Hi I'm Michelle the irritable vegan I'm here to share my vegan low fodmap story and
hopefully take some of the BS out of IBS now this week I've been experimenting
with low fodmap portion sizes and the measurements used within the Monash app
and I've got to say I've come up with some pretty shocking discoveries so
before we begin I'm gonna start with a trigger warning in today's video I'm
going to be concentrating on weighing measuring and comparing portion sizes if
this is something that doesn't agree with your mental or physical health then
I encourage you to skip this video and I'll see you next time
likewise if you somebody whose condition and symptoms are really well managed or
you just the type of person that doesn't sweat the small stuff then this video
probably isn't going to apply to you but that being said I do think that if
you're on the low fodmap diet you're gonna find some of the information in
this video both interesting and surprising so without further ado let's
get into it so let's begin by going right back to
basics now when we talk in terms of recipes and food quantities there are
three main ways that we can measure ingredients by mass which is commonly
known as the weight of an object for example 50 grams of flour by volume
which refers to the amount of space a solid or a liquid takes up within an
enclosed container for example a quarter of a cup of lentils and also by count
which refers to the numerical value of the amount of objects in front of us
such as one tomato or one avocado and all of these measurements are used in
the Monash app to define a portion of food and assign it a value of being low
moderate or high in FODMAPs so correct me if i'm wrong but i believe within the
Monash app every portion of food is given a metric weight value in grams
and then alongside that is also given either a volume or count value and that
seems to differ depending on the most obvious or simplest way to measure each
individual food so Michelle thanks for the physics
lesson but why should we care well based on my highly scientific [sarcastic tone] experiments it
seems as though the difference between using weights volume or count to
measure low fodmap portions can be really quite significant which you may
find quite surprising based on the fact that the first two phases of the low
fodmap diet are really dependent on you getting your fodmap portions right so if
that's the case and there are discrepancies then why are we even given
the option of using different ways to measure our portions well I'm not privy
to the internal workings of the mega minds at Monash but I'm gonna hazard a
guess to say that in order to accurately calculate the levels of FODMAPs in foods
within a laboratory setting and be able to replicate that time and time and time
again those calculations are more likely to be based on weight rather than volume
so this is great news for us Brits and the rest of the world that's already on
board with the metric system for weight which is grams kilograms milliliters
litres and degrees Celsius most of us probably already on a metric weighing scale
right within our kitchen and we're familiar of using this method to measure
foods but as Monash are an Australian institute they'll be all too aware of
the fact that many Australians and Americans are much more familiar and
much more comfortable with using a volume measuring system such as using
cups so to make the app much more user-friendly for all they try to
include both measurements wherever possible but if these things are
rigorously tested within a laboratory setting then why are there even
discrepancies between the three measurements
surely Monash must have cross-referenced their weight
measures with their volume and count measures to give us an accurate answer
and I've no doubt that Monash did make these comparisons time and time again in
order to be able to come up with an average answer but as we'll see the
Monash averages can sometimes be way off so as a non-scientist some of the
layperson ways that I would assume that discrepancies can occur is due to the
fact that Monash have made their comparisons and measurements based on
their tablespoon and cup sizes which differ from country to country and also
when testing each individual portion of food they've done it from a selection of
the most average sized portion available to them at the time of testing which we
all know when we're dealing with fresh fruit and vegetables can differ
dramatically from country of origin season variety and several other factors
and another factor that anyone familiar with following a recipe will know is
that some ingredients are much more suited to being weighed such as flour or
sugar when baking or bulky or misshapen items that wouldn't fit well within a
container and other things are much more easily measured by volume in cups such
as things like lentils or oats which can be easily leveled off packed into the
cup with minimal wasted space around the ingredients and then there's yet other
ingredients which have a very uniform size and shape such as almonds which can
easily be measured by count so enough of the science how does all this
translate into low fodmap portions well in addition to the differences between
volume measurements which I was already aware of and I'll discuss in more detail
in a second I also discovered that there can be dramatic differences between
portion sizes that have been measured by weight versus volume versus count now
you likely to be aware that Monash as an Australian Institute uses Australian
tablespoons which measured to 20 mls unlike the majority of the rest of
world which considers a tablespoon to be 15 mls so not only is it important to
know what size spoons you're using but it generally means that if you're measuring
throughout most of the world and using a regular 15 ml tablespoon you can afford
to be a little bit more generous with your tablespoon portions as defined by
the Monash app because they're referring to 20 mls rather than 15 you may also
be aware that a standard international metric measuring cup here in the UK and
in many parts of the world measures to 250 mils whereas in the US a legal
metric measuring cup the type that would normally be used within nutritional
labeling is usually measured to 240 mls and a standard American Cup the type that
would be used in most homes and kitchens throughout the U.S. measures to a really
random measurement of 236.588 mlls and a while back I also
remember reading an article I think it was produced by Monash which mentioned
that Australian cups are even bigger but please don't quote me on that
because I can't seem to find that information anywhere anymore so in
addition to all of these differences which I was already aware existed I also
found some surprising and maybe not so surprising discoveries regarding weight
versus volume that could potentially have a big impact on your low fodmap
diet so possibly the least surprising discovery I made is the a count
measurement has a potential to be the least accurate and I think that's fairly
obvious given the fact that we're all aware of the vast differences in size
and shape between individual ingredients particularly when it comes to fresh
fruit and vegetables and simply stating a medium or average portion doesn't
really work because that measurement in itself is subjective so it can't really
be quantified across the board and this was really well demonstrated
when I compared 1/8th of an average avocado available here to me in the UK
with the fodmap measured portion of 30 grams as you can clearly see my 1/8th
of an avocado is significantly smaller than a weighed portion of 30 grams which
means if I'd been relying solely on a counted measurement of 1/8th of an
avocado I'd be massively doing myself out of a decent portion now let's look
what happened when I weighed a GOS challenge portion of almonds so for day
one this is listed as 15 nuts or 18 grams and the results of this were
bang-on which is likely due to the fact that the size and shape of almonds is
pretty standard whereas there can be vast differences in size shape and
weight of fresh fruit and vegetables now let's get on to some of the really
shocking stuff that I discovered when I compared weights versus volume I started
with a good old low fodmap *stable of cooked white long grain rice which is
listed as low fodmap in portions of one cup or 190 grams when I made the
comparison I found that my cup of rice actually only weighed 128 grams which is
way under the measures given by Monash meaning I could have actually eaten an
extra 62 grams or roughly half a cup more of rice if I'd weighed it compared
to measuring it by volume so this may not sound significant but times this
discrepancy by three meals a day over the course of one to two months and we
can see this possible that by under estimating our low fodmap portions that
could have some impact not only on our caloric intake but also on our levels of
vitamins minerals and dietary fibre that extra quarter of an avocado or half a
cup of rice could have made a massive difference to how satisfied you felt
after eating a meal it could also influence your overall perception of the
diet in terms of how deprived or how satiated you feel and
even the likelihood of you sticking to the diet at all so while it's all fun
and games to discover that you may no longer need to miss out on your precious
avocado toast it's not so comforting to hear that my level 1/2 cup of canned
drained lentils weighed much more than the low fodmap safe portion of 46 grams
which potentially means you could have been eating some of the worst fodmap
flare-up foods in excess without even realizing now doesn't that just take the
wind out of your sails [long fart noise] erm maybe so what does all this mean now if
your symptoms are well managed and you're pleased with your progress through the
diet or you're somebody who finds methodically measuring and weighing
foods to be triggering then by all means you do you but if you haven't had the
experience or the results that you were expecting on the low fodmap diet or
you're the type of person that frequently experiences seemingly random
flare-ups even when you believe you're doing everything right then it might
just be time to get out those scales and double-check your portion sizes now
weighing out your foods might seem like a complete hassle but even just
committing to doing it in the short-term can help concentrate on your favourite
foods the things that you eat most often any suspected trigger foods and those
foods that have a very small threshold and that is a fantastic place to start
you may be able to borrow a scale from somebody just to make your own
comparisons then once you've got a visual reference and you're confident in
your portion sizes go back to using your cups if that's more convenient for you
I've no doubt in my mind that weighing portions is not only the most accurate
way to go overall but it's also one of the simplest ways to begin tackling that
sticky subject of fodmap stacking and it becomes even more important for people
that have very low tolerances and also for anybody that's interested in
tracking their nutrients on a daily basis in apps such as Cronometer
now if the idea of weighing portions really isn't for you then here
are some tips and tricks to bear in mind now cups not only vary from country to
country but also dependent on quality and brand so it's really important to
invest in some high-quality cups from a reputable kitchen supply shop now
because cups can differ in size I personally suggest sticking to one set
of cups per recipe rather than picking and choosing different size cups from
different sets or resorting to raiding the crockery cupboard so even if some of
the measurements are slightly off then hopefully the ratios within your recipe
will be correct and a simple hack for doing this so you're not continuously
washing your cups is to measure all of your dry ingredients first followed by
your wet ingredients and leave any particularly sticky or unctuous
ingredients to be measured right at the end
be aware that bulky items are not really suited to be measured by the cup so if
possible try to cook or prep them in a way that lets them fit easily into the
cup with minimal wasted space around them one thing you really need to pay
attention to is wording and this particularly applies when it comes to
recipes so for an example one cup of flour sifted is actually different from
one cup of sifted flour and this is something that catches a lot of people
out with the Monash app because you need to know for definite whether the portion
that's been presented has been measured as dried or raw or cooked now Monash
themselves have actually answered this a lot of times in their Instagram stories
and over on their blog but basically unless it states in the app that the
portion needs to be cooked such as in the case of a cup of rice or a cup of
pasta then you need to assume that the ingredients should be measured in its
dried or raw state such as for a cup of oats regardless of how you determine or
measure your portion sizes always work on the average portion for you and
wherever possible only measure the edible part of the ingredient so make
sure that you're peeling trimming or deseeding the ingredient before you make
your accurate measurement I'd love to hear in the comments below your
preferred method for measuring and whether or not you've come across any
shocking or surprising discrepancies throughout your low fodmap journey if
you've enjoyed this video it's really helpful to me if you give me a thumbs up
and also subscribe for more as always thanks so much for watching and I'll speak to you soon byeee
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