Why low FODMAPs?
When our son was smaller we used to think he was just a glass-half-empty kind of fella. He would whine a lot and complain a lot about all sorts of things, and it wouldn't take much for him to dissolve into tears. We took him to a doctor, a pediatrician and a gastroenterologist, with no success. As he grew older and got better as expressing himself we started noticing patterns. Walking was often accompanied by him doubling up in pain, at night he would hardly ever not complain of having a sore tummy, the crux came when he came home from school one day saying that his tummy had been so sore that he'd wanted to lie down all day but his teacher wouldn't let him. How I wish I could go back to when he was very small and tell my then self what I know now.
We suspected diet and enlisted a nutritionist and then a dietitian. We went down a couple of wrong paths first of all but it was all learning, and finally committed to being low FODMAP. Wow. Two nights later was the first night he didn't tell us he was in pain. Or the night after that, or the night after that. Suddenly he wasn't whining all the time. Suddenly he had a lot more energy. Over the course of that month he grew 6cm. My glass-half-empty little guy became a fun, mischievous, bouncy 5 year old. All those healthy lentils and fruits and vegetables that I had been enthusiastically feeding my family were now off the menu, but boy was it worth it.
Some information that I've found helpful:
Are you intolerant to common foods? by Dr Sue Shepherd
Food, FODMAPs and IBS: What to eat and what to avoid by Dr Sue Shepherd and Dr Peter Gibson
A list of high and low fodmap foods from the Healthy Food Guide
A longer list of high and medium fodmap foods with meal ideas from Stanford University
A FODMAP Diet Update: Craze or Credible? (pdf) Practical Gastroenterology. December 2012
When our son was smaller we used to think he was just a glass-half-empty kind of fella. He would whine a lot and complain a lot about all sorts of things, and it wouldn't take much for him to dissolve into tears. We took him to a doctor, a pediatrician and a gastroenterologist, with no success. As he grew older and got better as expressing himself we started noticing patterns. Walking was often accompanied by him doubling up in pain, at night he would hardly ever not complain of having a sore tummy, the crux came when he came home from school one day saying that his tummy had been so sore that he'd wanted to lie down all day but his teacher wouldn't let him. How I wish I could go back to when he was very small and tell my then self what I know now.
We suspected diet and enlisted a nutritionist and then a dietitian. We went down a couple of wrong paths first of all but it was all learning, and finally committed to being low FODMAP. Wow. Two nights later was the first night he didn't tell us he was in pain. Or the night after that, or the night after that. Suddenly he wasn't whining all the time. Suddenly he had a lot more energy. Over the course of that month he grew 6cm. My glass-half-empty little guy became a fun, mischievous, bouncy 5 year old. All those healthy lentils and fruits and vegetables that I had been enthusiastically feeding my family were now off the menu, but boy was it worth it.
Some information that I've found helpful:
Are you intolerant to common foods? by Dr Sue Shepherd
Food, FODMAPs and IBS: What to eat and what to avoid by Dr Sue Shepherd and Dr Peter Gibson
A list of high and low fodmap foods from the Healthy Food Guide
A longer list of high and medium fodmap foods with meal ideas from Stanford University
A FODMAP Diet Update: Craze or Credible? (pdf) Practical Gastroenterology. December 2012