The Beginning of Transformation

It all started about one night in November 2012 after eating a VERY greasy samosa from the Safeway deli, of all places, I came home to relax for the evening with family. Later that night, I ended up in so much pain that I had my husband take me to urgent care. The doctor in urgent care thought that I might be passing a kidney or gall stone. I was crying and shaking from the pain. She decided to give me a morphine shot and send me to the ER for tests. I arrived at the ER around 6pm with my husband and two young children. After two ultrasounds, and a series of blood work, I left with no answers after my poor family and I had been sitting there for about 4 hours. The doctors did not find any stones on the ultrasound, so they diagnosed me with gall bladder disease. They told me that some times the bile in the gall bladder becomes sand-like and can clog it up causing pain. They offered to do surgery to remove my gall bladder right then. I, needless to say, freaked out a little. The pain had subsided, thanks to the morphine shot, so I said that I would like to go home and think about it all. Later in the week I scheduled an appointment for a HIDA scan. Ended up my gall bladder was functioning at 95%. My gall bladder was fine, my blood work was fine....so what was wrong? For the next year I had daily pain that seemed to have no rhyme or reason. I felt like I had a golf ball shoved under my right rib cage. I tried to avoid fat thinking that it was a gall bladder problem, but that didn't seem to help much. I decided it was time for a makeover, a health makeover.

Fast forward a little over one year later to December 2013...I am in Sacramento visiting my grandparents. My grandma has had many health problems, but with the advise of her nutritionist, she is in very good health. I thought to myself, if my grandma has had such good luck with her, maybe I would too. I scheduled an appointment and she was able to squeeze me into her very busy schedule. I showed up at her shop after filling out a preliminary online survey about my health. She then had me come to the back of her shop and sit down and and place my hand on a plastic and metal hand-shaped device that was hooked up to her computer. I was familiar with biofeedback machines and knew that's what this was. I had never done one, but had heard good things about them. They basically scan your body to see if there are any organs that are not working properly. She finished the scan, discussed the results, and then moved forward recommending a series of supplements to take for the next few months. She told me that I would benefit from a low FODMAP diet. I had never heard of such a thing. She told me to go home and Google FODMAP for a thorough explanation and a list of foods to eat/avoid.

When I got back to my home, I got on my computer and looked up FODMAP. According to stanfordhospital.org, FODMAPs are carbohydrates (sugars) that are found in foods. Not all carbohydrates
are considered FODMAPs.

The FODMAPs in the diet are:
 Fructose (fruits, honey, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), etc)
 Lactose (dairy)
 Fructans (wheat, onion, garlic, etc)(fructans are also known as inulin)
 Galactans (beans, lentils, legumes such as soy, etc)
 Polyols (sweeteners containing sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, maltitol, stone fruits
such as avocado, apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums, etc)

FODMAPs are osmotic (meaning they pull water into the intestinal tract), and may not be digested or absorbed well and could be fermenting and growing bacteria in the intestinal tract when eaten in excess. Symptoms of gas, bloating, cramping and/or diarrhea may occur in those who could be sensitive to the effects of FODMAPs. A low FODMAP diet may help reduce symptoms, this means  limiting foods high in fructose, lactose, fructans, galactans and polyols. The low FODMAP diet is often used for people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The diet also has potential use for sufferers of digestive disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease. This diet will also limit fiber, because some high fiber foods also have high amounts of FODMAPs. (Fiber is a component of complex carbohydrates that the body cannot digest, found in plant based foods such as beans, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc.

After reading this explanation, I was some what skeptical. I didn't have IBS, at least not to my knowledge. I figured I would give it a shot any way. I was shocked to see many healthy foods on the "do not eat" list. Foods that I ate all of the time like apples, avocados, mango, onions, garlic, among many others. I also knew cutting out dairy, gluten and most sugars would be very difficult, but I was willing to give it a try.  I have had moderate to severe pain in my right side under my rib cage every day for the last year. Two days after starting a low FODMAP diet, the pain was gone. Not to mention the headaches that I have had every day of my life stopped, my chronic fatigue disappeared, my mood improved greatly, and I began to lose weight after the first few weeks of cutting out gluten. The diet is not permanent either. You do it for 90 days and then slowly bring back items from the "do not eat" list and keep a food journal of your reaction to that food. Wait 4 days for that food item to completely leave your system, then add a different food from the "do not eat list" and continue to do this until you have a customized list of what you can and can't eat. I was so surprised that fat was not the issue this whole time. Here I thought that I had gall bladder disease and that I should avoid fat. On a low FODMAP diet meats and oils are not a problem. Of course for health reasons, you shouldn't go crazy and eat bacon every day for two weeks straight (like I did once I realized that I could eat fat). Maintaining a well balanced diet is always important.

In my future posts, I will go over what has worked for me. I am no doctor, I can only talk from personal experience. I am not claiming that this is a fix all for every one, but it worked amazingly well for me. If you are having digestive problems or abdominal pain and have already seen a doctor and nothing seems to be working, I recommend giving this diet a try. It is safe and basically no cost. You have to eat, you have to buy groceries, you might as well buy ones that will benefit your quality of life.