Review: Two Low FODMAP diet cookbooks.

I am closing out this week's cookbook extravaganza with two excellent cookbooks for those seeking to follow a Low FODMAP diet. As some of my readers know, I have celiac disease. I also am blessed with IBD (irritable bowel disease) problems, and GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), sort of equivocally due to SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). Yeah, it sounds like TMI but you know what? These are some incredibly common issues for people of all ages, from infants to nonagenarians. About three months ago, after a particularly painful bout of IBS, it was suggested I try the low-FODMAP diet. And oy, is this a complicated diet. It makes the simplicity of avoiding overt gluten (versus kitchen contamination gluten, a serious issue when eating out) look positively alluring.

What are FODMAPs? They are a type of carbohydrate that falls into the class of fermentable oligo- di- and monosaccharides and polyols. Unfortunately, if you are looking for a quick list, like gluten free's mandate to avoid wheat, barley, rye, spelt, triticale, farro, and malt, you should prepare to be sadly disappointed. I can, in the strongest possible terms, recommend that if you decide with your physician to go on this diet that you get Monash University's FODMAP app for your smartphone. You have to pay for it. It's expensive for an app. But it is the best and most up to date information on FODMAP content in food that you are going to find. It's the best thing to have in your hand when you are in the grocery store and can't remember if apples are bad and blueberries okay.
































   The Low-FODMAP Diet Step by Step: A Personalized Plan to Relieve the Symptoms of IBS and Other Digestive Disorders--with More Than 130 Deliciously Satisfying Recipes by Kate Scarlata
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As anyone exploring the FODMAP diet will find, figuring out how to cook low FODMAP meals is going to take a change of pace, a huge amount of label scrutiny, and some tricks of the trade. Enter Kate Scarlata's fabulous book. Scarlata is a Registered Dietician and she is thoroughly versed in GI issues like Celiac Disease, IBD, SIBO, and GERD. (And that is in stark contrast to a book I one-starred earlier this week where an author (who was not a similarly trained dietician) blithely said that people eating a low FODMAP diet don't have problems with gluten. It is quite possible to have problems with gluten (a protein) and with FODMAPs (a class of fermentable carbohydrates). I am standing here waving to you as an example.) One of the things to love about Scarlata's books is her comprehensive explanations and recipes that are very clearly labeled for those eating Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free and Dairy Free diets. She also tells you if the recipes are quick or easy. All of the recipes I have tried in this cookbook have been excellent.

The heart of this book lies in her explanations of how to prepare your kitchen for eating a low FODMAP diet. Because the toughest thing you are going to find about this diet is that eating low FODMAP means eating no onions and no garlic. And those two things are in SO MANY prepared foods, sauces, etc. There are tricks to still gaining the flavor of onion and garlic, though.

This book is my favorite resource for the low FODMAP diet. Scarlata makes it as straightforward and easy for you as a complex issue can be. It's a longer book, about 400 pages, so it lives on my iPad mini, which probably has spatters of shallot infused olive oil on it.

If you are looking for a second FODMAP cookbook, or a slimmer but equally informative volume, look no further than...


Healthy Gut, Flat Stomach: Low-FODMAP Recipes for Better Digestion by Danielle Capalino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

This cookbook is a very good addition to your Low FODMAP resources if you are looking beyond Kate Scarlata's excellent and thorough The Low FODMAP Diet Step by Step. (As Capalino points out herself, Scarlata is one of the leaders in the Low FODMAP field.)

One of the things that I like about this book is the way Capalino, also a Registered Dietician like Scarlata, supplies you with very explicit serving sizes. And she offers case studies to prove her point as to why you should pay attention to your dietician's advice on content and portion size. For instance, for many fruits, if you have too much, will put you over a safe low-FODMAP threshold. (This is truly one of my great downfalls in low FODMAP eating. Portion size. (And that's not even getting into the fruits you can't have at all on this diet. Goodbye apples, I'll miss you.) Capalino offers up recipes for many favorites I can no longer buy in the grocery store, like hummus, baba ghanoush, pesto, miso, and so many things that you'll be shocked to find in the grocery store have onion and garlic in them. Ditto on spice mixes. These things are easy to make and they actually taste better fresh. While one of the most common grumbles about the low FODMAP diet is that you have to make things from scratch, taking the time and buying fresh ingredients actually puts the focus on your food and makes you aware of how you feel after eating food that is better for your gut.

Capalino's book is the one I keep in my phone's Kindle reader. I look through it when I'm shopping and trying to come up with meal plans. Its shorter length (less than 200 pages) makes it easier to sort through on the fly.


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