Well done on surviving the first phase of the low FODMAP diet! Hopefully, your gut is now mostly calm and you know that low FODMAP foods can help you settle your symptoms. That means it is now time to regain your food freedom and tackle the FODMAP reintroduction phase to help you identify your trigger foods.
If it still feels like your gut has a vendetta against you, then it’s time to talk to a dietitian and to troubleshoot with these strategies before you attempt the reintroduction phase.
Please note that this article does not replace the advice or expertise of a registered dietitian, who specialises in the low FODMAP diet. A dietitian can help tailor FODMAP challenges to suit your lifestyle and medical needs (1 2 3).
What is the FODMAP reintroduction phase?
The goal of the FODMAP reintroduction phase is to find out what FODMAPs trigger your gut symptoms through a series of food challenges (1 2). This process is also often referred to as finding your tolerance level for a FODMAP group.
Remember that FODMAP is an acronym that represents four different types of fermentable sugars. Each week during the reintroduction phase you choose one of the FODMAP groups to challenge and then you eat a food from that group over a 3 day period, each day increasing the amount of the challenge food you eat (1 2)
During each challenge you monitor your gut symptoms to see how well you tolerate the FODMAP group.
You will discover what FODMAP groups you can eat freely, which ones you might need to enjoy in small serves, and which FODMAPs you need to limit most of the time to keep your gut settled.
The good news is that most people find they have a tolerance level for most FODMAP groups and create a flexible long term diet that contains a variety of high and low FODMAP foods.
The FODMAP reintroduction phase can also be called the FODMAP challenge phase.
SUMMARY
The FODMAP reintroduction phase can also be called the FODMAP challenge phase and it is a series of food challenges that helps you identify which of the FODMAP groups are triggering your gut symptoms.
Why Should You Challenge And Reintroduce FODMAPs?
Now if you are feeling awesome on the low FODMAP diet, then you might be wondering why you need to do your FODMAP challenges. Surely it would just be easier to stay on the low FODMAP diet forever, right? BUT figuring out exactly what your gut triggers are and which FODMAP groups you can bring back into your diet is really important.
Our gut bacteria love to feast on high FODMAP foods. Many FODMAPs act like prebiotics and have a positive effect on our gut health (1 2 3). This means restricting FODMAPs long term could have a negative impact on your gut health and your overall health.
The low FODMAP diet is also restrictive and socially isolating, as it can be very difficult to eat out or attend social events while only eating low FODMAP foods. With your new found food freedom you will be able to enjoy a wider range of foods which makes socialising easier.
Additionally, your overall long term health and wellbeing can be affected by a strict low FODMAP diet. Reintroducing some high FODMAP foods increases the variety of your diet, and helps it remain nutritionally adequate in the long term.
SUMMARY
Reintroducing some high FODMAP foods can help you support your gut health, make socialising easier and keep your diet nutritionally adequate.
What Happens When You Find A Trigger Food
The reintroduction phase is a bit like being on a roller coaster, it’s both exciting and a little bit scary at the same time. What we love most about this process is you really get to know your body and understand exactly what is triggering your gut symptoms.
While you should find a few FODMAP foods that you can eat freely (Yay!), at some point you are likely to find a high FODMAP food that at a certain serving size triggers your symptoms.
Don’t panic if you react to a FODMAP challenge. You haven’t undone all the hard work you’ve put into the first phase of the low FODMAP diet. These symptoms will pass within a few days as the high FODMAP food moves through your system and you should go back to feeling good. You can then pick up where you left off.
Finding a threshold is also a good thing. You now have a confirmed trigger and can actively work on limiting that FODMAP group most of the time.
Also remember that if you are sensitive to a FODMAP group now, that doesn’t mean you can’t reintroduce it at a later date. Our FODMAP tolerance levels are constantly changing so it’s a good idea to go back are retest FODMAP groups you’ve struggled with in the past.
SUMMARY
Reacting to a FODMAP challenge can be a good thing as it confirms a FODMAP trigger. Remember symptoms will pass after a few days as the high FODMAP food moves through your system.
Your FODMAP Reintroduction Phase Guide
Before you jump into your FODMAP challenges, there are a few key things you need to know.
FODMAP Challenge Success Tips
- Only use a recommended challenge food for your FODMAP challenge. A challenge food normally only contains one of the FODMAP sugars. For example, cow’s milk only contains lactose while mango only contains excess fructose. These foods only contain one FODMAP group so they will give you clear results.
- Be mindful about your symptoms. A little bit of bloating or gas is a normal reaction. We would classify these symptoms as a mild gut fluctuation, and they don’t mean you have failed the challenge.
- Wait until any symptoms have settled and then have a 3 day rest period (washout period) between each challenge. This will make sure you are feeling well and your gut is stable before moving onto the next challenge.
- Stop the challenge if you get moderate to severe symptoms after eating a challenge food. These are symptoms that are painful or affect the quality of your life. This level of symptoms indicates that you have a low threshold for that FODMAP group, but you may be able to bring it back in a smaller amount. Make sure you make a note of your symptoms, what challenge food you ate, and when they happened.
- Seek support as need from your FODMAP trained dietitian or our FODMAP Made Easy programme.
FODMAP Challenge Schedules
A challenge schedule is how you space out your food challenges through out the week. There are two ways you can test FODMAPs. This is the first way is having 3 challenge days back to back. This method is good for your fructose, lactose, sorbitol and mannitol challenges. This challenge schedule also means you get through your challenges faster.
Challenge schedule 1:
Increase the amount of the high FODMAP challenge food over the 3 day period. Stop the challenge if you experience moderate to severe symptoms.
Challenge schedule 2:
Increase the amount of the high FODMAP challenge food with each challenge day. Stop the challenge if you experience moderate to severe symptoms.
If you are concerned about testing three days in a row, you can use challenge schedule two where you have a washout day/rest day between each challenge (4).
This testing schedule should be used when testing fructans and GOS (5). These FODMAPs can take longer to move through our digestive system and that means it can take longer to feel these FODMAPs.
Also keep in mind that your dietitian might create a testing schedule that is more suitable for your personal needs.
FODMAP Challenge Food Options
As we previously mentioned, FODMAP challenge foods are foods that only contain one of the FODMAP groups (1 2 5). Once you have chosen your challenge schedule you can choose a challenge food. Then increase the serving size of the food on each challenge day.
Reintroduction Plan & FODMAP Challenge Food
Challenge 1: Excess Fructose
Choose 1 challenge food:
1 teaspoon of honey increasing to 1 tablespoon of honey
1/4 a medium sized mango increasing to 1 medium sized mango
Challenge 2: Sorbitol
Choose 1 food:
3 blackberries increasing to 12 blackberries
3/4 of a fresh apricot to 2 small apricots.
Some dietitians may also use sugar free mints containing sorbitol.
Challenge 3: Mannitol
Choose 1 food:
1/4 portobello mushroom increasing to 1 portobello mushroom
100g of sweet potato increasing to 200g serve
20g cauliflower increasing to 70g serve
Challenge 4: Lactose
Choose 1 food:
60ml cow’s milk increasing to 250ml of cow’s milk
Challenge 5: Fructan Containing Grain
Choose 1 food:
1 slice of white wheat bread increasing to 2 slices of wheat bread. If you would normally eat 4 slices of bread in a sitting then add an additional challenge day and test that amount.
50g wheat pasta increasing to 200g (use the cooked weight of the pasta).
Challenge 6: Garlic Challenge
This is a fructan challenge.
1/4 of a clove of garlic increasing to 1 clove of garlic
Challenge 7: Onion Challenge
This is a fructan challenge. Choose one option:
1/4 of a medium leek increasing to 1/2 whole leek (white and green sections)
1 tablespoon onion increasing to 1/2 onion
Challenge 8: Galactans/GOS
This is an oligosaccharide challenge. Choose 1 food:
1/4 cup canned chickpeas (rinsed) increasing to 1 cup.
15 almonds increasing to 25 almonds
60ml soy milk made from whole or hulled soy beans increasing to 250ml
Challenge 9: Fructose + Sorbitol
This is a combined FODMAP challenge. Only complete this challenge if you pass both the excess fructose and sorbitol challenge.
Choose 1 food:
1/4 apple increasing to one whole apple
1/4 pear increasing to one whole pear
(Table References: 4, 5)
For more FODMAP challenge food options check out our FODMAP Reintroduction Course in the FODMAP Made Easy programme.
Once you have completed your FODMAP challenges you should have a good idea of what FODMAP groups you can enjoy while keeping your symptoms settled. You can then move from the FODMAP Reintroduction Phase onto a long term modified low FODMAP diet where you add those high FODMAP foods back into your diet.
Get FODMAP Reintroduction Help
The reintroduction phase can be a high stress time. Not only are you juggling work life stress, trying to keep your diet low FODMAP but also trying to pick the right challenge foods.
You don’t have to do your FODMAP challenges alone, we can guide you step by step through the FODMAP reintroduction phase by:
- Providing you with a 12 week online course that tells you what to do week by week
- Answering the 10 most commonly asked questions about the reintroduction phase
- Giving you a guide to help you manage your challenge anxiety
- Teaching you how to create a flexible challenge schedule around your work and social life
- Providing you with a downloadable success list to make things easy
- Giving you access to more challenge foods that suit your taste preferences
- Providing chat support and cheerleading if something goes wrong or you just need more support
- Giving you a 15 page downloadable workbook to help you track your challenges
- Helping you to analyse your challenge results.
Sound good? Join FODMAP Made Easy programme and jump into our FODMAP Challenge Course now.
Common Challenge Mistakes
If you react to all of the re-challenge foods then it might mean you are making one of the common reintroduction phase mistakes, or that there are additional medical conditions, or food sensitivities that need to be considered.
Here are some of the common reasons why you could be struggling to reintroduce FODMAPs:
Choosing the wrong challenge foods.
Make sure you and your dietitian are choosing challenge foods that only contain one FODMAP (3).
For example, a pear would not be a good re-challenge food when testing excess fructose as it contains high levels of both fructose and polyols.
If you are trying to challenge excess fructose it would be better to choose honey or mango as the challenge food as they only contain excess fructose, and will give you a clearer indication of your fructose tolerance levels.
How we can help: Get extensive lists of FODMAP challenge foods in our FODMAP Challenge course in the FODMAP Made Easy programme.
Not sticking to the low FODMAP diet while doing your FODMAP challenges.
You need to follow the low FODMAP diet carefully while completing the reintroduction phase. This means eating low FODMAP foods and using low FODMAP portions sizes while you do your challenges except for the challenge food you are testing.
This will help you get clear results. If you get gut symptoms during the challenge then you know it’s due to the challenge food and not something else you have eaten.
It is also advised to avoid eating out during your challenge days as you never know 100% what is in your food. If alcohol or caffeine bother you, then you might want to limit these gut irritants on your challenge days, even though they are generally low FODMAP (6 7).
If you think alcohol or caffeine might be additional IBS triggers, then you can test them at the end of the reintroduction phase with the help of your dietitian.
How we can help: Use our low FODMAP meal plans and delicious recipes to stay on track during the challenge phase. We’re available via chat to help you integrate your challenge foods into recipes each week. Join the FODMAP Made Easy programme.
Starting the FODMAP challenge test with a high amount of the challenge food.
If you start with a large serving size of the food and it triggers symptoms, then you might miss out on discovering that you can enjoy smaller amounts of that FODMAP group.
When testing a challenge food, start with a small amount of the food and then increase the amount over the next 2 challenge days if your gut remains settled.
For example, if you start by testing one whole clove of garlic your digestive system might freak out. Instead start with ¼ clove per serve and then increase your serve to ½ a clove.
This process of slowly increasing your serving size increases your chance of finding a serving size of that FODMAP group that you can tolerate and enjoy.
How we can help: Let us guide you each week with recommended challenge amounts, daily tracking sheets and chat support to help you determine what serving sizes are right for you. Get your challenge support in the FODMAP Made Easy programme.
Additional intolerances or medical conditions that need to be taken into consideration.
If you find you cannot tolerate any FODMAPs (despite having the guidance of a FODMAP trained dietitian), then further investigation is needed (3 8).
It is possible that you could have additional sensitivities to gluten, have food chemical intolerances (salicylates, amines, glutamates, sulphites), small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) or another condition that needs treatment (3 8).
Your dietitian is the best person to help you investigate these further.
Image credit: All Kind of People/Shutterstock.com
So far it is working great!
Hi Kathy,
It’s great to hear you are success reintroducing FODMAPs. Keep up the good work!
I’m grateful for your site. Trying to navigate all this alone would be very difficult. You give great resources and positive outcomes. Thank you!!
Hey Alana,
Thanks so much for this incredibly detailed page!
Does this mean you can pick one of the suggested fodmap foods (i.e. avocado) and slowly move from the small dose to the larger recommended dose over a week long period (utilising one of the above time tables) to test the whole food group? Once this is completed/if you have no symptoms does this mean you can reintroduce other things from that group? It’s hard to know because the portion sizes of different foods within that group will obviously vary.
Thanks heaps!
I sure wish you had a reply, because it’s an important question and I’d like to know the answer too. If I don’t react to a fodmap in one food, does that automatically mean that all other foods with that single fodmap are okay for me too?
Hi Kate,
If you don’t react to the FODMAP challenge food then that is a good indicator that you should tolerate other foods containing that FODMAP group well. The one exception is fructans. When you challenge fructans we do recommend that you do several challenges, as sometimes you can react to different fructan containing foods differently. I hope that helps!
Hi there,
I am about to start the reintroduction phase and I am a little bit confused. When researching what I could eat during the elimination phase I found that leeks were low-fodmap friendly and so were chickpeas if no more than 1/4 cup eaten. So why are these foods in the reintroduction phase?
Hi Stephanie,
Only the green leaves of the leek are low FODMAP. The white bulb is high FODMAP for fructans. This means the leek bulb can be used during the re-challenge tests to check your tolerance to fructans.
In terms of chickpeas, only canned chickpeas are low FODMAP in 1/4 cup serves and then they become high FODMAP in larger serves. This means dried chickpeas can be used to check your tolerance levels. You can also use canned chickpeas providing you use a serving size larger than 1/4 cup. Does that help?
Hi,
Thanks for all the great info!
Just one quick question: when it says to test two foods from a single reintroduction group, address those tested simultaneously or separately? E.g. Do I test garlic and onions tested together at recommended amounts, or reintroduce garlic one week and do onions the following week?
I would so appreciate any clarification you could provide! Thanks!
Hi Alexandra,
We would recommend you split onion and garlic into two separate tests over two weeks. For example, do garlic one week and onion the next. If you need more reintroduction support we have a 12-week reintroduction e-course that walks you through each of the FODMAP challenges and gives you lots of tips along the way. You can find the e-course in our Wellness Club: https://app.alittlebityummy.com/dashboard
Hi Alana,
If I have a reaction two days after testing the last group, during washout period, do I attribute that to the last food group tested? I had a mild reaction to lactose which seems to have become slightly worse 2 days after the last day of testing. Should I go onto the next group tomorrow or wait for the symptoms to subside?
Thanks,
Lino
Hi Lino,
We would recommend that you wait for symptoms to subside before moving onto the next FODMAP challenge. Also it isn’t normal to react two days later (generally reactions start within 24 hours). This means at the end of your FODMAP challenges we would suggest you test that group again and see if you get the same results. Does that make sense?
Yes, completely !
Thanks for the information and your site. Very useful. L
Do you have to reintroduce the foods in the order they are listed or can you do any order your choose? For instance I’d love to try garlic first, is that OK?
Hi Brooke,
You can do the challenges in whatever order you want! Just make sure you leave at 3 washout days between each challenge so you get clear results. All the best with your garlic challenge!
What is a wash out day on the reintroduction phase of the diet?
Hi Cammy,
A washout day is where you go back to only eating low FODMAP foods. These washout days help you settle any symptoms from the previous food challenge so that you get clear results from your next challenge test.
I’m now on my last reintroduction (blackberries) and it will be a relief to finally finish what has been a 12 week long, tedious but very interesting series of tests.
Along the way I struggled with the bread but found in UK supermarkets the Schar seeded ciabattas were about the tastiest thing. I also found it a minefield but my dietician suggested I download the Monash FODMAP app onto my iPhone and you can scan the bar codes on the products and the app will tell you if it is suitable to eat or not. It is a bit over sensitive with flavourings but other than that brilliant and saved me a lot of time and effort.
I had no major reactions until I tested Polyol Mannitol with celery and I had diarrhoea on day three before I ate that days celery and the next day I was ok. I suffer from slow colon transit constipation so I’m wondering if I can use celery when I’m very bunged up to go to the loo or is that not really the point?
Alana, would you be able to help with this please?
My last challenge was GOS and I tested with 15 almonds, within an hour I looked like I had swallowed a ball and felt awful all day. Day 2 20 almonds, I didn’t feel too bad but Day 3 of 30 almonds made me feel like an absolute slug but the next day I was ok and glad to be in the washout period!
Alana, does this mean I could eat a small amount of hummus ?
I finish the reintroduction on Saturday and I want to have a cream cheese and marmite sandwich on squidgy white bread!
The most pleasurable reintroduction was onion .. OMG I made a basic pasta sauce with prawns, tomato and basil with onion and never realised just how much flavour onion gives a dish, it was delicious.
I also felt like Charlie finding the Golden Ticket in the Wonka Bar when I scanned the barcode of a pack of strawberry Fruitellas to find I could eat those after four months they tasted like heaven! Small pleasures are the thing that got me through the diet. Good luck to everyone who is on the diet!
Emma
Hi Emma,
Thanks for commenting! The Monash App doesn’t have a bar code scanner so did you mean the FoodMaestro FODMAP app? I’m glad it helped you find a few more foods to eat.
The reintroduction phase can often help you find the right balance for your long term diet. Some of the FODMAPs, like mannitol, act like natural laxatives and can help you stay regular. This means you can definitely incorporate them into your diet as needed and it sounds like using the day 1 challenge dose might be a good place to start. There is also some more information provided in here: https://alittlebityummy.com/can-reintroducing-fodmaps-help-reduce-constipation/
Your almond reaction is intriguing. FODMAP reactions take place in the large intestine so a reaction after an hour for a solid food like almonds is unusual. I would suggest your retest GOS using chickpeas instead and see if you get the same reaction. Also it’s good to note that you can make low FODMAP hummus and enjoy a small amount. Here is a recipe: https://alittlebityummy.com/recipe/en-us/traditional-low-fodmap-hummus/
Also congratulations on getting onion back! That will give you a huge amount of food freedom especially when you are eating. I hope my answers help and just let me know if you have more questions.
Thank you so much for this, your whole website has been brilliant. I have looked at lots of different sites and started my diet off with a qualified dietician who didn’t explain things nearly as well as you have.
Sorry, yes you are correct it was the Food Maestro app I used and I did find it useful.
I finished the whole diet yesterday and I will, as you suggest, retake the GOS test with chickpea as I had just started on HRT and had a lot of stress at home at the time of that test.
I just finished the Sorbital reintroduction using Blackberries (2, 5, 10 blackberries three days) and it had the complete opposite effect to what I expected and gave me terrible constipation.
I’m really glad I have finished, I only had symptoms for GOS, Sorbital and Mannitol. I would really like to learn how to manage that as I don’t currently know what all the foods are in each group. Can I buy your book on Amazon please?
Thanks again, you really have helped me a lot.
Emma
I’ve gone through all the challenges without any problems – does that meanIi probably didn’t/don’t have IBS but some similar condition symptoms-wise? Nothing came from my doctors tests either…
Hi Phil,
It’s great to hear that you have passed all the FODMAP challenges and can regain your food freedom. This doesn’t mean you don’t have IBS, it just means that FODMAPs aren’t the cause of your symptoms. If you think your symptoms are still food-related then now is a good time to talk to a dietitian who has specialised in gut conditions about other potential trigger foods. Otherwise looking at non-food treatment strategies could be a good next step. These could include cognitive behavioural therapy, gut hypnotherapy, or even stress/anxiety strategies like yoga or meditation.
When challenging garlic does it matter of it’s cooked or raw?
Hi Sara,
You can use raw or cooked garlic for your challenge. We suggest you look at how you normally eat it and then challenge the garlic that way. I hope that helps!
I just completed the fructose test on honey and passed it but does that mean I passed all fructose or just honey? Do I keep to test everything from every group or just one thing from every group? This can be so confusing sometimes
Hi Hayley,
For most of the FODMAP groups if you pass the challenge using one food you should tolerate the other foods in the same group too. This means you should tolerate all foods containing excess fructose (providing they don’t also include another FODMAP group).
Fructans are the exception. With this FODMAP group we normally recommend doing 3 challenges – wheat base challenge, onion challenge and garlic challenge as we find people often tolerate them differently.
Hi,
I feel very fortunate to have found this website, as all I got from my doctor was a list of foods I could eat and those I should avoid, and a very vague explanation of the process of reintroducing those foods.
I have been following the strict elimination phase for three weeks, and I feel great. Until I got to your very detailed explanation, I believed that once I tested a food and tolerated it, I could include it on the rest of the reintroduction phase. That is clearly not so.
My dilemma is this — my niece is studying abroad this semester in Rome, and I will visit her the week of Thanksgiving. Having put three weeks into this already, I hardly want to throw my efforts away, but on the other hand, I do not want to spend a week in Italy turning down most of the food and being the one who has to ask for specially prepared food at every meal. What do I do?
I thought I could try reintroducing wheat, garlic, and onion, in particular, and then know whether or not I could have those on my trip, but that is not how the “challenges” are supposed to work. Any advice?
If I eat things that are not low FODMAP on the trip, and have to start over when I get back, how long would I then have to wait before starting the challenges? I did wonder if I should have waited until after the trip to even start, but honestly, even if I have to do it all again, the improvement in my symptoms has been worth the sacrifices these three weeks.
I really appreciate any advice you can give. Thank you!
Hi Stephanie,
Okay so if you have already tested some FODMAP groups and found you can tolerate them, then you can eat those while you are on holiday. When you return from holiday, remove those high FODMAP foods from your diet and go back on a strict low FODMAP diet for 3 days (just like you do after a food challenge). Once your symptoms are settled you can continue testing the FODMAP groups. You don’t have to start the elimination phase again. I hope that helps!
Hi Alana,
First, thanks for the good advice regarding my trip to Italy. I was able to enjoy my time there with minimal symptoms, and I went strictly low FODMAP when I returned, as you suggested, before getting back to the testing.
I have another question now, and forgive me that it is a bit of a TMI, but I need to ask about gastrointestinal issues getting worse around the time of my period. Yesterday I had a rough day symptom-wise, and I was testing a new food group, but it was also the first day of my period. I am not sure I can attribute the issues to the food, or if they are just the effects of my hormonal fluctuations. My idea was to stop this challenge now and then try retesting the same food at a different time. With all the people who write to you, has anyone had this question? I tried searching your blogs and did not find anything on this topic. Thank you!
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for commenting! It’s awesome to hear that you had a great time in Italy. In answer to your question – yes it is really normal for hormonal swings to influence symptoms. Joanna Baker, one of our dietitian team has a great article on this topic: https://everydaynutrition.com.au/does-your-period-make-ibs-worse/
Your idea is also right. Stop the challenge, allow the symptoms to settle and then reset the same food when you are on your period. I hope that helps and that you feel better soon.
Do you have suggestions on how to reintroduce Garlic and Onion? I don’t really want to sit down and eat a clove of garlic or half an onion. I could eat foods that contain these items but then I won’t really know how much I am eating. Is there a recipe I should use or any other suggestions?
Hi Jennifer,
We recommend measuring out the amount of onion/garlic you need to eat for your challenge, pan fry it, and then mix it through your meal. That way you can enjoy it a meal (like a salad, burger, spaghetti bolognese, pasta dish or stir-fry) and don’t need to sit down and eat it by itself.
Hi Alana,
first of all thank you very much for your good help with all this precious information.
My question is: after challenging a food without symptoms, can I continue eating this food (or food group) during the next challenging food groups?
Thanks
Hi Ana,
That is a great question. Even if you pass a challenge, we suggest leaving that FODMAP group out of your diet until you finish your other challenges. Sometime FODMAPs can build up in our system. This means you might be fine with several FODMAP groups when you eat them separately but have issues when you combine them. That means it’s important to challenge each group by itself first.
Hi Alana,
Thank you for this FODMAP reintroduction guide, it’s a great help!
My question is, if I am also on a gluten-free diet, how can I test for Fructans containing grains?
Thank you
Hi Jack,
So you have a couple of options here. Instead, you could do an inulin challenge and see how you go eating rice crackers that contain inulin or chicory root as an ingredient. Alternatively you could use gluten free couscous made from rice and corn – start with 1/3 cup and work your way up to 1 cup cooked.
If I was going to test using GF rice crackers, what would you suggest using as the 3 day test challenge amounts? Is it okay if the crackers have both inulin and chicory root or should I try to buy ones that only have 1 of the 2 ingredients?
Hi Cara,
Inulin is usually derived from chicory root and it can be labelled on ingredient labels as inulin, chicory root, chicory root fibre. That means it’s okay if the ingredient list states both. We hope that helps.
can you take a break mid-reintroduction phase (ie. for a surgery and recovery) and then resume re-introduction phase after recovery all the while maintaining a low-fodmap diet including the foods that have been reintroduced successfully followed by a 3 day washout after recovery?
Hi Katrina,
Thanks for commenting.Yes you can pause the reintroduction phase if you need to. Just make sure you give yourself three washout/rest days where you don’t eat high FODMAP foods before you pick up your FODMAP reintroductions again.
Also, remember that high FODMAP foods that you’ve passed should remain out of your diet while you finish the other reintroductions.
Hello,
I’ve made it a few weeks into the reintroduction phase. Regarding bringing back in onion and garlic, should it be cooked (or raw) onion or garlic in a dish rather than onion/garlic powder or juice in a condiment or cracker, etc?
Hi Kile,
That is a great question. We suggest you start with cooked or raw onion or garlic in a dish first as this will give you a lot more options when eating out. Then try a product that has onion or garlic powder in it.
So, I made it to the very last challenge without much in the way of symptom exacerbation. But the apple challenge seems to be a problem. How do I use this information as I loosen up restrictions as apples have fructose plus sorbitol?
Confusing since mango and blueberries were fine. Thank you
Hi Sharon,
It’s awesome to hear that you passed the individual FODMAP group challenges without too much issue. This shows that you can tolerate the FODMAP groups by themselves well. Your reaction to apples shows that your gut issues might be related to combining FODMAP groups by either having a food that has two FODMAPs in it OR by having a meal with several ingredients that have different high FODMAP groups. When you combine the FODMAPs you are going over your tolerance level and triggering your symptoms. As you relax your diet start by just having 1 high FODMAP group in a meal (eg honey for excess fructose). Over time you can experiment with different FODMAP combinations over the course of a day or a meal. Does that help?
I seem to be able to tolerate sorbitol and fructose just fine separately, but struggle with them combined. For instance, I don’t have a problem with avocado, blackberries, or honey, but a whole apple sets me off. Is this normal?
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks for commenting. This can be really common and is linked to FODMAP stacking. This issue is also why it’s recommended that you test each FODMAP group individually while keeping the rest of your diet low FODMAP.
Hello! I just tested wheat, garlic and onions separately and found that wheat was ok but onions and garlic aren’t. Does this mean I should be ok with other fructans (like broccoli and asparagus, for example?) How can I know what should be ok on the list of frutans when my reaction differed with the three tests? Thanks so much for all this help! Your articles are incredibly helpful.
Well done on pushing through your FODMAP reintroductions. You can definitely do a reintroduction for fructan containing vegetables. Broccoli isn’t a good choice for testing as you have to eat a lot of it to reach a high fructan amount (4 cups in one serving). Asparagus contains both fructans and fructose so we wouldn’t use that either.
Instead we would suggest: globe artichoke, brussel sprouts, savoy cabbage, zucchini/courgette.
– Globe artichokes – start with 1/8 small globe artichoke and work your way up to 1 whole small globe artichoke.
– Brussel sprouts – start with 3 sprouts and work your way up to 6 sprouts
– Savoy cabbage – start with 3/4 cup and work your way up to 1.5 cups
– Courgette/Zucchini – start with 75g and work your way up to 100g
Hi , Can u tell me if only one food needs to be eaten that we are testing for our tolerance level or multiple high fodmap food can be eaten together though in low amount like in day one, then increasing amount on day 2 of similar multiple high fodmap food
Hi Sarvesh,
For each reintroduction challenge we suggest picking one high FODMAP food to challenge with and keeping that consistent for each challenge day (make sure the rest of your food is low FODMAP). On each test day you then increase the amount you have. You are testing the FODMAP in the food, not the food itself so generally you only need to test one food per FODMAP group. The exception here is fructans where we recommend you do a fructan grain challenge, an onion challenge, an garlic challenge.
Hello,
I am confused by the quantities during reintroduction: are these quantities in a meal or is it spread out throughout the day? For example, having a 1/2 onion in one single meal seems like a lot to me. Could that be spread out during the day among multiple meals?
Hi Erica,
Thanks for commenting. Ideally, you want to eat the challenge food amount in one sitting as it’s the level of FODMAPs in the food you are testing not the food itself. Just remember that FODMAP challenges can be tailored to your personal needs that means you can reduce or increase the last test day amount to the largest amount of the food you would normally eat. We hope that helps.
That is very helpful! Thank you!
Hi Erica,
You are welcome! It’s lovely to hear you are finding the article helpful.
This is soooo helpful thank you!! I am trying to plan my reintroduction phase using this info and the monash app. I’m a bit confused about the galactans/GOS challenge as the challenge foods also have fructans eg chickpeas. Please can you recommend something that only has GOS which I can try? Or is the point that I’m testing both together – in which case should I do fructans by itself first (I’m pretty sure this is an issue for me)?
I also wanted to check if it’s ok to take a break every few weeks and enjoy having foods I’ve found I can tolerate – as a kind of reward and encouragement to keep going. Reading the comments, this looks fine as long as I do a washout for 3 days afterwards and go back to the low fodmap diet while I’m doing the rest of the challenges. Is that right?
Thanks so much!!
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for commenting. Canned chickpeas and sprouted chickpeas only contain GOS according to Monash University. Lots of people also use almonds to test GOS. You can definitely test fructans first – just remember that people tolerate different fructan groups differently so make sure you do all of the different challenges.
You can also take a break between challenges if you want to. Our recommendation would be to have 3 washout days and make sure symptoms are settled before you restart.