The Low-FODMAP Diet for GI Symptoms | Goop

The low-FODMAP diet is one of the most well-studied interventions. There’s a lot of research behind it. Up to 86 percent of patients with IBS find improvements in their gastrointestinal symptoms, including abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal distention, and flatulence. If you were to go to a gastroenterologist with these symptoms, the low-FODMAP diet is a common nutrition recommendation that a GI doctor would make.

When I’m working with someone, my recommendations are based on the individual, their lab work, and their current diet. In conventional medicine, IBS is a blanket diagnosis for a lot of different symptoms. It doesn’t explain why the person is experiencing them. The goal in functional medicine is to go deeper for those with IBS, inflammatory bowel disease, and other gastrointestinal issues to understand the root cause and provide personalized recommendations. For some people, I might start with taking out all processed foods, adding in more whole foods, and decreasing their added sugar consumption, which we know can feed bacterial overgrowth. And then we see what kind of symptom resolution can happen. People can experience significant outcomes from those initial interventions—and from working on managing their stress.

For people who already have a healthy diet and are reporting ongoing bloating or distention that cannot be tied to any particular foods, I’ll explore whether FODMAPs seem to be a potential trigger. When someone comes in saying they eat a lot of vegetables, some fruits, fats like avocado and olive oil, seafood, some grains, and a little meat occasionally, for example, that’s a flag for me. This is common in people I see who are already eating healthily, eating more vegetables, and having symptoms: They’ll tell me that no matter what they eat, they feel bloated. But that certain foods seem to make it worse: raw vegetables and fruits, beans and lentils, and soups, which tend to include garlic and onion. They might also point to alcohol and overeating. Some will point out that they had courses of antibiotics before the symptoms began, which can be an indicator that their gut microbiome is out of balance.

Also keep in mind that although GI symptoms are most common in those who have gut imbalances, the health of your gut impacts many metabolic, inflammatory, autoimmune, mood, and cognitive processes. Gut disturbances could also manifest in autoimmune disease, brain fog, poor concentration, poor memory, depression, and anxiety.