3 Reasons why the low FODMAP diet didn't help your IBS

One of the bigggest frustrations of many people who struggle with IBS occurs when the low FODMAP diet doesn’t work or doesn’t provide adequate symptom relief. (if you have no idea what a low FODMAP diet is you can read more about that here). For some, the diet just doesn’t give them any symptom relief, or others when they began to re-introduce foods they reacted to everything. So they are left wondering - what - the - hell - now?!

Fortunately, there are a number of reasons why this might happen and even more, fortunately, a number of things you can do about it!

Reason 1: The low FODMAP diet wasn’t implemented properly.

Often people hear about the low FODMAP diet in passing from a friend, or a google search online or even a printed sheet their GP has given to them. They look at the list of foods to exclude and go about their best efforts to reduce down on some of the foods. 

Now, this is not how the low FODMAP diet was intended to be used. The diet requires a relatively strict elimination phase, followed by the reintroduction of individual fodmap groups to test the response and threshold. So by simply reducing down some of the fodmaps you may not achieve an overwhelming result. 
Additionally, many of the lists you find online aren’t an exhaustive list of high FODMAP foods so it is possible the list you are using simply wasn’t thorough enough to see an improvement.  

Reason 2: FODMAPs aren’t the issue
IBS has many triggers and diet is simply one of them and interestingly enough is not as big of a trigger as many believe it to be. Often we think because bloating comes on after eating or simply because bloating is in the digestive tract that it means that food MUST be the trigger. For many however there are a number of triggers that are not FODMAPs. These include things like stress, anxiety, large meals, alcohol, caffeine and many more! 

Reason 3: The Basics of IBS haven’t been covered

Fun fact: the low FODMAP diet is considered second line therapy for IBS. What this means is that there are a number of IBS strategies that need to be implemented first. What I find is that when these strategies like manipulating meal size, meal timing, focusing on improving digestion, stress management, and addressing the gut-brain axis are done first we see people resolve many of their symptoms without the need for the low FODMAP diet, or in those that do need the low FODMAP diet still, we see a massive improvement in outcomes from the diet. 

If you have tried the low FODMAP diet and feel like you didn’t get the symptom relief you were hoping for, if you’ve been on it for a long time and feel it is time to try something else, or if you are new to IBS and want to go through the pathway to symptom relief stay tuned next week for details on what to do next!