Peas and Peanuts...an IBS adventure! :(

Hi, Amanda here, just wondering; are you following a low FODMAP eating plan? I was doing so for around 8 months, to find out which foods were my IBSd "triggers". I downloaded the Monash university FODMAPs app to my phone as I find it great for checking what amounts of food I can eat that are FODMAP friendly (or "safe"). 14-16g of fresh or frozen peas is a safe amount, however, you can have 45g of CANNED peas because some of the bad FODMAPs leak out into the water during the canning process... same with chickpeas. I find I can eat small amounts of high FODMAPs in one day if I don't overdo it. For example, I can eat a couple of slices of pizza (wheat based crust) as long as I only have one very small piece of garlic bread. Very small.... and at that I will make the garlic bread myself using gluten-free bread so that I am not layering up on high-FODMAP foods (garlic is a big trigger for me so I only put a bit in). If I have a day where I want real bread toast and not gluten free bread, I will have it, but later on in the day I will be careful how many other high FODMAP foods I eat, so as not to overdo it. I would make a big bowl of spag bol with NO garlic or onions, eat it with gluten-free pasta, but have real wheat garlic bread with it. It's all about finding your triggers and working around them, I don't deny myself any food group or nutrient.

Yes, , the secret is often in the amounts, or in the way foods are processed (canned for example.)
I think you are right; if we eat small amounts of trigger foods, just maybe once or twice we can be OK. But I think I overdid it, carrying on for 4 days there!

Even though I read that small amounts of garden peas and peanuts are low Fodmap!
Maybe it's accumulative, and we should leave a break in between testing any possible trigger foods in small amounts. Low Fodmap or not, those foods always made me "go" (bathroom) even well before I had any gut problems.

I am still to a great extent on low Fodmap foods. Sometimes I try to extend that slightly, by trying just a little more than 2" of celery....maybe 4", and testing a few mange-tout peas, trying a small amount first (maybe 3), see how I go, then add one each time, and that kind of thing.
I try with other foods too, apart from the above. Those are just examples.

Now from the very beginning I never had any problem at all with gluten, so generally didn't give that up, except for a 6 week period when I only ate gluten free, to see if that helped, and it didn't. Likewise, I never had any problem with small amounts of chocolate (luckily!) or even honey -ever -which is notoriously high Fodmap!
In fact I got a lot of help last winter by eating top grade, medical quality Manuka honey. But it was too expensive to continue. I spent hundreds on it in six months and had to stop.

So yes, I am coming from a safe food list which is low Fodmap (apart from the above which never bothered me), and trying to extend my food repertoire inch by inch.

I guess I learned from this that 4 days on those foods (or even 3?) is too much, and my cut-off point appeared to be two days.

But the downside (apart from flaring sometimes) is wasting food. I hate food wastage, and never ever did that in my life. Because I live alone it's harder. If I try a food, eat tiny amounts, and find after a few days they don't suit me, it means I can't try those foods again at least until my next "better period".
The problem is, most are fresh foods, and they won't wait that long. I end up wasting food as there's nobody else to eat it. Sad.
Buying frozen veggies instead seems to be more sensible.

Interestingly enough, I have found from personal experience that I cannot repeat food for more than two or three times. After that, my body rejects it. It is the strangest thing. But I have to constantly be switching it up, so this doesn't surprise me that this happened to you. I feel like you can enjoy the peas and peanuts but just don't repeat it more than two times in a row. And then with a couple of days you can have it again. Maybe give that a try? Hugs, Elizabeth (team member)

I am sorry you have the same juggling act but in many ways it's reassuring to know someone else gets the same situation, regarding eating some foods for more than 2 days in a row. It's like the belly just says "nope! Give me something else!"
These bellies of ours are like the Terrible Two's Toddler Tantrums. What do you think? 😁