It's Eric Bakker, the naturopath. How are y'all going out there? It's good to be back
again. I'll just get this microphone placed. Here we go. It's great to be back. We're looking
at springtime in New Zealand, so I'm happy. We've got all our vegetable gardening and
all our strawberry, put 160 strawberry plants in yesterday, so we're pumping. We're going
to have beautiful fruit and very cool.
Now, Low FODMAP diet. FODMAPs, fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides
and polyols. So this is quite an interesting diet that was really put together by a doctor
several years ago in the belief that it's going to help people, particularly irritable
bowel syndrome. I'm not a big fan of the diet. I know many patients that I've worked with,
hundreds of them in the past that have been on FODMAPs. I've seen some successes, but
they're very limited. I've seen more failures than anything. I'm going to show you 10 points,
10 things that you need to know about this diet that in my opinion, are key things to
know.
So, let's get started. FODMAPs. Let's look at point number one. The FODMAPs diet is not
a cure all to IBS or any kind of gut problem. Okay? I can't work out why people often go
on these diets without doing really the correct testing before they go on these diets in the
first place. We'll talk about the relevance of stool testing after, so just remember,
this is not a cure all diet. This is not going to cure your disease or get rid of things,
okay? All you're doing is taking aggravating carbohydrates out of the diet that are basically
cutting back on your body's ability to bloat, to ferment, to create these gut issues.
So you're just taking things away. To me, it's not really fixing the problem permanently.
You're just sort of partially solving it. So, second point. It's not a gluten-free diet.
Be very careful because if you're going to have oats in your FODMAPs, you know low-FODMAP,
nevertheless, it's considered a low FODMAP. There's still gluten in it. Some people I've
talked to think this is a gluten-free diet. It's not gluten free, so don't be confused.
Third point. Many that go low FODMAPs also think that you need to get fiber out of the
diet as much as possible. Now fiber is not really the issue here. It's the sugars, but
most of these FODMAP foods are also tend to be high in fiber. So the more you limit and
go hardcore with FODMAPs, the more likelihood that you could also go hardcore with low fiber
and that's going to handicap or kneecap your body's ability to create really good levels
particularly of bacteria like bifidobacteria in the colon. So if you take food away from
something, you're going to starve it off. So, remember, it's not just about taking fiber
out of the diet.
It's the sugars in these foods. Remember? Oligosaccharides, disaccharides, polyols.
So these are different sort of chains of carbohydrates found in foods that can cause problems. For
example, if you really want to add more fiber into your diet, kiwi fruit from what I take
is permissible on FODMAPs, so kiwi fruit and may well help. Also small amounts of oats
servings up permissible on the FODMAPs as well and pumpkin seeds and quinoa and there
are different foods you can eat to boost fiber content because fiber is very, very important
for your bowel.
Point number four. This should be a short term, not long-term approach. I've got some
patients who've been on FODMAPs for 12 months or more. That's crazy. You don't go on a FODMAPs
diet for that long. When it was first brought out, it was a two to six-week solution to
reduce basically the sugars going into the gut, to stop these symptoms from occurring
in the gut. It wasn't meant to be a long-term diet. The reintroduction was supposed to occur
after six weeks, but I've got a lot of people who actually don't pay any attention to this
at all. They just stay on this diet because they find that it helps to reduce symptoms.
Well, that's a pretty dumb idea. You don't just stay on the diet.
If it works, find out why it works. Get rid of the bugs usually that are underpinning
these problems and then you can eat like normal again like people like me. You don't need
to go on these crazy kind of diet approaches.Point number five. Oils and fats are not on the
FODMAP diet. I still get emails, comments on YouTube from people who think that going
low FODMAPs also means to take butter out of the diet and certain oils and fats. It
has nothing to do with oils and fats. It's got to do with sugars in foods. That's what
it is, okay? So, a low FODMAP doesn't mean a low oil or fat diet.
Point number six. Think about social events and plan in advance. Don't become one of these
people who turns up at a wedding or at a party, at a birthday party or something and then
decides that he or she can't eat any of the foods because they're not suitable. So, just
be careful and plan ahead and make sure if you're going to an event where you know there's
going to be a lot of high FODMAP stuff, plan accordingly so you don't create any socially
embarrassing situations for yourself or your friends or partner.
Point seven. This is the one FODMAPs without stool testing to me is crazy. If you're going
to consider a FODMAP diet, why the heck don't first before you go on this diet, you get
a comprehensive stool test done. Here the guy goes again, you're probably thinking,
banging in the stool testing drum again. Well, quite frankly, I don't care less if you do
a stool test or not, but if you're an intelligent person, you will do the stool test before
launching on FODMAPs. Most FODMAPs people that I see have got irritable bowel syndrome.
Now, over half of IBS from where I'm sitting in my chair is going to be some type of bacteria
that's messing up your gut that needs taking out. Citrobacter, pseudomonas, Klebsiella
or there could be a few different yeast species in there as well. In fact, I just had a patient
this morning with IBS with three types of dysbiotic bacteria that are going to be cleaned
out of the gut within three to six months. The patient will be normal again and not have
to go on fancy diets.
So identify what's wrong, fix what's wrong, and then you might be normal again. Isn't
that funny? So as I mentioned, I'm not promoting stool tests or to sell you guys anything at
all. I don't care what you do, but if you're intelligent, in my opinion, you'll first do
the homework before you launch on one of these kind of diets, particularly like FODMAPs.
If you found, excuse me, that you had a high level of Klebsiella or an unwanted bacterial
in high amounts, it would be logical to try and reduce that count or take it out because
in many cases these type of bugs create these kind of undesired effects that you're trying
to mitigate by pulling foods out of the diet.
All right, so that's my stool beating drum again. Get the test done before you go on
FODMAPs. It makes so much sense. Go and see your doctor or your naturopathic doctor. If
you can't get a doctor, you may be able to find a small stool lab that will do something
privately for you because they are around.
What have we got here? Number eight, don't become the FODMAP police. Don't walk around
telling people what they should and shouldn't eat. It's not a good idea. That's what people
like me to do, okay, because I'm paid to do that kind of stuff to tell you guys, "Don't
eat this, eat that." But I don't do that to be honest. I'm not a believer at all in diets
like FODMAPs. I mean FODMAPs even take out things like spring onions, like scallions,
like pears, like garlic, yogurt.
All these sort of foods, which I deem healthy are taken out. I think it's a stupid approach
to be honest. The most intelligent FODMAP approach if you want one, is to find out what
bugs you've got in your gut or how leaky the gut is to try and repair these problems before
you start taking stuff out. And in most all cases, in my experience, nearly every person
I've worked with with IBS, excuse me, can eventually have a normal kind of diet and
lifestyle again. They need to work out where the breach is coming from. Was in a high alcohol
diet?
Do they have a lot of stress? Was it antibiotics? Is it a crappy lifestyle? Something caused
a problem, and if the problem is reversed and fixed, generally all these foods don't,
it's a no brainer. You don't have to look at this kind of approach anymore. This is
a dietician's approach to eating the FODMAPs. It's not a naturopathic approach to eating.
So, here's four points. Test the gut first. Find out what's wrong. Is there inflammation?
Is there bacteria? Is there yeast? What the hell is going on? Fix what needs fixing and
if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Leave it alone. Point number two. If you do need to
get relief after you've done the test, then get relief with the low FODMAPs diet. Work
out the foods that really grind your gears. Isn't that a cool word. I saw that on Family
Guy or something. "Grind your gears." It must mean really annoy the hell out of you.
So, find out what foods, what FODMAP foods affect you. Not what a book tells you to.
Just because a book tells you not to eat yogurt, not to eat pears, not to eat spring onions,
not to eat cauliflower, but hello, that book's not talking about you. It's talking about
a wide range of people. So, you have to specify really in terms of what suits you. May not
suit somebody else. So, don't fall into that trap.
And of course the third one is challenge. If you like the food challenge to see how
the gut goes, maybe do another test to determine whether or not you've got bacteria that need
cleaning up or building or whatever. And then the fourth point is you're going to be back
on a normal diet before you know it. You'll be able to eat like normal people do. Okay?
So, that's my little take on the FODMAPs. Be careful not to fall into the trap of following
it to the letter. Do it short term, do the testing, fix what needs fixing. Definitely
play around with the foods. See what works for you and then go on to a normal diet. Click
on the link in the description box if you want my free report. Thanks for tuning in.