In recent years I’ve started to experience what might be IBS: one moment constipated, the next suffering from diarrhoea. Not much fun!
I have a whole range of issues, health wise. The chief of which are psoriasis and psoriatic arthropophy. These are, thankfully, being dealt with by meds I currently take.
But a whole constellation of other issue also plague me, from bouts of depression to total and utter physical exhaustion one moment and insomnia the next. Again, not that much fun!
And in amongst all this, as well as being a bit overweight, I definitely suffer from bloating. A recent trip to the doc’s (re)confirmed this. The guy I saw – a clinical practitioner, not a fully-fledged GP – tapped on my torso: tapping on his cupped hand on my chest produced a dull thud. On my belly? A drum like ‘thock’. ‘You’re full of gas’, he told me. A if I didn’t know!
Over the years and for varying reasons I’ve tried numerous exclusion diets. I was a veggie for many years, on ethical grounds. Having ditched that, I tried other diets to try and address the psoriasis and arthritis. Such as no dairy, avoiding certain food groups, etc.
None of that latter stuff appeared to make any difference whatsoever! Certain regimes I’ve either never ties, or only in a half-arsed way. FODMAP looks scarily hardcore. Loads of our most common foodstuffs are in the avoid category!
But, encouragingly, or at least softening the possible blow, it’s a three step process. Cut all that lovely stuff out for say a month. See if things improve. And if they do, strategically reintroduce stuff, to see what causes a return of bloating.
According to info I found on a a nutritionist’s website, FODMAP is a three step process:
The three steps are:
- Elimination – In this first step, you eliminate all FODMAP carbs for several weeks. Your symptoms may improve immediately or over several weeks.
- Reintroduction – In this step, you’ll introduce FODMAPs one at a time to identify which foods you can tolerate and in what amount.
- Personalization – Finally, you’ll modify your diet to increase variety while adjusting the type and amount of FODMAP carbs you eat, based on what you learned in step 2.