Want to know how to cater for low FODMAP people outside of ‘no onion’ and ‘no garlic’ without buying multiple apps? This is the guide for you!
Why would someone be on the low FODMAP diet?
Firstly, a low FODMAP diet can be generally beneficial for the average person (it is NOT a cure-all, but it can mitigate some bloating or stomach pain even if you don’t have a medical issue). So, in a situation like a week-long camp where you are sharing a port-a-potty with 300 people – it could be a good idea to minimise your FODMAPs where you can.
The main reason a person might be on the low FODMAP diet is to mitigate GI (Gastrointestinal) symptoms, often caused by IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). However, there are other diseases which may cause someone to follow the low FODMAP diet, including but not limited to:
IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease)
Crohn’s Disease
Coeliac Disease (combined with a gluten free diet, of course!)
So, a disclaimer for the true beginner, who may fear how restrictive the FODMAP diet looks:
- There are no long-term negative consequences for someone on the FODMAP diet because of IBS ingesting FODMAPs, but the short-term GI symptoms can be severely painful and debilitating.
That is to say, try your best if you want your IBS-FODMAP friend to be able to hang out after dinner, but if you mess up, they will not die.
This is NOT necessarily the case with someone who has Coeliac disease (gluten free) or is otherwise treating a disorder apart from IBS*. Continuous digestion of gluten by someone with Coeliac can cause CANCER.
Some tips for catering:
Be open and honest about your level of confidence in preparing low FODMAP food.
If you only have one FODMAP person to cater for:
- If you are unsure whether someone is treating an intolerance of FODMAP’s because of IBS or something more dangerous, you can ask them politely whether cross-contamination of their food will be a problem.
- It is reasonable to ask the individual how strictly you have to keep the FODMAP and non-FODMAP meals/ingredients apart, and how ‘to the letter’ you should cook with FODMAP serving sizes. However, keep in mind that each individual FODMAP person will have their own comfort level with potentially having symptoms triggered.
If you have multiple people who are on the low FODMAP diet, or you cannot contact the individual:
You may just have to follow a Monash FODMAP recipe (do not trust FODMAP recipes on the internet if you have no idea about FODMAP yourself if it does not come from Monash) OR buy and prepare packet low FODMAP meals (even if this is not historically accurate or on theme with your event).
a glimpse into what fodmap can look like
If you are overwhelmed and stressed just looking at this document already, here is what a day of the FODMAP diet often looks like for me: (all FODMAP certified branded ingredients here are bolded and italicised. All non-certified but still FODMAP brand ingredients are italicised.)
Breakfast:
OPTION 1: 2 eggs (cooked in Cobram Estate garlic infused olive oil) on (authentic[1]) sourdough bread (max 2 slices)
OPTION 2: 1x Liddells Lactose free strawberry yoghurt tub, and 1/3 of a cup of Carman’s certified low FODMAP cranberry, blueberry, and goji berry muesli
Lunch:
OPTION 1: white rice (any amount) with canned tuna, gluten free soy sauce (2 tablespoons), seaweed, some Kewpie mayonnaise, rice wine vinegar, and a dash of sesame oil
OPTION 2: ‘Fodmapped for you’ low FODMAP pumpkin soup, lactose free cheese, sourdough bread (max 2 slices)
Dinner:
OPTION 1: Burrito bowls: corn chips (Mission corn strips), plain mincemeat cooked in cumin, garlic infused olive oil, and salt, ½ of a small tomato, 3 tablespoons of avocado, lemon juice, lactose free sour cream, FODY taco sauce
OPTION 2: Simply Wize pasta sauce, gluten free pasta, lactose free cheese, mincemeat (double check that there are NO added ‘vegetable powders’, onion, or garlic ingredients!)
There is no ‘right way’ to do low FODMAP, but these are some easy meals if your only requirement is not letting your low FODMAP person starve.
The Basics
What are FODMAPs?
The acronym stands for: Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols. Essentially, sugars which ferment in the digestion process, causing those who are sensitive to feel discomfort.
The main 6 FODMAP groups are:
- Fructan
- Fructose
- GOS (galacto-oligosaccharides)
- Lactose
- Mannitol
- Sorbitol
You probably already know about lactose, and maybe fructose. These two groups are generally the easiest to identify and limit in your recipes, with some exceptions, like hard cheeses being low lactose and therefore low FODMAP (aka okay to eat!).
How do you do the fodmap diet?
Short version: you don’t really need to know. But for clarity, here’s a quick overview.
Usually, there are 3 ‘phases’[2] that you will hear about in FODMAP.
- Low FODMAP
- Re-introduction
- Personalisation
In the 1st phase, we restrict our diet to solely low FODMAP serves of food. The last 2 phases are very personal.
In the 2nd phase, we attempt to re-introduce foods which may trigger our symptoms from different FODMAP ‘groups’ to test our tolerance to each group. In the 3rd phase, we personalise our diet to only exclude foods that we know will trigger our symptoms.
Knowing about these different groups can be helpful if you only have one person that needs to be catered for (because you can ask them whether they tolerate a certain FODMAP group well, so that you will be less limited in your choice of ingredients).
However, this is also why the method of asking one FODMAP person what they can and can’t eat out of context at one particularly moment frozen in time is not a good guide for what FODMAP is.
The main offenders for each FODMAP group:
Once you know which groups of FODMAPs you need to cut out of your meal, these are the most dangerous ingredients for each group.
Check if your recipe includes any of these ingredients.
| Fructan | Onion, Garlic, Wheat, wholemeal bread, rye bread, muesli containing wheat, wheat pasta and rye crispbread Artichoke, Asparagus, brussels sprouts, cabbage, fennel, okra, peas |
| Fructose | Most culinary fruits (apples, pears, mangoes, cherries, figs, nashi pears, peaches, watermelon and dried fruit), as well as honey, asparagus, beetroot, mango, watermelon, high fructose corn syrup, snap peas |
| GOS | Legumes (e.g. red kidney beans, chickpeas, baked beans, split peas), Nuts: Cashews, pistachios, Products: Hummus, Soy milk made from whole soybeans (including soy lattes etc), Oat milk, Freekeh, Fruits & Vegetables: Thawed green peas, butternut pumpkin, beetroot, Custard apple, falafel, baked beans, beetroot, peas |
| Lactose | Most dairy products[3] (soft cheeses, yoghurt, and milk are high FODMAP) |
| Mannitol | Mushrooms, cauliflower, snow peas, fennel |
| Sorbitol | Apples, blackberries, nashi pears, peaches, cherries, fennel, apricots, lychee, avocado, cauliflower, mushrooms, snow peas,and plums |
Also check a product for SWEETENERS, the main problem ones are: Sorbitol (420), Mannitol (421), Xylitol (967), Malitol (965), Isomalt (953). Most sugar free alternatives are HIGH FODMAP.
I imagine your reaction to this list is: that’s just about everything, what can you eat? The good news is, quite a bit. We can eat both, low fodmap substitutes and sometimes even things on this list! The dose makes the poison.
A very important thing to remember here is the low in low FODMAP.
Apart from things like onion and garlic, most foods will have a serving size which can be tolerated (but beware of ‘stacking’ too many ‘green’ amounts of fodmap foods together, usually you will want to make the base of your dish something which has no ‘red’ amount, like meat). You can find a list of unlimited serving size low FODMAP foods here.
Something deemed ‘high FODMAP’ generally has a low enough FODMAP serve that no one would reasonably eat a single low FODMAP serving in one sitting (who eats 20g of apple?).
However, this means that something that has just trace amounts of apple or (in Australia) lists apple as an ingredient in a product but very far down on the list of ingredients, will likely be low FODMAP (assuming that there are no other ingredients high in sorbitol or fructose in the product).
So, how do we make a low FODMAP meal?
FODMAPs are carbohydrates, so:
- ALL plain meats are low in FODMAPs[4]. Firm tofu is also okay up to 170g per serve.
- Most spices and herbs are low FODMAP at 1 teaspoon (eg. cumin & paprika are good, however, spiciness can be a gut irritant, so stray away from chillies)
Some options for if you are cooking something and need to swap out a high FODMAP ingredient for a low FODMAP ingredient.
| You need an alternative for something high in: | |
| Fructans: (e.g., onion, garlic, bread) | Garlic/onion infused oil is a great alternative to adding garlic or onion[5] (just be careful with how fatty your meal is overall, as fatty foods aren’t high FODMAP necessarily, but can increase bowel motility).The green parts of spring onions are low FODMAP at 1.5 cups per serve. Asafoetida is a good onion replacer (but NOT gluten free!!). Often, gluten free options are low FODMAP. Baker’s delight and Brumby’s bakery both sell special low FODMAP bread (at select stores). Plain Sourdough (if there is actual sourdough starter in the ingredients) is FODMAP at 2 slices/serve (but NOT considered gluten free for Coeliac!). |
| Fructose (Apple, pear, mango, cherry, fig, watermelon, dried fruit, honey) | Banana (max 100g/1 medium), dragon fruit (any amount), guava, kiwifruit (2 small), blueberryUse maple syrup instead of honeyBeware that GOLDEN syrup is high FODMAPLemon (125g), Lime (250g)Currants (13g)Tomato (1/2 medium) |
| GOS | |
| Lactose (dairy) | Hard cheeses, butter, authentically strained Greek yoghurt |
| Mannitol (Mushrooms, root vegetables) | Oyster mushrooms (1 cup) Champignon mushroom (75g) Black beans (2 tbsp) Broccoli (3/4 cup of heads only), green beans (75g) |
| Sorbitol | Breadfruit (192g), carambola (94g), coconut cream (60g), cantaloupe (120g) |
Everything with these two logos is low FODMAP!
The Monash FODMAP app (the blue icon) is the holy grail that every dietitian uses. Monash University is the leading scientific authority in the world on the FODMAP diet, trust the FODMAP app over anything you see online OR in this document! They are testing and re-testing ingredients constantly, and as the science evolves, so does the diet. The ‘fodmap friendly’ app (green icon above) is also useful for branded products. The app ‘Spoonful’ is useful to let you know if there are any potentially high FODMAP ingredients (but it will not tell you if the item has enough of that fodmap to be considered high FODMAP at one serving size). I recommend if you really want to get into it, join the low FODMAP Australia Facebook group.
Some of the best certified products I have found are these:
Some options for up to 500g serving size low fodmap ingredients
| Bread, cereals, rice, pasta | Arborio rice Basmati rice Brown rice Glutinous rice Polenta/Cornmeal Quinoa (black, red, white) Tapioca/Sago Vermicelli noodles White rice |
| Vegetables | Baby corn (canned, drained) Bamboo shoots Carrot Choy sum Chrysanthemum greens Collard greens Cornichons (drained) Drained pickled beetroot Endive Galangal Iceberg lettuce Leek (green LEAVES only) Mung beans Olives (black, green) Parsnip Potato (not sweet potato) Radish Red coral lettuce Rocket Seaweed Swiss chard Water spinach |
| Fruit | Blueberry Breadfruit Carambola Coconut cream Durian Papaya Plantain Rhubarb |
| Dairy, Soy & Lactose Free | Brie Camembert Cheddar Coconut milk Comte Fetta Ghee Gruyere Manchego Monterey Jack Parmesan Parmigiano-Reggiano Swiss |
| Pulses, Tofu, Nuts | |
| Beverages | |
| Meat, fish, eggs | All |
| Fats, oils | Ghee |
| Condiments | Chives Oregano Nutrional yeast Tamari sauce Vanilla essence Malt vinegar Rice wine vinegar White vinegar |
| Snacks, bars, cookies | Corn chips |
| Confectionery, sugars | Orange blossom water Rose water Rice malt syrup Vanilla essence |
Some options for snacks/prizes
Most of these are flagged with italics as high in fat which needs to be consumed in moderation*
| Savory snacks | Mission brand white corn strips Potato chips Fries Popcorn Gluten free sakata seaweed rice crackers |
| Sweet snacks | Caramel popcorn (with no added ingredients) Most Allens brand lollies (at the recommended serving size!) Blueberries Trolli brand ‘Brite crawlers’ Cadbury milk chocolate (one row) |
| In-between meal snacks | Carrots and low fodmap tzatziki (garlic infused olive oil, authentic[6] Greek yoghurt, cucumber) Yumi’s kalamata olive dip Lactose free cheese toastie Carman’s Dark choc, coconut & macadamia nut bars Peanut butter sandwich Vegemite sandwich |
*This is not a general healthy eating recommendation – foods high in fat increase bowel motility
This is another chart that makes FODMAP alternatives easier to see!
[1] It has to be authentic, with a sourdough starter in the ingredients, in order to be low fodmap.
[2] For more information on phases than provided here, visit: https://www.monashfodmap.com/blog/3-phases-low-fodmap-diet/
[3] Be very aware of the difference between dairy free and lactose free dairy products. ‘Dairy free’ or ‘plant-based’ alternatives often includes high FODMAP foods like soybeans, wheat-based oats, or nuts (cashew milk).
[4] Be careful of sausages and salami, they often hide FODMAPs
[5] FODMAPs are water soluble. This means that if you infuse a high FODMAP ingredient in oil, the oil itself will not trigger symptoms.
[6] Authentic Greek yoghurt is low enough in lactose to be considered FODMAP because of the production/straining process, ‘Greek style’ yoghurt is high FODMAP
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