FODMAPS?

I felt so dehydrated yesterday I thought I would pass out. Guzzling water helped some, but what really helped was when I found some sports chews we had bought for the 10K but I had never eaten. Then I started to feel a little better. I had some calories and electrolytes in me. But I was up much of the night with gnawing stomach pain and continued bathroom trips.

So I am looking to see what I can do for my IBS. And I found the FODMAPS diet. They say it can help 80% of people who do it. It is based upon not eating foods that have high levels of hard-to-digest carbohydrates. And it seems that I have been doing everything wrong.

It is a very restrictive diet- and many of the foods that you can't eat are things I have been eating a lot of recently in an effort to be healthy- many fruits and vegetables. So I thought when this recent episode started after eating a steak dinner a couple of weeks ago it must be the steak- no, it was probably the asparagus.

Lactose and gluten are out, of course, on this diet. But that I wanted to do anyway. Unfortunately apples are out. Cauliflower and cabbage are out (although some people say that fermented products like sauerkraut might be okay). Onions and avocado are out. And my go-to foods, beans and lentils, are out. But I kind of suspected they would be. Whose belly really feels better after eating beans or lentils?

So meats,eggs, rice, potatoes,salads, green beans, hard cheeses, berries- is probably what I am going to be living on. Well, I am exaggerating- there are a few more things I can eat- but not much more that I normally eat. Oh yes- I can have my lactose free milk. No to chocolate, but yes to coffee.

I think I have to give it a try. I'm hoping I find that I don't have to be 100% adherent to it. But for now I just want this to stop.