So much to learn about food and nutrition! Seriously, I wish I had known how fascinating this could be back when I was deciding on a career.
I was texting back and forth with my brother-in-law today who has had a lot of stomach problems- at one point they thought he had Crohn’s, but ended up ruling that out. I asked if he had heard of the SCD diet and he had not, but he had heard of and attempted the FODMAP diet. So of course I need to see what all this entails!! He said he had a hard time giving up a lot of foods, particularly wheat, but that he has been trying to reduce fructose in his diet and has seen some improvements.
The FODMAP diet is much more reasonable than the SCD, from what I have seen, and a lot of the basis of FODMAP makes more sense to me and the foods that I have had issues with. Long story short, FODMAP focuses on certain kinds of carbohydrates, including lactose, fructose, fructans, polyols, and galactans. The first two I understand, the last three I’m not as certain about, but several of the foods that it suggests eliminating, at least at first, include apples, pears, lentils, soy, wheat, milk, onions, garlic, and sugar additives–which are ALL things that I have either concluded I have problems with or have had suspicions that I do. BINGO things are starting to make some sense!
Some of my hesitation with the SCD diet was that a) it was ridiculously restrictive and b) it starts you out with eggs and applesauce, which are both things that I am already rather wary of. And something about it just didn’t feel right, maybe it was the fact that it expected me to try to give up ALL grains for essentially the rest of my life?? Yeah and no chocolate?!?! Of course looking at the FODMAP, it does say to be cautious with chocolate.. but at least it doesn’t say no! That’s another thing with FODMAP, it basically doesn’t say that anything is permanently off limits, more that you need to test different things and for many, in moderate amounts, it will end up being fine adding back to your diet. It also seems to be pretty well backed by the medical profession, which perhaps makes me feel a bit better about it.. Hooray! I think I found something that I can try!
Here are some legit resources on the FODMAP diet:
Adventures in Picky Stomachs 