Friday, March 6, 2015

"Tweaking my diet"

For those of us who suffer through the debilitating symptoms of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), I would like to gripe a bit about my condition. I have been suffering now for about 24 years and it has either been really good for me or really bad. People say that you have to be positive in situations of illness and I have been trying my darnedest to be as positive as one can, with excruciating bouts of spasms and not to mention the ever-increasing roller-coaster of toilet activities. I am so over this condition that I am truthfully saying I am clinically depressed!

For those who want to judge me in that statement; to hell with you! You have no idea what I have been through. I have been on a eat 6 meals-a-day diet, I have been on a lactose-free diet, I have been on a gluten-free diet; I have had a colonoscopy  and an gastroscopy and now I am tweaking my diet again and are on the FODMAP diet.

I am sure those who have IBS understand what this entails, but for those who don't FODMAP is an acronym for Fermentable Oligo-saccharides And Polyols. So what the hell does that mean? These are sugars that can be poorly absorbed. They are found in a wide range of foods and include:

* Fructose in excess of glucose (found in fruits and honey).
* Lactose (found in milk and milk products).
* Sugar Polypols such as sorbitol and mannitol (found in some fruits and vegetables and often 
    added  as artificial sweeteners).
* Fructans - fructo-oligosaccharides or FOS (found i wheat, rye, onions and garlic).
* Galacto-oligosaccharides or GOS (found in legumes such as chickpeas).

Now that seems a lot to take in but what that means is my diet is crap and I have to cut out anything worth eating. 

So, from now on in I cannot eat chocolate (Oh my favourite thing in the world), cheese ( Oh tasty is the best), and many fruits and vegies I love such as watermelon, apples, asparagus, pears, plums, cauliflower and mushrooms. The most thing I will miss is bread containing wheat, gnocci ( Oh no not the gnocci!), pasta and crackers and this is only a small amount of things I will have to give up. 

You will now find me in the health food section of my local supermarket trying to find anything that contains none of the above FODMAP's. Yes that is almost impossible but that is where I will be. 

Tweaking my diet is the only way I can gain back my life; if I can remember what that looks like!

For all those FODMAP-PERS out there, I know how you feel. If you all have any advice for me or some excellent recipes, please send me the links. I will need all the help I can get.







  

2 comments:

  1. Do we eat to live, or live to eat? I guess it's the former from a basic point of view, but without all the wonderful flavours contained in various foods it becomes a chore. Our taste buds didn't develop for nothing. I feel for you Nicole; I guess after 24 years of food problems you have no doubt searched for answers. I can only hope that there is still a solution waiting to be found so that you can go back to the joy of living to enjoy eating.

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  2. Thanks Pamela. I do appreciate your support and you make a point when it comes to eating to live or live to eat.Unfortunately I have found now that for me it is eat to live.

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