Most people can easily meet their protein needs with food alone on a low-FODMAP diet, but sometimes a protein powder is called for.
Smoothies: Easy Meals or FODMAP Bombs?
Smoothies have never been more popular! And why not? They taste great, can be assembled quickly, offer a convenient way to have a meal while on the job or in the car, and are a great vehicle for eating more fruits and vegetables. You can even use them to help you take nutritional supplements! As healthy as they can be, however, they are full of belly-ache potential.
Low-FODMAP Certification Programs
It would be lovely to have the time to make everything we eat from scratch, but few of us have the time or the inclination to do so. Even if you tend to think “processing” is a dirty word, be honest—when was the last time you made your own cheese, ground your own flour, or cracked the shells off your own nuts? So, we all need learn how to read food labels to determine which prepared foods are low in FODMAPs.
Is Sucralose OK on a Low-FODMAP Diet?
Is date sugar low FODMAP?
Q. Is date sugar low FODMAP? If so, in what quantities? I know dates are not, but I’ve seen conflicting information from low-FODMAP sources I usually trust and it’s not on the MONASH app.
A. The short answer: as of this writing, we can only guess about the FODMAP status of date sugar. It probably has a small low FODMAP serving size, less than 2 tablespoons.
Is date sugar low FODMAP?
Date sugar is made from ripe, pitted dates that are dried to a very low moisture content and ground into a powder. Dates are the fruits from certain types of palm trees. But date sugar is not the same as palm sugar, which is made from the sap of palm trees. The Monash University FODMAP lab has analyzed “dried dates” in general, and one specific variety (Medjool), but not date sugar, the packaged sweetener.
We see in the Monash University Low FODMAP app that somewhere between 1 and 5 dates, or .71 oz to 1.06 oz of dates are low FODMAP. It’s difficult to guess how this information equates to date sugar.
Dates vary in nutritional composition
There are hundreds of varieties of dates grown around the world. In Saudi Arabia alone, there are over 300 varieties of dates grown, and they vary significantly in sugar and moisture content. Other countries and regions have their own unique varieties of dates. The variety of date used isn’t usually specified by the manufacturers of date sugar, but the moist varieties meant for snacking on are not likely to be among them. Therefore, It isn’t likely that date sugar has the same FODMAP content as the dates that were analyzed for FODMAPs at Monash.
Serving size estimates
We don’t know how much moisture is lost, or how much the ground dates “fluff up” in the making of date sugar. So if we said, for the sake of argument, that the type of sugar was similar to the dates in the app, we would have to figure many teaspoons or tablespoons of date sugar would equal the amount of FODMAPs in 1 pitted date. My calculations suggest that 2 tablespoons of date sugar has about the same amount of total sugar as one Medjool date.
Effects of ripening and drying
Adding more uncertainty, the final stages of ripening and drying of foods can alter their FODMAP content in unpredictable ways (check out the difference between grapes and raisins, or rice and puffed rice). As dates ripen, much of the sucrose content is “inverted”, or broken down to glucose plus fructose. Does that continue or change during the further drying of dates for grinding? It’s anyone’s guess. To be on the safe side, my guess will be conservative. Pending actual lab analysis of date sugar, less than 2 tablespoons might be low in FODMAPs. Larger servings might be a significant source of sorbitol and fructans.
Conclusion
Like many foods, dried dates can actually be low, medium, or high in FODMAPs depending on the serving size. Dates meant for eating have been lab tested, but date sugar has not. If you’d like to bake with date sugar on your low FODMAP diet, my advice is to make sure there’s less than 2 tablespoons in your portion of the recipe.
Further reading:
AlShwyeh H, Almahasheer H. Glucose content of 35 Saudi Arabian date fruits (phoenix dactylifera L.), Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences 21 (2022) 420-424. Seen at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1658077X21001545
Why Not Stay Low FODMAP Indefinitely?
Q. After going low FODMAP a few years ago, I’m still loosely eating that way. I’ve read it is not good to stay on the diet long term but I feel like it really helps me keep IBS undER Control. Why not stay low FODMAP INDEFINITELY when it may be helping?
The short answer is that a Low FODMAP diet may be too limited in some cases. More variety, usually results in a more nutritious diet and promotes a better food quality of life.
In many ways it is so much simpler to just follow the rules and stay low-FODMAP than it is to go through the uncertainly of the reintroduction process. But simple isn’t always easy, is it? In fact, most of my practice these days, almost 15 years into the FODMAP era, consists of helping people take those next important steps toward a varied diet. Why bother?
Ideally, the FODMAP elimination diet is a short dietary experiment. Eswaran SL Curr Opin Pharmacol, 2017
As you have read, low-FODMAP diet is meant to be a short dietary experiement, to get IBS symptoms under control. If it doesn’t work for you, don’t continue it. If it does improve your abdominal and bowel symptoms, it should be followed by a reintroduction process. That is the only way to figure out which FODMAPs are (and are not) symptom triggers for YOU. They are not the same for everyone. This paves the way for you to enjoy a more varied diet.
A Varied Diet is more nutritious
Fortunately, there are good low-FODMAP sources of all nutrients. So if you are willing and able to eat a wide variety of low-FODMAP foods you might not have to worry too much about this one. But, if you add other dietary restrictions, you can find yourself eating a repetitive, short list of foods that comes up short in some areas. For example, it can be difficult for vegans to get enough protein on low-FODMAP diets, if they are used to eating a lot more beans, nuts and seeds. Other people might be at risk for poor intake of certain nutrients even on their usual diets, in ways that have less to do specifically with FODMAPs. For example, people on dairy-free diet rarely get the recommended amounts of calcium from food. People who don’t care for green leafy vegetables or nuts probably aren’t consuming enough magnesium, and so on.
Some FODMAPs are important prebiotics
Fructans and GOS are two of the six FODMAPs that are limited on low-FODMAP diets. They are also well-known prebiotics. Prebiotics are selectively fermented by the “good” bacteria in you gut, to produce beneficial substances like short chain fatty acids. When you are on a low-FODMAP diet you cut back on these a great deal.. Hopefully you are still eating low-FODMAP servings of foods that contain some fructans and GOS, along with good low-FODMAP sources of prebiotics. Choose low-FODMAP servings of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes. After the reintroduction process, you should eat larger servings of these foods if you can tolerate them, to increase your intake of prebiotics.
Food Quality of Life
Sharing is an important part of “food quality of life”. Photo credit: C. Catsos
Most people find that their food quality of life is better when they are eating a more varied diet. What does this mean? It means being able to share in communal food life and (mostly) eating what is served when dining with friends and family. It means not having to say “no” to everything just because you are following the rules, and not having to bring your own meals to gatherings. It means enjoying occasional restaurant meals with more confidence. It means generally just having a better relationship with food and being less afraid of food and eating.
Be Sure
Your question indicated you “feel like” low FODMAP diet keeps your IBS under control and “may be helping”. You need to be more certain than that to justify the potential drawbacks of a long term low FODMAP diet. Self-knowledge is your ticket forward. Gain it by reintroducing FODMAPs in a structured way, monitoring symptoms, then adjusting your diet as tolerated.
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Is It Possible to Reintegrate Problem High-FODMAP Foods?
Q. I’ve been on the low-FODMAP diet for at least 7 years. I’ve consulted 3 doctors and one nutritionist, and no one has been able to enlighten me as to whether it’s possible to reintegrate the problem foods. You seem to say that it is possible. Can you kindly elaborate on how one does this? If there’s a way to condition my body to accept higher-FODMAP foods I would love to know about it.
Short Answer: For most people with IBS, it’s possible (and recommended) to at least partially reintegrate some high-FODMAP foods. Which foods (and how much) you will be able to reintegrate is revealed through careful observation during the reintroduction phase of the diet program. The reintroduction process is less about conditioning your body to accept high-FODMAP foods, and more about learning what your limits are. Being able to eat an overall high-FODMAP diet in the future is not one of the expected outcomes of the FODMAP elimination and reintroduction process.
