SIBO Diet: What to Eat and Avoid

The low-FODMAP diet is a diet developed by researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a digestive condition closely related to SIBO. It’s also a common approach some doctors use to manage SIBO.

Research on its effectiveness for SIBO is mixed. Some evidence suggests the low-FODMAP diet is helpful for SIBO,

while other research suggests there’s not enough evidence for this. More research is needed.

FODMAPs — fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polypols — are a group of carbohydrates that are more difficult for people to digest, Zumpano says. Researchers believe the low-FODMAP diet may help with SIBO because “[FODMAPs] can be poorly absorbed and stimulate and give the bacteria food to grow. This is why they can worsen the digestive symptoms in some people,” Zumpano says.

Certain fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins are higher in FODMAPs than others. On this diet, you’ll temporarily build your meals around low-FODMAP foods, including:

Eggplant
Bok choy
Green peppers
Carrots
Cucumbers
Lettuce
Potatoes
Cantaloupe
Kiwi
Oranges
Pineapple
Blueberries
Almond milk
Brie
Feta cheese
Hard cheeses
Eggs
Firm tofu
Plain cooked meats, poultry and seafood
Rice

High-FODMAP foods should be temporarily avoided. They include:

Lactose-based milk, yogurt, and ice cream
Wheat-based products, such as cereal, bread, and crackers
Beans and lentils
Apples
Cherries
Pears
Peaches
Artichokes
Asparagus
Onions
Garlic

“You have to be very diligent about having a list available if you haven’t memorized it. It’s important to have a list available when you’re grocery shopping, cooking a meal, eating out or at a social event. That’s the tricky part,” Zumpano says.

The diet is completed in carefully controlled phases you’ll work through with a registered dietitian: an elimination phase, reintroduction phase, and maintenance phase.

After the six-week elimination of high FODMAP foods, you’ll reintroduce one FODMAP food at a time about every three days, while increasing serving sizes depending on your tolerance.

Importantly, you shouldn’t be on this diet for more than six weeks, Dr. Rao says. “I would never recommend these diets long-term, because you’re cutting out a lot of foods and restricting yourself quite a bit. That can help starve off some of that bad bacteria, but if you don’t start adding in fermented foods after that initial improvement, you’re going to starve off your regular gut microbiome,” Rao says.

Source: bing.com