“What is wrong with my body and why is food attacking me?!?” These were my thoughts for well over a year. I couldn’t figure out why my body was reacting to food that way it was – food that I thought was good for me, or at least harmless.
It wasn’t.
Not only have I developed allergies to certain foods, but I also don’t process certain carbohydrates (enter the FODMAPs), which results in a wide variety of different foods with seemingly nothing in common being on my “naughty” food list.
It’s a frustrating diet, to say the least. It makes no sense to me that I can eat unlimited potato chips (not that I do, but I could) but I have to restrict celery and broccoli. I can never have apples or anything made with apples, nor can I have cauliflower (which I used to eat a lot of). I must avoid onions and garlic, which are among the worst offenders. I must avoid anything containing gluten, as I don’t process it, but on top of that, it turns out I’m allergic to most grains anyway – as well as all dairy. All my recipes that use prepared soups are out, since they all contain gluten or onions or garlic. I have to buy special broth online to make soup. Although I’ve managed to alter some of my recipes to make them acceptable, there are other favorite recipes I will never make again. And don’t get me started on gluten-free bread. There just isn’t a good one, anywhere, period.
So what are FODMAPs? It’s an acronym that stands for Fermentable Oligo-saccharides, Di-saccharides, Mono-saccharides, And Polyols. Technically, they are “a collection of short chain carbohydrates and sugar alcohols found in foods naturally or as food additives. FODMAPs include fructose (when in excess of glucose), fructans, galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), lactose and polyols (e.g. sorbitol and mannitol).”
I only know they are a form of carbohydrate my body doesn’t process. Because there are different types of carbs that produce the negative reaction in my gut, that is why they are found in such a variety of foods that don’t seem to have anything in common, including vegetables, fruits, grains, and artificial sweeteners. This makes it more difficult to remember what’s okay to eat and what’s not. It’s not as easy as eliminating one food group, like all meat, or all carbs, or all dairy. In addition to knowing which foods are “safe,” I also have to read labels and avoid artificial sweeteners and things I never heard of, like “inulin.” As a result, most of the food I eat is natural and made from scratch from real ingredients – which isn’t all bad, though it is time-consuming.
So what do FODMAPs do to me? When I eat too many FODMAPs my abdomen bloats. A LOT. In the space of 20 minutes I can look like I either gained 10 pounds all in my stomach, or I have suddenly become 6 months pregnant. Needless to say, it’s very uncomfortable. So I do what I can to avoid this from happening, but I still “miss” on occasion, usually unintentionally, but occasionally deliberately (there are some things I allow myself once in a while so as to not completely limit my enjoyment of food – which has decreased significantly). If I do okay with the FODMAPs, sometimes I wind up inadvertently eating an allergen like soy, which is also found in many prepared foods. That makes me itch incessantly, so I try to avoid that as well.
The Low-FODMAP diet in addition to my allergies has made eating very restrictive. It has made grocery shopping difficult, but at least I no longer have the urge to cry as I go up and down the aisles, looking at all the foods I used to buy but can no longer have. I’ve started settling into this new way of life, and I am happy when I find something new that I can eat (that actually tastes good).
But the worst casualty of all this has been my social life. I can manage this well enough when I’m home, making everything from scratch. But eating anywhere else is difficult. When I get together with friends, or with my family, there is usually a meal involved. I haven’t gotten together with many friends in a long time, because every time I try to eat out (and those times have been few), it ends in a good deal of discomfort, and I know I have inadvertently eaten something I shouldn’t. I don’t know how dishes are prepared unless I’m the one preparing them, and I often find too late that something I thought would be okay, was not. And Mexican food; with no onion, garlic, gluten or cheese (or beans), there really are no options there. Even Spanish rice has onions and spice in it I can’t have. So my favorite cuisine is out, for the most part.
My main point in telling you this is not so you feel sorry for me. It’s to explain why I have been a hermit. It’s just too difficult to go out, when going out usually involves food. Yes, there are plenty of gluten-free foods to be had in restaurants now, but when you add to that the restrictions of no onion, garlic, soy or dairy (and there are more, but those are the big ones), it pretty much eliminates most things. Even when I think I’ve found something I CAN eat, it’s still a crapshoot, because I don’t know how it’s made or what’s in it. (And yes, I have talked to chefs, and asked servers how things are made, but it’s not always practical when a restaurant is busy.)
Of all the things on my “naughty” list, I still eat cheese once in a while. It’s a mild allergen but it’s low-FODMAP, so it doesn’t bother me that way. It allows me to have gluten-free pizza when I go out, so at least I have one option.
Irony of ironies, among the things I DO process well is the one thing I would PREFER to avoid, and that is meat. I never was a big meat-eater, and in fact I used to be a vegetarian! Now I eat meat, mostly because it’s one of the few things I CAN eat. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to eat it (especially chicken), but I don’t have much choice. I can’t be a vegetarian anymore, since most of my vegetables have been severely restricted or eliminated. I never could eat much fruit because of reflux, but many of those are out now, too. I am grateful that I can at least eat rice and potatoes. But most other grains, including quinoa, are out.
The other point to my bringing this up is to encourage you to please be considerate of those who have food allergies or other dietary restrictions for whatever reason. It may inconvenience you if you are trying to eat out with that person, but you have no idea how difficult it is on the person with the restrictions, who must deal with this every day, every meal, every bite. I have so many lists in my head of what I can and can’t have. I am affected by three different “naughty” lists (reflux diet, low FODMAP diet, and food allergies), and it’s up to me to figure out how they intersect, and what foods are left that are safe for me to eat. Even then, eating out is, as I said, a crapshoot.
And dating. I haven’t dated in a long time, but at some point I would like to again. However, I don’t know how to date with these restrictions, since dating usually involves food as well. I will have to figure out a way to be creative in suggesting things to do that don’t involve food, at least initially (most beverages are an issue, too). But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I will figure out how to eat out successfully someday, through trial and error. I’m still working on what I can eat at home. But the one thing I have to remember is that even if I eat something on the naughty list, it won’t do me any great harm, unlike others who have severe allergies or celiac disease. It will make me very uncomfortable for several hours and I may not look or feel good, but that’s about the worst of it.
You might wonder how I finally identified what foods were bothering me. I had already figured out gluten, which was easy enough to do by trial and error. And some allergies were already obvious to me, as they caused itching not long after eating the food (soy and chocolate, yes, chocolate, are the big offenders there). But I couldn’t figure out what was causing the bloating, and no wonder; with such a wide variety of foods being part of the FODMAP list, there is no way I would have linked them together without the help of a gastroenterologist. All I did was tell him my symptoms, and he told me to go on the low FODMAP diet, and that was the key to putting it all together, the thing that had puzzled me for over a year.
As for the allergies, I found out what they were from taking an allergy blood test that measures the blood’s immune response to different foods. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. I went to my Ear, Nose and Throat specialist hoping for a skin allergy test, but he suggested this instead, and it’s more accurate. I gave a blood sample, and it was sent out to a special lab that does this kind of thing. After several weeks I received a printout of dozens of foods in various food groups, and an indication as to what I am most allergic to, somewhat allergic to, and not allergic to. I discovered allergies I didn’t even know I had. But after eliminating dairy, which was the biggest allergen on the list (and one that I didn’t realize I had), I can tell that I do feel better and that the cause of my constant congestion has been found.
If you are having issues with food and unexplained symptoms anything like mine, I urge you to also consult an allergist or gastroenterologist, or both. Things are not perfect for me, but at least now I have a fighting chance to eat healthy, and to avoid foods that cause me harm. And eventually, with any luck, I will have a social life again!
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Hope & Relevance 