What's a Fodmap?

Fodmap foods make you feel like crap and make you crap a lot if you have digestive problems. How do I know this? I have been trying all kinds of foods to try to fix the bloating and looseness that has plagued me for many many months. I saw my family physician and she suggested a change in diet to the starchy, easy on the stomach foods like rice, potatoes, bananas.  I quit eating blueberries and most fruits and started eating lots of rice and bananas and potatoes which weren't on my diet before because I had been eating low starch foods and gluten free. Then I went to another family physician because the starchy bland foods weren't working.  He suggested I try citracel.  I thought that was strange because I thought citracel was for constipation and that was not my problem.  But he said it worked, "both ways." Ha reminds me of a skit my daughter does that goes like this: "She wants her cake and her pie and has em boff ways." It's funny when she does it.  Anyway, the citracel seemed to work well and I ate lots of foods like rice and potatoes and starchy things. It sorta worked but after about a month, not so much.  

Then I consulted Dr. Kiona Subramanian at Deep Roots Health.  She sent me some tests for SIBO.  The results showed that I had a borderline case.  SIBO is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.  Which means there is too much bacteria in the gut and could be the cause of the symptoms I was having.  So she gave me a regimen which starts with a low fodmap diet.  This is the first I heard of it.  FODMAPs are short chain carbohydrates: oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and related alcohols that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine. She gave me this diet to follow Whole 30 Low Fodmap.  

I can't tell you how super good I feel. I have plenty of energy. I feel smarter. I go to the bathroom like normal people do. I have no gas, or pain, or bloating. It is a true miracle and so worth it for me. At this point in my life, I am loving low fodmaps. If you've had gut problems, it's definitely worth a try.