28 foods you didn’t know could make you bloated

Do you experience gut issues after every meal? Tried cutting out gluten, dairy, even sugar, but nothings worked?

It could be due to FODMAPs, an acronym that stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols.

In less sciencey terms, they’re a group of carbohydrates, sugars and sugar alcohols that some people find especially difficult to digest. Let’s drill down.

The full FODMAPs.

But while quitting sugar can be reasonably simple, the FODMAPs group can be a bit trickier. It’s made up of a seemingly random bunch of foods!

• Fructose: high fructose corn syrup, honey, some high-fructose fruits including watermelon, apples, pears, mango, plus dried fruit and juice.
• Lactose: all dairy products except lactose-free dairy and aged cheeses.
  
• Polyols: sugar alcohols (commonly found in sugar-free foods, gum and soda) and stone fruits, berries, avocado, cauliflower, mushrooms and snow peas.
• Fructans: wheat, rye, barley, garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, beetroot, chicory, dandelion, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and fennel.
• Galacto-Oligosaccharides: beans, chickpeas and lentils.

FODMAPs symptoms.

FODMAPs can trigger all sorts of unpleasant symptoms like bloating, wind, abdominal, pain and diarrhoea or constipation. Or both! 

Different people can react differently to different members of the FODMAP group, too. According to dietician and gut health expert Dr. Kerith Duncanson, you may be able to identify which FODMAPs you’re sensitive to based on your symptoms.

“People who tend to have diarrhoea are more likely to react to the FODMAPs that draw fluid into the gut: the polyols, fructose and lactose. Those people with bloating and constipation are more likely to react to the gas-producing Oligosaccharides.”

This sounds like me…

Think you might be suffering FODMAPs-related gut issues? Don’t lose heart! Talk to your doctor or nutritionist about your symptoms and together you’ll be able to work out a treatment plan that best suits you.

Once you learn how to navigate the FODMAP foods, there’s a good chance you’ll say bye bye to bloating forever. In fact, 70 per cent of people with IBS benefit from a low-FODMAPs diet.

Want to know more? Check out our tips on how to eat low-FODMAP without going crazy.

We originally published this post in February 2016. We updated it in February 2017.

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