Sorry to those of you that have been following my FODMAP journey, these last two weeks have been absolutely ridiculous.
Week 3 has very few entries, which is why I’m combining it with Week 4 for this post. Dan, my husband, went on a business trip the 18th through 21st. He travels occasionally for work (he gets to go to launch sites to help launch rockets), and this was his first trip of the year. It was the first time he’d had to travel while I have been on the new eating schedule, and it didn’t go well for me – turns out I need to use far too much energy making food to actually do much else when I’m left to take care of the cats and myself for 4 days. On top of the business trip, I also had my follow-up appointment with Dr H (the physiatrist) to go over my MRI results on the 19th, and that didn’t go well (you can see the results here); It took a serious toll on my mental health. Because of everything, I decided to just skip the logging the 18th through 22nd to take care of my mental and physical health.
(LF = lactose free; GF = gluten free)
Week 3 FODMAP Diet: January 16-22
Monday, January 16
- 6:45am: raspberry jelly toast; LF vanilla yogurt
- 9:30am: ProNourish; 2 oatmeal pancakes without syrup (cold)
- 12pm: a bunch of red grapes; hardboiled egg
- 2pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 4:30pm: Babybel; blueberry lemon muffin with cinnamon sugar
- 7:15pm: quesadilla (rice tortilla, mozzarella, chicken, tomatoes)
- Fluid: 2.22 liters
Kale Banana Smoothie
Tuesday, January 17
- 6:45am: oatmeal with brown sugar (make sure there are no molasses); hardboiled egg
- 9am: spinach and banana smoothie (sub. spinach for kale in this one)
- 1.5 hour nap
- 12:10pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 2:30pm: 2 oatmeal pancakes without syrup (cold); Babybel
- 4:45pm: mashed potatoes made with Fairlife LF milk
- 7:15pm: grilled tomato, ham, mozzarella sandwich
- Fluid: 2.11 liters
I did make sure that even though I wasn’t logging, I was following my diet and the timing of my eating schedule. I was also ensuring I was drinking my average amount of fluids every day. I just had no energy to write anything down.
Week 4 was also interesting. I had my important immunology appointment on Monday, at National Jewish Health (write up coming soon) which took a bit longer than expected. Then on Friday, I got my cortisone shot in my right SI joint. For the cortisone shot, I had to be NPO (no idea what it stands for, but it means nothing by mouth at all, not even water) for at least 4 hours before the procedure. Since my stomach doesn’t always like to empty properly, even though I don’t have gastroparesis, I wanted to be sure I gave myself at least 5 hours. My shot wasn’t until 1:30pm, so that meant I wanted to eat by 8am. I decided to wake up at 6am (to ensure I had enough time to prepare food and get back to sleep) and eat breakfast, then I went back to sleep as long as I could, then went to my shot. I wasn’t able to eat until I got home (I did bring food, but I was sleepy and nauseous) at 4pm. Otherwise, the week was pretty smooth.
Week 4 FODMAP Diet: January 23-29
Monday, January 23
- 6am: oatmeal with brown sugar; hardboiled egg
- 8am: Babybel; Bobo’s bite (original)
- 10:30am: ProNourish; veggie straws
- 12pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 3pm: quesadilla (rice tortilla, mozzarella, deli ham, tomatoes)
- 5pm: one oatmeal pancake without syrup (cold)
- 7:30pm: raspberry jelly toast; scrambled eggs
- Fluids: 2.07 liters
Tuesday, January 24
- 11:15am: raspberry jelly toast; LF vanilla yogurt
- 1:30pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 3:30pm: cinnamon rice cake; ProNourish
- 5pm: Bobo’s bite
- 7:30pm: grilled ham, tomato, mozzarella sandwich
- 9:30pm: LF vanilla ice cream
- Fluids: 2.28 liters
Wednesday, January 25
- 7:30am: raspberry jelly toast; hardboiled egg
- 9:30am: spinach banana smoothie
- 12pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 2:30pm: Babybel; veggie straws
- 4:30pm: ProNourish; banana
- 6:45pm: chicken; brown rice
- 9:30pm: 4 Pamela’s Simple Bites snickerdoodles
- Fluids: 2.99 liters
Thursday, January 26
- 11am: raspberry jelly toast; LF vanilla yogurt
- 1:30pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 3:30pm: Babybel; veggie straws
- 6:15pm: GF homemade pizza (sauce, GF crust, mozzarella, deli ham)
- 8:30pm: LF vanilla ice cream; 2 Andean Dream Cocoa Orange Quinoa cookies
- Fluids: 2.18 liters
Friday, January 27
- 6:15am: oatmeal with brown sugar; hardboiled egg
- 4:30pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 7:30pm: Yardhouse grilled chicken and avocado sandwich* ; plain French fries
- Fluids: 2.96 liters
Saturday, January 28
- 11am: raspberry jelly toast; LF vanilla yogurt
- 12:30pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 2:30pm: spinach and banana smoothie
- 5pm: veggie straws; ProNourish
- 7pm: two grilled ham, tomato, mozzarella sandwiches
- 9:30pm: raspberry sorbet; 8 Pamela’s Simple Bites snickerdoodles
- Fluids: 3.68 liters
Sunday, January 29
- 11am: raspberry jelly toast; hardboiled egg
- 1:15pm: Sunbutter and grape jelly rice cake
- 3:45pm: spinach and banana smoothie
- 6:30pm: GF homemade pizza (sauce, mozzarella, deli ham)
- Fluids: 3.15 liters
*I had to modify the sandwich from Yardhouse: lettuce wrapped, no mayonnaise; the chicken was seasoned only with salt and pepper (we called ahead) and the fries are just potatoes cooked in plain canola oil with no seasoning
So far, the diet doesn’t actually seem to be helping much. I’m still going to bed quite bloated, but some nights are far worse than others. I’m almost positive that the bloating and digestive problems I have are due to food allergies, and I’m still eating trigger foods. However, I have noticed I do feel a bit better when I drink the LF milk as opposed to regular milk (thinking about it, I was a bit sluggish feeling after drinking normal milk) so I may stick with that anyway.
There will be one more FODMAP week before I see Kara (the dietitian) again. I’ll probably get put on another diet, or a modified diet of some sort anyway, so I will likely continue these roundups. I will work on getting more recipes posted, regardless of what comes from my follow-up!
Other Posts About My FODMAP Diet:
Finding Life's Silver Sun 
No wonder you abandoned it…I would with those few dishes you ate..i certainly would be hungry as you were..
I have been on it for two years and I just eat the way I always did but without trigger foods like garlic and onions and other high FODMAP foods…
I make delicious dinners with barbecued chicken, braised lamb, baked salmon, scalloped potatoes, roasted green beans to name a few…steak frites is a favourite as well..
Breakfast is gluten free bread with peanut butter and maple syrup or steel cut oats with berries, oatmeal pancakes, or orange poppy seed muffins…lunch might be savoury pancakes or a light vegetarian pasta dish…
There are so many low FODMAP choices from the foods that are allowed…I sometimes make a lovely ratatouille with eggplant and peppers…if I want dessert, there are berry pies or even pumpkin pie, pecan pie, a myriad of cakes that are allowed on this diet…
Sure it’s hard at first to eliminate foods you love but there are so many to replace them….unless you have other issues like SIBO the FODMAP diet is the best way to control IBS…provided of course you have checked to make sure your medications are also low FODMAP…too many times even medications, even probiotics, contain lactose, sorbitol, mannitol and inulin which are also high FODMAP…if you are still suffering I hope you try it again and this time don’t deprive yourself of delicious foods…it makes life much easier and pain free…
Btw…try essential oils too… 😉
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I sell doTERRA so I definitely know the benefits of essential oils! 😂
Honestly, the food you mention in the comment sounds gross! I am a really picky eater. I was enjoying the taste of most of the food, it just took so horribly long to make. When IBS isn’t your only health problem, the energy spent in the kitchen is NOT worth it at all! I was hungry because I had to use more calories preparing all the meals my dietitian was having me eat than I was getting. All my meals were supposed to be very small.
This diet didn’t provide any relief for me at all, and it wasn’t from stress only. A lot of foods I couldn’t have on this diet were foods that doesn’t cause me an ounce of trouble, whereas a lot of foods I can have on this diet it turns out I’m highly allergic/sensitive to.
I’m on a no corn, reduced gluten, reduced histamine diet right now, and I’ve never had my IBS behave better!
My probiotic contains lactose because the one I had been on contained corn. I have also eliminated corn from all my OTC meds. The little bit I get in my prescriptions is okay and doesn’t hurt me.
I won’t be trying this diet again because it was frustrating and completely ineffective. (Since you have to be GF, and a ton of GF products are corn based, it didn’t work. That’s why I’m “reduced gluten” now.)
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