Take A Low FODMAP Pizza My Heart Now Baby

Hi again Fodmappers

Talk about not enough hours in a day, right now there aren't even enough days in the week! So what is a Fodmapper to do? What I need right now is low FODMAP fast food. So tonight I'm making pizza!

This week also happens to be National Vegetarian Week and the lovely people at the Vegetarian Society are travelling round the UK sharing pizzas with the people they meet. As a vegetarian that seems like another good reason to indulge in a little cheesey, tomatoey (is that even a word?) yumminess - made in the way only Fodmappers know how.

So here's what you need to make your own low FODMAP fast food pizza.

You Will Need

Gluten free pitta bread
Tomato puree or tomato ketchup
A few slices of peppers
Some olives
Grated Cheese
Oregano and Basil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C.
2. Meanwhile spread a little tomato puree or tomato ketchup onto the pitta bread. (Tomato ketchup has been shown to be low in FODMAPs). Add the grated cheese, peppers, olives and sprinkle with herbs.
3. Place the pitta pizza on a baking sheet and pop into the oven for approx. 8 to 10 minutes or until the cheese melts and starts to golden.

And there you have it. Low FODMAP fast food for busy Fodmappers. And if you're not busy? Well everyone deserves a night off now and then.

Til next time Fodmappers - Stay Fabulous. x

Low FODMAP Rebellious Ratatouille

And a quick lesson in using garlic as part of a low-fodmap diet.

Hi again Fodmappers - Today I want to share another simple vegetarian and vegan recipe idea that's so yummy, you'd never know it was low-fodmap, or vegetarian. But first I want to talk to you a little about garlic, particularly as I know some of you have asked ...

Can I have garlic as part of a low-fodmap diet?

It dawned on me recently that I rarely talk much about the ingredients I use and why it's ok (or not ok) to include them. For me, getting myself well has been as much about what I've learned as what I've eaten because, as I've mentioned before, low-fodmap is not about cutting back on what we eat, it's about replacing high fodmaps with low ones. I'm sure that understanding what I can incorporate, and how, has been a vital part of my success. So I'd like to pass on something which I think you'll find helpful too.

I like my food to have plenty of flavour and unfortunately garlic is high-fodmap (don't run away Fodmappers, there is good news to follow) so it's not surprising that I discovered it to be one of my main triggers. But there is a way we can still enjoy a little garlic flavour in our food. I shan't baffle you with science, but if you just want to skip to the recipe, feel free.

(If you're new to fodmaps you might like to read this.)

In a nutshell, garlic (along with onions and pulses) is a type of oligosaccharide and is water soluble. This means that when you add garlic to soups, sauces, stock etc, the oligos (the O in fodmap) will leach into your food. It is the oligos, along with other fodmaps, that trigger symptoms of IBS.

However, they are not soluble in oil. (I remember this seemed like a revelation when I learned this). This means we can still enjoy a little garlic as garlic infused oil. You can buy garlic infused oil but it's easy enough to make. And by making garlic infused oil we can safely include what is a high-fodmap ingredient in a low-fodmap diet!

So here is my simple ratatouille recipe. I'm calling this Rebellious Ratatouille as that's how I feel when I add 'naughty' ingredients like garlic to my recipes. I think you'll see that I've just made a couple of tweaks to make it low-fodmap. So easy when you know how. I hope you like it.

Rebellious Ratatouille

Ingredients

Olive Oil
A few garlic cloves
1 red pepper
2 courgettes
1 small aubergine
4 or 5 spring onions
1 small carton of passata
Fresh basil
Black pepper

Method

1. Chop garlic into fairly large pieces to make them easier to remove.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic. Cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes allowing the garlic to infuse.
3. Remove the garlic from the oil. You' now have garlic infused oil. (Didn't I say it was easy?)
4. Cut the white parts from the spring onions and discard. (This part is high in oligosaccharides).
5. Roughly chop the spring onion greens (leaves) peppers, courgettes and aubergines and add to the oil. Cook until softened, stirring continuously.
6. Add the passata and heat through.
7. Add the pepper and basil and simmer.

Serve with wheat free pasta and a side salad alongside a little grilled halloumi (watch portion size) or tofu sprinkled with paprika for extra yumminess.

'Til next time Fodmappers - Stay Fabulous. x

The Low-FODMAP Christmas Party Guide - Part 1

 

Hi Fodmappers - ready for those Christmas parties? If you're like me, I'm guessing that your thoughts are going to be as much about what you can safely eat and drink as what you might wear? After all there are more embarrassing things that can happen to someone with IBS then turning up in the same outfit as your colleague! So here's my Fodmapper's guide to surviving the party season.

Part 1 - What Can I Eat?

The Set Menu

Do you dread that moment when the menu gets passed around the office with the set meal options? It's hard enough finding a tasty vegetarian option let alone one which is FODMAP friendly. Assuming you're already committed to a sit down meal, how can you make sure it's 'safe'? If it's a traditional Christmas meal there are several things to watch for.

First Course - There is often the choice of a vegetable soup for the first course but this may not be the best option for you. Even something innocent sounding like a carrot and coriander or parsnip soup may contain onions which are high-FODMAP. So my first tip is to opt for the melon.

Main Course - Goats Cheese tartlet sounds great, doesn't it? It's so very tempting for a Veggie Christmas meal but so wrong for us Fodmappers. Onions have a way of sneaking into these too but there's also the pastry to consider, and to avoid. You'll also want to avoid anything with mushrooms. If a nut roast is on the menu it could very easily contain wheat, onions and mushroom! But don't fear. My tip for the main course? Phone the restaurant beforehand and explain that you have special dietary needs - this is nothing unusual these days. Some restaurants pride themselves on being able to cater for special diets, as long as you give them enough notice. If they can't accommodate you, you could always offer to provide your own. That way you can eat in the confidence that it tastes great as well as the fact that it's not going to upset your tummy.

As for the vegetables - potatoes, parsnips, carrots and green beans are low-FODMAP, so enjoy. You should find you can tolerate a small portion of broccoli but remember to avoid the peas. As for Brussels sprouts, Monash University advises that a serving of two is tolerated by most people with IBS, though I'd choose whether to have those or the broccoli (rather than both) just to be extra careful. Also you'll be wise to avoid the stuffing and gravy - both are likely to contain wheat and onions.

Dessert - Christmas desserts are a challenge as wheat and dried fruit are high-FODMAP, and best avoided. But if you like something sweet you could take along some home-made low-FODMAP Ginger, Orange and Walnut Mince Pies to surprise your colleagues (having spoken to the restaurant first) or go for the savoury option and finish with the cheese selection. Cheese boards often come with grapes which are safe to eat, just remember to give the wheat crackers a miss.

The Buffet

The other scenario at this time of year is the festive buffet. This is a whole lot easier as far as a low-FODMAP diet is concerned, partly because a buffet tends to be a much more informal meal anyway and partly because you'll be in control of what goes on to your plate. If you're not sure yet what foods are safe to eat, take time to familiarise yourself with the 'Foods to Avoid' and 'Foods to Enjoy' lists. There are plenty of buffet classics such as plain crisps, plain corn tortillas, carrot and celery sticks, cheese and pineapple on sticks, olives, peanuts, grapes, cheddar or feta cheese and salad leaves which are low-FODMAP, so you won't go hungry.

You could even offer to help prepare the buffet, that way you can make sure there are plenty of low-FODMAP options available. Or take something with you, everyone loves someone who brings food to a party.

One final tip, especially if you know you are easily tempted by festive goodies, is simply to eat something before you go out. That way when the food is put in front of you it'll be easier to stick to those safe options.

In Part 2 I'll take you through some low-FODMAP drinks options complete with a tasty recipe of my own for a winter warmer which I think you'll enjoy.

'Til then - stay fabulous! :)
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How I Gained a More Varied Diet Through FODMAP

Yes, you read that right - I did say 'more varied'. This post is dedicated to those of you who feel that a low-FODMAP diet is so restricted that there's nothing left to eat! I know - I felt like that too.

Hello again Fodmappers. Today I want to share something which was a bit of an epiphany for me.  Quite simply I realised that before going low-FODMAP it felt like everything I ate made me ill. But since discovering the FODMAP approach, I've realised that now I have a whole range of foods to choose from which I can enjoy without becoming unwell. This still feels like nothing short of a miracle. But I admit that initially it felt like my diet was going to be so restricted that it was all going to be very dull. And I was also a bit concerned that, as much of my usual vegetarian options were going to be off-limits, that I wasn't going to be eating healthily either. How wrong I was.

For a start, I have recently rediscovered fruit! This is quite ironic as it is recommended that fruit is limited too (not only to certain varieties but also to one portion with each meal) during the elimination stage but, until a few months ago, I hardly ate any fruit and relied on vegetables for my 5-a-day. Sadly though, many of the vegetables that I used to eat regularly (such as onions, broccoli, beetroot and sugar snap peas) turned out to be HIGH in FODMAPs so it was important that I dropped those and found alternatives. I still eat lots of (other) yummy vegetables but now I also have FODMAP friendly oranges, bananas, grapes and kiwi fruit too.

And then there's the whole wheat thing. I almost feel a little bit guilty telling you just how much of my diet had become wheat based, even without me noticing. It wasn't unusual for me to have something like wheat-flakes, weetabix or branflakes for breakfast, then a sandwich or pasty for lunch, a pasta meal in the evening or maybe a veggie pie, and the inevitable cakes and biscuits in between. No wonder I was ill! If you haven't explored this area yet, you'll be glad to know that there is so much more to eat than wheat. Oats are ok so I often start the day with a bowl of porridge, but you could equally have a slice of wheat-free toast. I also use rice and potatoes more than previously and have discovered the world of 'gluten free' (which means they are also wheat, rye and barley free) pastas. Sometimes I even unleash my inner hippy and make a quinoa or sprouted buckwheat salad.

I now gain my proteins through tinned chick peas, tofu, nuts and nutty butters (did you know you can now get almond and hazelnut as well as peanut butter?) eggs, cheeses and grains such as quinoa instead of reaching for the jar of soya mince.

Milk has been replaced by oat, rice or (and this is my current favourite) almond milk. The lactose-free 'ordinary' milk isn't bad either.

In short, my diet is so much more interesting!

So I hope that if you're still working up to going low-FODMAP, or maybe losing heart a little, this might have given you a bit of encouragement. Remind yourself, that the chances are, that some of the foods you're already eating are ones that are making you ill. You'd have to be crazy to carry on eating those surely? And try something different instead. If it seems like a challenge then treat it as though you're making something special for somebody special - because you are! It's a matter of looking at what you can eat, not what you can't. And you may even find you end up with a more varied diet (and maybe more balanced) diet as a result.

Bon appetit.