Cooking and the low-FODMAP diet

[Viktoria]

One of the recent additions to IBS treatment is an elimination diet called the FODMAPS diet. Fodmaps stands for fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharides and polyols and wheat is a big one. So many people with gastro issues stop eating wheat products and feel better. Because it's so prevalent now, they attribute it to gluten, when in fact it may be the fructans.

[MollyB]

My doctor has put me on a low-FODMAP diet, and trying to cook good food under this diet is a challenge. (Here is a pretty good summary of the diet, if you're curious.) In brief, it eliminates wheat, lactose, beans, and a fair number of fruits and vegetables, including garlic and onions. 

 

Has anyone else out there cooked for this diet and found some good recipes? The no garlic or onions piece is what's really hard, as I've always eaten a lot of garlic and onions in almost everything. I hadn't realized how omni-present they were in all my favorite recipes until I had to stop using them. Ginger is allowed, and scallion greens (just not any of the bulb). I'm also very sad about cutting out wheat, as my husband and I have always baked a lot of sourdough bread. After only one week, I'm getting pretty tired of salad with cooked protein on top, with oatmeal for breakfast and hard-boiled eggs for snacks.

 

If anyone has ideas, I'd love to hear them!  Rice, potatoes, and tofu are OK, as well as hard cheeses. 

 

 

[SobaAddict70]

I don't see shallots on the chart.  Are those allowed? 

 

I'll try to think of ideas later.

 

ETA is a good guideline "no alliums allowed"?  Because if so, that adds another restriction.  It means no leeks, no ramps, etc.  I confess I didn't read things closely.

 

ETA:  I see that it does.  Hm...okay, I'll post later.

Edited May 16, 2014 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[NancyH]

I have a friend on this diet. For breakfast, we made a big pot of brown rice and he added hard cheese (which doesn't have lactose), sesame oil, salt and pepper. It actually made a pretty tasty breakfast cereal. 

[MollyB]

NancyH, that brown rice idea sounds good. 

 

And SobaAddict70, "no alliums" is exactly right. But infusing them in oil is OK, so I've been using garlic-infused olive oil. (The sugars the diet avoids are water-soluble, so you can't do things like put pearl onions or whole garlic in a soup or stew for flavor and then just avoid them when eating.)

[Lisa Shock]

At the bottom of the chart, it does allow garlic powder and oil, look to those to help you out.

 

Looks like you could have grits and/or polenta which would be good for breakfast or as a side with dinner, or dinner if made with a protein.

 

Fruit salad is always a good change of pace, for any meal.

 

You can make enchiladas (corn tortillas) for dinner, just eliminate the usual cheese. I am assuming that since bell peppers are on the ok list, that hot peppers would also be ok. Make your sauce from scratch and use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic.

 

It also appears that you could make ratatouille without onions just go heavier on the herbs.

 

I am thinking that ghee would be ok to use. You can make your own or buy it. Just use it like you would use butter. I know butter is on thhe list as ok, but, ghee has pretty much all lactose removed. There are a lot of potato dishes available to you: anna, scalloped made with parmesean and butter/ghee no cream, oven fries, spanish tortilla, etc.

 

Being able to make tomato sauce means you could make a version of eggplant parmesean, just use gluten-free bread crumbs and lost of parmesean cheese and leave out the mozzarella, it will still be tasty. Serve with a side of polenta, and you have a meal. (if you need meat, fry up a chop.)  There are lots of other tomato sauce based recipes that can give your meals variety like steak or lobster fra diavolo.

 

 

[SobaAddict70]

NancyH, that brown rice idea sounds good. 

 

And SobaAddict70, "no alliums" is exactly right. But infusing them in oil is OK, so I've been using garlic-infused olive oil. (The sugars the diet avoids are water-soluble, so you can't do things like put pearl onions or whole garlic in a soup or stew for flavor and then just avoid them when eating.)

 

Asafoetida adds an onion-like flavor if you'd rather resort to an herb instead of something like garlic powder.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida

[SobaAddict70]

Seconded on polenta.

 

In addition to ratatouille, there are vegetable tians. Ina has an okay recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/vegetable-tian-recipe.html -- you'd have to omit the onion and garlic though.

[Smithy]

There are some good ideas coming here.  Note that the handout listing approves hard cheeses such as cheddar, swiss  and mozarella, in small quantities.  I'm with Lisa on the fruit salad.  It's a pity about the stone fruits, but with citrus, berries, pineapple and melons you still have a lot of options.

[Plantes Vertes]

It looks like you could have fruit salad or compote, or smoothies for breakfast. Then there are always eggs/omelet.

 

The sort of vegetables permitted looks like it could make some good stir fries. You could also do roasted Mediterranean vegetables or squash as a side dish. Consider browning your vegetables as a way of concentrating flavour without onions.

 

Check out Jain cooking - Jains forbid onion and garlic on religious grounds. Also bear in mind that your palate will adapt quickly and you will probably not miss these ingredients so strongly for long. Other flavours will become more pronounced instead.

 

Increase the herbs and spices in recipes that would usually use aliums. If scallion greens are allowed maybe chives or ramp leaves will be too; I'm not sure whether citrus zest is although I see that fruit juice is not.

 

Other sources of flavour include pickles, olives, capers, tapenade and pesto, cured meat and fish like anchovies, wine, nuts and seeds, mustard, infused oils and the oils of various nuts and seeds eg sesame oil, flavoured vinegars like tarragon vinegar or balsamic vinegar.

 

You can get gluten-free flour that will typically be a blend of the following grains; you might consider buying a bread maker as purchasing wheat-free bread is not cheap.

 

The gluten-free grains are apparently amaranth, buckwheat, corn, oats, millet, quinoa, rice and wild rice, sorghum and teff.

 

A rice cooker will come in handy if you want to eat a lot of these grains. Rinse them before cooking.

 

Teff flour is traditional in East African pancakes (injera) but it is a bit difficult to handle and also to get hold of so perhaps not the most accessible place to start; there are threads about it on this site though if you are interested.

 

Amaranth is very rich in protein; its seeds can be made into a flour which would probably be present in gluten-free flour mixes. The whole seeds can be popped in a hot pan and used instead of breadcrumbs for crunch or as a breakfast cereal with milk. Simmer 20mins in 5 times the volume of water, then drain, for a starch side dish. It sort of crunches/bursts when chewed so is quite interesting to eat. Here are quite a few recipes (scroll down).

 

Oats obviously make porridge and muesli. They can also be used to coat fried fish and you can use them to top a vegetable crumble along with seeds or to make oat crackers (here with some other uses).

 

Buckwheat (toasted it is called kasha) can be cooked 20mins in 2 times the volume of water as the starch element of a meal. Soba are Japanese buckwheat noodles; here are some recipes. Refrigerate or freeze the grain to prevent spoiling. Buckwheat galettes are savoury French pancakes filled with ham and cheese or whatever you like. Again they are a bit tricky to make without adding normal wheat flour but there are threads on it on this site and you might be able to buy them premade. Here's a recipe.

 

Corn (aka polenta, masa, mais, grits, maize, melie-meal, cornmeal) is used in cornbread, corn tortillas, polenta (porridge, baked or fried), grits as breakfast cereal or a starch with a meal. Shrimp and grits is a popular dish. Also use cornflour to thicken sauces. Corn flakes could be an alternative to oatmeal.

 

Ground millet porridge can be served for breakfast and the whole grain served as a side dish (simmer in 2 1/2 times the volume of water for 20mins). You can make millet croquettes (omit aliums, increase spices) and a millet bake.

 

Quinoa is also very high in protein and it is also a possibility for breakfast. Cook it in 2 times the volume of water for 20mins. For a morning meal you can add dried fruit, cinnamon and grated carrot or apple pieces. Use it to make a substantial salad or as a stuffing for vegetables (omit onion); cook in broth and add herbs and spices for more flavour.

 

Rice can come as risotto, fried rice, arroz caldo (increase scallions, omit other aliums) arroz verde (use scallions instead of onion), pilaf/pulau/pilow/plov/pulaw/palaw, congee/jook, rice pudding, rice noodles, sushi... you could still make it alongside a stir-fry or curried meat or permitted vegetables. Appam is a rice pancake from India (use nut milk). You could have puffed rice cereal for breakfast.

 

Sorghum flour can be substituted for wheat flour; scroll down for ideas for baked goods, pastry and noodles.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[SobaAddict70]

and to add to Plantes' excellent post, you can do all sorts of things with those foodstuffs that people don't normally use them for (at least in the U.S.)

For example:

Oatmeal can be eaten as a savory instead of as a breakfast cereal, like so: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipes-using-oatmeal-in-savor-104634

Cornmeal makes for a fabulous pancake substitute: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/dining/19mini.html

I am obviously a fan of soba. I like these by the Kitchn, for preps that go out of the Japanese norm: http://www.thekitchn.com/soba-noodles-recipe-roundup-182357

Edited May 16, 2014 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[MollyB]

Thanks for all the ideas! I clearly need to explore more with cornmeal. I'd thought of polenta and corn tortillas, but that cornmeal pancake recipe Plantes linked to looks great. Tonight for dinner I had chicken breast rolled up with pancetta and fresh herbs (a lovely recipe from Giuliano Hazan's Every Night Italian), along with mashed potatoes and a salad. Last night I made a ham and Gruyere quiche with an amaranth and oat crust (the grains ground and mixed with melted butter and a bit of water), and the crust was not a success.

 

Any suggestions on good things to do with soba noodles? I've only ever used them in cold dishes with a peanut sauce.

[SobaAddict70]

I like them hot, with things like poached chicken or shreds of duck meat and chicken broth.  That's a basic template; you can add things like sliced vegetables (whatever would fit the parameters of your diet), fresh herbs like mint or cilantro, sriracha/togarashi pepper and so forth.

 

Some ideas include the recipes found on 101 Cookbooks (the blog's worth exploring btw; highly recommended):  http://www.101cookbooks.com/ingredient/soba%20noodle

[Plantes Vertes]

Yasai yaki soba is stir-fried vegetables (carrot, beansprouts, cabbage) and eggs with soba. Shred and stir-fry the veg starting with the firmest, boil the noodles until slightly under-done and drain. Beat the eggs and add to the veg, stir more then add the noodles, take off the heat and cover to steam for a few minutes. Dress with a sauce of 4:2:2:1:1 by volume of mirin, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, grated ginger. Garnish with pickled ginger, black sesame seeds and chopped scallions.

 

Toshikoshi soba (New Year's noodle soup) is cooked soba added to a dashi broth flavoured with mirin, soy sauce and a bit of sugar and garnished with chopped scallions, nanami spice mix and other stuff like spinach, seaweed, fishcakes, cooked vegetables depending on taste and region.

[CKatCook]

Try looking around the internet for "paleo diet". Tons of recipes are out there, the "diet" is mostly very low fodmap.

[MollyB]

Here's an update 10 days in on the diet:

• I'm adjusting to no onions or garlic. Garlic-infused oil helps with the flavor of garlic, but there's really no substitute for onions. 
• It's also been pretty easy to adjust to which vegetables and fruit I can eat. (Although I miss good apples.)
• I miss bread. Gluten-free bread just isn't very good. My husband made some pretty good flatbread without wheat, but I'm still trying to figure out how to do sandwiches. 
• The Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thins are pretty tasty crackers, and I also like the Glutino gluten-free sesame pretzels
• I'm realizing I really don't like to eat big hunks of meat - my diet has changed over the past few years to more and more whole grains and vegetables along with little bits of meat, and I don't want to go back to eating whole steaks or pork chops with any frequency. 
• I have lost 4 lbs (that I could definitely afford to lose)

What's especially challenging is having to cut out pretty much all prepared food products (due primarily to onion, garlic, milk products, and prohibited sweeteners like honey.) If I want chicken broth or vegetable broth, I have to make my own no-onion, no-garlic version. Same with salad dressing, ketchup, curry paste, etc. While these are all things I sometimes made anyway, it's hard to have to always make them. And now there's really no option to order a pizza or have a frozen Trader Joe's dinner as a late-week emergency meal anymore. With a full-time job and a toddler, it's hard to find the time to cook anything interesting - it was hard enough before the restrictive diet, but now it's really hard.

 

I'm eating lots of eggs and salads! Frittatas, omelets, Cobb salads, etc. 

 

Successful meals (i.e. low-FODMAP but things I would have eaten before going on the diet - I'm not including all my unexciting salads);

• Chard cakes with sorrel sauce (I just had a teeny bit of the sauce, which has yogurt in it. Used home-made gluten-free breadcrumbs and garlic-infused oil in place of garlic) from Plenty
• Grilled chicken thighs with roasted kale & potatoes on the side
• Seared scallops with white wine pan sauce, with sauteed zucchini and carrots
• Blueberry buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup

I've been trying to figure out how to do a tortilla espanola without onions. (Sorry - can't figure out how to enter a tilde here.)  I've always make a fairly traditional one with potatoes, onion, and egg. Any thoughts on what I could add in place of onions? I feel like I need a little more than just potato and onion in it. 

 

I'm planning to try some soba noodle dishes as soon as I can make it to the Asian market here to get soba noodles. 

[Lisa Shock]

For the tortilla, how about diced green chiles? (my New Mexican side speaking up here!) They go well with potatoes and eggs and can be purchased fresh, frozen or canned. (even though the can is tiny, don't use all of it unless you're making a 12" tortilla with like a dozen eggs) You could also try some diced tomatoes, fresh or canned, I find that tomato in egg dishes adds a nice flavor contrast. With either of these options, I would add them right before the eggs. I like my potatoes really browned well before adding anything watery to the pan.

[SobaAddict70]

Re a tortilla: chorizo, tuna or peppers.

[Plantes Vertes]

I've been trying to figure out how to do a tortilla espanola without onions. (Sorry - can't figure out how to enter a tilde here.)  I've always make a fairly traditional one with potatoes, onion, and egg. Any thoughts on what I could add in place of onions? I feel like I need a little more than just potato and onion in it. 

 

 

 

I also vote for peppers, but would roast them first.

[biochef]

I know that low FODMAP diet is difficult to tackle and also have limited guideline resources. I have a resource for the food on the FODMAP diet may be it’s helpful for you.

 

Just check the below link                                  

 

http://ibs.about.com/od/FODMAPsInformation/fl/How-to-Follow-a-Low-FODMAPs-Diet.htm

Edited May 22, 2014 by Mjx
Fixed link issue. (log)

[GlorifiedRice]

Maybe this is my problem...!!!

 

ATTENTION! THE FOLLOWING IS ONLY MY OPINION AND OBSERVATION. NOT eGULLETS. CONSULT A DR FOR ADVICE ON YOUR BODY.

 

I think the Sugar Alcohols (aka polyols) caused my stomach issues. I think anything that screws up the stomach and intestines and causes that much discomfort and pain is bad news.

Last December I had completely gone off my stomach meds (protonix and carafate) for Functional Dyspepsia I was diagnosed with 3 yrs ago and felt great...Until I started eating Truvia on berries with plain yogurt every night. Truvia has Erythritol a supposedly non gastric issue causing polyol. I felt like I was dying inside. During the Atkins craze people loaded up on the polyols like Maltitol, now there is a large amount of IBS and IBS like ppl.

 

I think there needs to be a study on Polyols and IBS...

 

Lets also not forget the Carageenan stomach issues....

 

On to FODMOPS...

What if you are only sensitive to one of the sugars? Can you then eat the rest? Or must you stay away from all of them?

What about NUTS?

[Katie Meadow]

Two years ago I got a terrible stomach virus and couldn't shake the aftereffects. Finally, after lots of research and talking to my doctor I went on the low-fodmaps diet. I was pretty strict about it for at least six months, and then I started slowly and carefully adding back in certain foods, one at a time to see what I could tolerate, and there are now very few things I can't eat, at least in moderation. So don't lose hope! It may not be forever.

 

I found the low-fodmaps diet to be a very healthy one, since all food groups are in the diet, even for me, as I have to avoid high-cholesterol foods as well. For anyone who confuses it with a paleo diet, you are very mistaken. The only grains off the table are wheat and rye. Many cultivated agricultural foods are fine, and they include the spectrum of green and orange foods. I don't eat a lot of meat any more and would be miserable on the paleo diet.

 

Just about every substitute food for wheat products I find pretty awful, so I just don't bother trying to find gluten-free breads that are tolerable. We started making our own corn tortillas and that was a godsend. They are so good! And I finally got a great recipe for wheat-free pancakes. I eat those or steel cut oats for breakfast. I also make grits (or coarse polenta). I love it out of the pot, but also formed into cakes, and sautéed for breakfast or whenever. I eat a LOT of rice: mostly high quality organic basmatti, because I love the taste. I've discovered fried rice, which is friendly for all kinds of veggies. When I finally re-introduced beans I discovered that some were not a problem, and I make a pot of beans once a week, which I eat over rice. Some things you always eat over pasta can work over rice. Tomato season is almost upon us, and just making a sauce of fresh uncooked tomato with either butter or oil (no onion!) is awfully good on rice.

 

I still have to limit wheat--it seems to be the worst offender, although I can cheat a little. For me it has nothing to do with the gluten, just the wheat. And remember, everyone is different when it comes to these kinds of diets, so all the low fodmaps charts will eventually end up being personalized for each user. When I miss noodles--and I so much do--I go out for Pho or Bun or spring rolls at Viet restaurants. Rice noodles are awesome, although I wouldn't want to eat them in lasagne. A cautionary note about soba: if you read the ingredients for buckwheat noodles you will discover that they are not just buckwheat, but also have regular wheat in them. I know, that's a tough one, because buckwheat is on the good list.

[pbear]

On to FODMOPS...

What if you are only sensitive to one of the sugars? Can you then eat the rest? Or must you stay away from all of them?

What about NUTS?

 

Read again the link in the OP.  FODMOPS

[GlorifiedRice]

Okay I was looking up the nut thing on Google, Almonds are low FODMOP, pistachios are high.

 

HOWEVER, I think these online sites need to get it together, some charts say GRAPES are HIGH others say LOW.

[Mjx]

Quick heads-up for those encountering inconclusive low-FODMAP-diet results: if you're in the elimination period, and your results are inconsistent/confusing, check the labels of every medication and supplement you take for FODMAP, especially for the sugar alcohols, because they're frequently used as bulking agents in pills. My doctor recommended I look into the possibility of FODMAP being the cause of various inconvenient symptoms, but didn't offer anything in the way of detail, just told me to look it up, which I did, but not as thoroughly as I should have done. The results were inconsistent, except when I was travelling, and tended to forget to take my nutritional supplements; in these cases, my GI problems subsided completely. I'd love to say I put two and two together out quickly, but I only figured it out when I was looking at the ingredient list on my calcium supplement, and noticed maltitol in the list. Then I looked at the rest of my nutritional supplements, and every damn mineral supplement contained maltitol (not the vitamins, for some reaason). I switched to FODMAP-free supplements, and things have been just fine since then.

 

Most supplements and medications seem to be available in FODMAP-free versions, but if you're taking something that does not offer that option, taking a spoonful of psyllium husk seems to mitigate the worst of the consequences (I did this while I was using up the last of the maltitol-containing supplements: I couldn't afford to just throw them away).

 

ETA I know that a well-informed doctor will discuss the possibility of this problem (also, thorough discussions of this online address it), but many doctors don't think to mention it.