Although I have an earlier post talking about how whole grains, particularly wheat, is not necessarily evil – I have recently discovered myself to be sensitive to wheat. I still stand by that blog post, but do encourage you to eliminate wheat only if you 
experience symptoms after eating some. I also recently wrote about how I started low FODMAP diet. After weeks of staying off foods that are high in short chain carbohydrates, I begun the reintroduction phase. There are 5 subgoups of FODMAPS: fructans, galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), lactose, fructose, and polyols. After weeks of being symptom-free on the low FODMAP diet, I immediately noticed symptoms upon my reintroduction to fructans. And the biggest culprit – wheat. One slice of bread and I was okay. Another slice or dish containing wheat the same day or next day, and I instantly experienced stomach cramps and bloating. I couldn’t believe it. So I even re-challenged myself another two times! I definitely have a sensitivity to wheat.
Lactose-free, wheat-free, onion-free, garlic-free… but WHY??
Sound difficult? It can be! I am currently my own client for a low FODMAP diet. This diet was created by Dr. Sue Sheppard (also an RD with celiac disease) and Dr. Peter Gibson, who developed and implemented the first scientific research studies on eating low FODMAP foods and their effects on gastrointestinal health.
You’re probably wondering what this weird word “FODMAP” means. First, it’s an acronym. It stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols. Now you’re probably wondering what all these strange, long, hard-to-pronounce words mean. Simply put, they are all short chain carbohydrates or sugars (what the term ‘saccharide’ means). Why a low FODMAP diet? Because people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and even some with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) can hugely benefit.