If you have read anything about a diet for high blood sugar or diabetes, you probably have come across the term FODMAPS, or food digested at an excessive rate. A good diet is one where your body digests the food you put into it slowly, absorbing nutrients at an appropriate pace. FODMAPS or food sensitive diets, highly processed monosaccharide, polysaccharide, disaccharide, and fructooligosaccharaides are long chain sugars that are difficult for the body to digest and highly susceptible to absorb water, causing a rapid rise in blood sugar levels. In these circumstances, any increase in blood glucose levels means a subsequent increase in insulin levels, which can result in hypoglycemia.
The main problem with using a low fodmap food list is that it may lead to excessive bloating. The foods on the list are generally high in simple sugars and starches. Therefore, your stomach has to work even harder to process all of this food and to remove it from your body. This is not good for your digestion and you will find that the bloated feeling you get after eating will cause you to crave foods that are even higher in simplicity and will cause you to have more frequent attacks.
Bloating and diarrhea are a major problem with many people who use low fodmap diets. FODMAP stands for “folded organic digested carbohydrate” and if this carbohydrate is not digested well, then it goes through your stomach too quickly and gets caught in your intestines as fecal matter. This causes extreme bloating and diarrhea and many sufferers become severely dehydrated. If you have had problems with constipation in the past and are now suffering with diarrhea or excessive belly gas, this may be the issue. Many people have heard about leaky gut syndrome and colon cancer, but fodmaps are also implicated in many digestive disorders including IBS, colitis and irritable bowel syndrome.
If you start to notice symptoms of bloating and diarrhea, you will probably want to avoid the foods on your low fodmaps food list. Onions, leeks, garlic, tomatoes and potatoes are the main culprits in this category. Many of the ingredients in these foods are easily digestible and pass through the digestive system relatively quickly. Unfortunately, they too are high in simple sugars and starches, which make them harder to digest and more likely to end up in your stool. Constipation and diarrhea are also closely linked together, so if you start to feel the symptoms of constipation and diarrhea accompanied by an increase in bloating and water retention, you should quickly eliminate the foods that cause these problems and see if the severity of your current condition improves.
A good diet for those suffering from IBS, colitis or other digestive problems is one that is free of gluten, wheat and other grains that are difficult to digest. This means a complete overhaul of most of your favorites on your low fodmaps food list. This doesn’t mean that you need to give up eating all of them, or even cook them only once a month. Eliminating them from your diet entirely is often not an option for IBS sufferers because the symptoms they experience are so uncomfortable. Some of the foods that you might want to remove from your diet entirely include: cow’s milk, eggs, oranges, bananas, carrots, rhubarb, cabbage, peas, spinach and any other vegetable or fruit that is difficult to digest.
A short list of low fodmap foods includes rice (especially brown), bananas, apples and even peanut butter. It is important to note that it is possible to eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts on a gluten-free diet. In fact, many people who suffer with IBS find that their symptoms improve drastically when they eliminate or severely limit the amount of gluten, wheat and dairy in their diet. For more information about managing your symptoms, and how to live a healthier life despite having irritable bowel syndrome, visit the web site listed below.
