free Goddess Zucchini Bread - low FODMAPs.

FODMAPs-- What?

Time to discuss a rather- ahem- delicate matter. I am risking this flight of indelicacy on a food and recipe blog for the sake and comfort of those of you who happen to find yourselves in the same irksome boat, paddling (frustratingly!) upstream to symptom-free.

Despite going gluten-free- and six years later, dairy-free- certain individuals (that would be... moi) still endured unexplained bouts of bloating (we're talking epic, pregnant belly style bloating, Babycakes) and IBS-D (take this as a euphemism for spending untold hours reading last year's IKEA catalog perched on gleaming porcelain). Beyond annoying. All this unpredictable, stabbing pain and general, all-around unpleasantness- despite being scrupulously gluten-free and dairy-free, shunning such risk-taking activities as eating out with friends, or trying a new gluten-free product labeled "processed in a facility that also processes wheat, dairy and nut products" (this is easier than it seems- truth is, I am never really tempted, thanks to my tendency toward humbling, capricious IBS-D).

Then... I discovered The Culprit.

An unholy cluster of indigestible sugars called FODMAPs. Aka Fermentable Oligo-Di-Monosaccharides and Polyols. Yep.

Glancing down the list of foods high in FODMAPs, I saw my triggers confirmed, listed one by one in all their nemesis glory. Wheat. Lactose. Onions. Sorbitol. BEANS. (See below recipes for a basic FODMAPs list.)

Sound familiar? Ring any bells?

Not every FODMAP rich food is a trigger for everyone- we each seem to have our own FODMAP Top Ten List. (I am lucky enough to be able to handle a modest amount of avocado now, or a quarter cup of roasted broccoli, for instance. But if an onion sneaks its way into guac, or pasta sauce, or soup, I am one expanding, hurtin' unit.)

Start a food diary to help identify your triggers and keep track of your symptoms. Be vigilant with knowing your ingredients. Avoiding FODMAPs might be the missing puzzle piece. Like me, you just might find your life (and tortured gut) transformed.

I decided to gather all my gluten-free dairy-free FODMAP friendly recipes in an index- for your consideration and convenience- just in case your tummy has trouble with these sneaky little indigestible sugars, like mine. Some of these recipes may contain a trigger ingredient for you- so read recipes carefully, choose wisely, omit an ingredient, as necessary.

What is a FODMAP?

Short-chain carbohydrates such as fructose- certain fruits (apple, peaches, watermelon), agave, honey, high fructose corn syrup (aka evil HFCS)

Lactose- milk sugar

Fructans and inulin- wheat, onion, garlic, chicory, etc

Galactans- beans, lentils, legumes such as soy, etc

Polyols- alternative sweeteners sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol, and stone fruits such as avocado, apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums, etc

Read more about FODMAPs and IBS here.

Get the Stanford Hospital Print-Out on FODMAPs here.

More on short-chain carbohydrates here.

(Find my FODMAP friendly recipes on the next page.)

READ MORE and get the recipe ...