The IBS Elimination Diet and Cookbook: The Proven Low-FODMAP Plan for Eating Well and Feeling Great Paperback – Illustrated, April 11, 2017

If you struggle with IBS, the commitment to this book and the 8-week process is worth it!At first it kinda feels like a college course. I gave myself a "prep" week before starting the elimination diet to read the book, educate myself, make highlights, meal plan, grocery shop, etc. Once you get going (after the second week), you get a hang for it and it becomes second nature.There are a lot of foods you can't eat, but there are A LOT of foods you can eat >> eggs, cheese, sourdough bread, all meats and fish, etc. It's not super limiting. I'd even have an occasional glass of wine or beer, which are considered low FODMAP.*If you're a semi-organized person and have a strong desire to figure out what foods are causing your symptoms, you can do this!*Stick to the advice in the book only! Like the author says, get off google to avoid conflicting information. Everything you need is in this one book to succeed. It becomes kinda like your bible.*Don't expect to go out to eat for the 8-weeks. This was the hardest part for me, but again, worth it.*I used some of her recipes, but again, once you become savvy to what you can eat, you can create your own meals. I switched up my meals, but here are some meal examples:BREAKFAST—Eggs, sautéed spinach, cheese and cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup strawberries—Oatmeal and 1/2 cup strawberries—Smoothie (recipe in book)—French toast with sourdough bread, 1/2 cup strawberries, 100% maple syrup and lactose-free milkLUNCH—Turkey sandwich on authentic Sourdough bread. Lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese and Sir Kensington Mayo, 1/2 cup grapes—Mixed Greens with hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, cheddar cheese, sourdough croutons, balsamic vinaigretteSNACKS—Cheese, rice crackers and orange—Rice cake with peanut butter and banana—Hard boiled eggDINNER—Ground beef tacos (seasoning in book), corn tortillas, cheese, tomato, lettuce, lactose-free sour cream, 2 tablespoons of avocado—Salmon, 1/2 cup sweet potato, green beans—Rotisserie chicken, baked potato, green beans— Meatballs (recipe in book), sauce, gluten free pasta, parm cheese*I felt amazing after the first 2-weeks of elimination, which gave me the validation that my issues were indeed a FODMAP related and it motivated me to start and follow-through on the reintroduction phaseI recorded which FODMAPS caused mild or severe symptoms based on the intake. This information is gold!For example, before doing this, I had headaches and fatigue, almost everyday. To my shock, GLUTEN was the culprit. I can handle it in small amounts, but large amounts, no bueno. Or the smallest amount of sorbitol (like avocados) causes severe symptoms for me (gnawing stomachache). I can only tolerate 2 tablespoons in a meal.It's information like this that gave me my power back (as corny as that sounds). Before this, it seemed like everything I ate caused symptoms (bloating, gas, diarrhea daily, headaches, fatigue, etc.) And so I'd throw up my hands and eat whatever, whenever, knowing it wouldn't make a difference and felt like I was stuck with a constant stomachache.Now, I can still take the "hit" if I want to, but at least I know what's responsible.Also, I'm much more conscious of ingredients as a whole and making healthier choices. Authentic sourdough is now both my husband and I's favorite bread (fermented, and gluten friendly) and it's the only bread we like eating now!! I always thought all cheese has lactose (it doesn't). This was refreshing to learn. I also avoid anything that has "natural flavors" or says "sugar-free" just because it's not good ingredients.All this to say, I not only know which foods to moderate, avoid and how to eat to feel good, but I'm also more educated all around. I made an appointment with my gastro to go over my results as the next step.You got this!!

I had never heard of FODMAPs before I picked up this book. I find that surprising, considering I have suffered from intense IBS since I was a young teen. Years of canceling plans, anxious car rides, and feeling like my guts are being ripped open from the inside. Colonoscopies, biopsies, allergy tests, more medical visits than I can count, and always back to the doc shrugging his shoulders and telling me I'm out of luck. I always knew it was tied to certain things that I ate - obviously something about processed food - but I couldn't figure out what foods were pulling the trigger. Even when I put effort into cooking a healthy meal, free of processed foods... I still get sick! The pain is immense and I feel it nearly every day. I don't know how I can be in that much pain, and not be gravely ill.Enter Patsy Catsos, who managed to explain an extraordinarily complicated concept in an easy-to-understand, straightforward, responsible manner. I say responsible because the author stays grounded in the science, doesn't make lavish and unrealistic promises, and stays firmly focused on the low-FODMAP diet as a way to manage IBS, not other gastrointestinal disorders. She emphasizes the importance of ruling everything else out first - and is so knowledgeable that she even mentions pelvic floor dysfunction as a possible culprit causing IBS symptoms instead of FODMAPs - many women probably don't think to go to their gynecologist about stomach problems, but yes, pelvic muscle dysfunction can be a cause! I was so impressed that she knew this, as I only learned it recently, after years of seeking treatment.Once she makes all these wonderful disclaimers and reassurances and explanations (with an extensive FAQ), Catsos uses a number of handy lists including the low-FODMAP pantry which is the list of foods you can eat while on the elimination diet. It's not THAT hard to follow, you just have to plan ahead a bit, and definitely don't expect to go to many restaurants during the short period you are on the elimination diet. In addition to a list of safe foods, there are a number of recipes and helpful tips - I particularly liked the grain bowls idea. I found some Fody brand low-FODMAP taco seasoning on Amazon I plan to try out, as well as pure ground chilis. I'm relieved I don't have to give up Tex-Mex to do this.I'm not even into the reintroduction phase yet, I've been just 5 days on the low FODMAP elimination diet and the difference has been instantaneous. I haven't had a single bout of IBS since I made the change. I'm still trying to work out getting enough fiber and figure out exactly what I can eat, but it's weird and miraculous to eat food and not get sick from it. I even had a slice of sourdough bread today, with 1 tbsp of raspberry jam as directed, and it did not make me sick! It's funny that the author cautions upon how nutritionally limited the elimination diet is. It's probably the best nutrition I've gotten in years, as my body isn't instantly rejecting everything I eat, and I'm no longer in a state of apathy eating any fast food crap I can get my hands on because ''it's all going to make me sick anyway.''Be warned - this is not an easy nutrition plan to wrap your head around. You can eat cheese but not milk? Canned chickpeas but not homemade ones? Oranges but not orange juice? Yet it all makes scientific sense, and even better, it makes sense to my life. Suddenly all the pieces are sliding into place, and I understand why I can eat some meals and not others without getting sick. When I look at how beans, onions, garlic and milk have been my dietary staples, and how sometimes even a salad makes me ill - yeah, it's so obviously the FODMAPs. I finally have an explanation that makes sense.Some minor quibbles:Some may find the Kindle version of this book challenging to navigate. I read it on my phone and I've bookmarked the Pantry List at various food groups so I can pull it up easily. I recommend making full use of the in-text links to different pages and bookmarking the ones you'll need to return to. Kindle's page-flip feature comes in really handy here. But it is easier to navigate on my phone than my Voyage. You will be returning time and time again to the same places, rereading and trying to get it all to sink in, and there are so many food lists it's easy to get lost in the book. I still would prefer this to flipping back and forth constantly between actual paper pages, though.Really the main challenge of the book is re-accessing information you need quickly. There are a few print-outs available on the author's website, but I would love if there was a print-out of the low-FODMAP pantry list I could pin to my fridge. I might just have to make one by hand.I suspect once I start reintroducing different types of FODMAPs, I will have to say goodbye to a lot of my regular foods. And I am at peace with that. The prospect of eliminating the pain, anxiety, and stress of IBS is worth spending a little extra time figuring out what to eat. I'll check back in at the end of 30 days.

While I think this could benefit from some more recipes, there are really a lot of great recipes in here and I appreciate the side by side comparison with a "regular" recipe and how to make it low-fodmap. It both helps to reinforce easy substitutions for me, but also allows me to simultaneously make something a little more normal for my family so they get what they need. I really can't recommend this book enough if you're new to eating this way. I sincerely wish I had this book when I first needed to do the elimination. I'm so glad I have this now for when I have a flare up and need to knock it back down again. It can seem so incredibly overwhelming and I know I'm not the only person who walked into a grocery store and nearly cried because I couldn't eat anything. This guide will help you learn what and how you can eat and the pain can and will subside. Eating doesn't have to hurt and be scary.

Thank you so very much for improving my entire life with this book it has been hard but incredibly helpful.

Efficient.

Good info

This is a wonderful book that I still reference years later after I first read it and tried the diet. I use this as a guide for what I cook in my meal prep. I also recommend it to everyone I know who has GI issues. This book was highly recommended to me by my dietitian.

This book does a very good job of explaining the FODMAP diet.