My FODMAP journey

Having suffered for years with IBS I decided to finally address it as I’ve lost a few days of work through stomach aches and nausea. My doctor recommended the Fodmap diet. This is a prescriptive list of foods to avoid such as garlic and onion and those that are “Fodmap friendly”. After a wonderful two week holiday of too much food and booze I decided to begin when I got back. I started my first day feeling weirdly excited after I’d filled up my fridge with the healthiest set of ingredients it’s ever had. There were a few new things that I had to buy for some of the recipes such as almond milk and coconut oil. To kick it all off I started with vanilla soya yoghurt and raspberries which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I had to check my Fodmap app about raspberries and they’re ok as long as you just have a few. This is the same with most things particularly fruit. I was sad to see I can only have an eighth of an avocado so there was not much point in getting one as it would go off in a week. It’s normally a staple part of my diet so I’ll miss my little green friend! Lunch was more effort than I’d usually take but worth it as I made some quite tasty red pepper soup. The recipe was from one of my new Fodmap books which have been really helpful in telling me what I can and can’t eat. It would’ve been nicer with bouillon but that’s not allowed so I just used hot water. I might try to find some Fodmap friendly stock to use as there are lots of nice soup recipes. It’ll do for tomorrow as well so that’s handy. I start work on the 7th so I’ll need to find things that are easy to take into work with me on my bike (which will be hopefully helping with the fitness drive). I did feel quite hungry mid afternoon but a banana and some yummy posh peanut butter helped stem the need for something naughty. We had a table booked for 9.30 which is really late for me so I think I did well to last till then. I’d rung up earlier to let them know I was on the diet. They’d not heard of it so I just said no onions and garlic and thought I’d choose the ones that were least harmful. When we arrived they showed us to our seats and gave me a scribbled on menu with most of the dishes crossed out!