Are you diligently following a low FODMAP diet,
but you're frustrated that you're still having
symptoms running to the bathroom, constipation,
diarrhea, bloating and gas? That's what I'm
going to talk about today. The top reasons why
a low FODMAP diet may not be working for you.
So hi everybody. I'm Taylor, I'm one of the nutrition
consultant of the Diet vs Disease team.
And like I said, today we're going to chat about
what are the top reasons why low FODMAP diet
might not be working for you. I get it. You go
to the doctor, they recommend a low FODMAP diet. It's
confusing and complex, your diligently following
it, and it's so frustrating when you're still
having symptoms, we do know that up to 75% of individuals.
will see symptom improvement with a low
FODMAP diet. But for those people that it's
not working for, I want to go through what those
reasons are. So the first is going to be FODMAP stacking.
So for those of you who might not know what that
means, if for eating low FODMAP Foods. So they're
not NO FODMAP foods but low FODMAP foods and
we eat them multiple times a day or frequently,
it stacks up to potentially reach our tipping point.
Once it reaches that tipping point, we may flare
up and develop symptoms, also why one day we
might eat a food and the next meal of the next
day we eat it again and we get symptoms. So FODMAPs
stacking will be often the first reason. Reason
number two is going to be fiber and hear me out.
I know a lot of the times when you have IBS you
here, eat more fiber, eat more fiber. The amount
of fiber is important too much and too little
can also result in symptoms but the types of
fiber also going to be important soluble,
insoluble, gum fibers and also reducing those
fermentable or fodmaps. Can sometimes reduce
or increase our overall FODMAP amount depending
on our typical eating style and so looking,
at the types of fibers you're getting are also
going to help with your bowel movements and
maybe potentially why you're not seeing the
results you want low FODMAP. The third is our
gut brain access. So there's a highway of information
that's coming back and forth between our brain
and our gut, lots of information. Sometimes
there's a bit of a detour or a miscommunication
that happens within that pathway. That miscommunication
can send extra pain signals and different messages
that can impact our gut for sure. And so, what's
important here are using strategies to help
with that miscommunication things such as
gut directed therapy or gut directed hypnotherapy
for example. Reason number four, gut irritants
caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods, even foods
that are low FODMAP can sometimes irritate
our gut and cause symptoms. There might be a
bit of overlap with fodmaps. Or there might not.
These are going to be important factors to watch
for different trends and see if it's an impact
in factor for you. It's important to note just
because I'm saying their gut irritants doesn't
mean they're for sure. An irritant for you.
This is going to be really individual and something
you'll want to explore for yourself as well.
Reason number 6 is going to be our hormones.
So thyroid hormones, estrogen, progesterone
are hormones shift throughout the month as well.
which is also why sometimes our management
strategies need to shift as her hormones do.
We often see any hormone imbalances or even
conditions such as endometriosis or PCOS,
have some IBS overlapping or digestive symptoms
and therefore management here can be helpful
as well as a hormones is your next one. Numero 8,
I think is where I'm at is SIBO or small intestinal
bacterial overgrowth, whether it's hydrogen
methane, hydrogen sulfide, bacterial overgrowth,
can sometimes be a contributing factor to why
the FODMAP diet may not be working for you. They're
important test, strategies, and treatments
that are going to be required here. This also
goes a line with ensuring that prior to starting
a low FODMAP diet. Lots of these other things
are ruled out inflammatory bowel, celiac disease,
BAM or bile acid malbsorption are some that we
want to double-check. Last but definitely
not least is food chemical intolerances. So
this encompasses, salicylate intolerance
a-means, glutamines, these type of food chemicals,
or natural food chemicals. They're naturally
occurring in food can sometimes cause the
same symptoms that we may see or overlapping
symptoms with FODMAP intolerance, but FODMAPs
are not the root of the issue. When we eliminate
FODMAPs, we might feel partially better but
just not quite there. And that's because we
haven't quite nailed down the correct compound. So
food chemical intolerances would be another
contributing factor that maybe a piece of your puzzle.
Okay. So what I want to leave you with is IBS is frustrating.
It impacts our life, so so so much and navigating,
how to manage our symptoms is super frustrating as well.
But I want to give you some motivation and courage
to be able to continue to find those management
strategies that work for you. And if you're
looking for support in finding, what pieces
of puzzle are most relevant for you? Please
comment “ME” below and we will see what we can do to
help support you in finding the pieces of the
puzzle that are most important to you so that
we can manage your symptoms and you can carry
on as symptom-free and a symptom managed as
possible and that is all for me today. Cheers,
this is Taylor signing off.