Story · YouTube
Individual experience, not evidence.
Woodie & Marie: three years on low FODMAP and the struggle to reintroduce foods
Woodie & Marie on YouTube, about 3 years since a major flare-up; diagnosed at 15 and again as an adult.
- What they tried
- Low FODMAP dietStarted after a year of specialist visits; uses the Monash app to track serving sizes; tried unmeasured reintroduction first, then measured monthly tests
- Exercise and physical activityAims for three to five workouts a week; skips them during flare-ups and has scaled back from longer high-intensity sessions
- Timeframe
- about 3 years since a major flare-up; diagnosed at 15 and again as an adult
- Outcome
- Reported that the low FODMAP diet calmed her symptoms enough that she was reluctant to reintroduce foods; unmeasured reintroduction attempts failed, measured monthly trials have added back only a few foods, and eating garlic bread and legumes over the holidays triggered a multi-day flare.
- Caveats
- Self-reported; a nurse at her gastroenterologist's office confirmed the diet was working for her but could not say whether she would return to normal. Woodie & Marie is her recipe blog; no products or sponsors appear in the video or description.
Original: Woodie & Marie on YouTube
The creator behind the Woodie & Marie blog recorded this New Year reflection three years after a major flare-up sent her through a year of specialist appointments. The eventual answer was IBS, a diagnosis she had first received at 15 but now had to manage very differently. She describes that year as financially, emotionally and physically draining.
The low FODMAP diet, confirmed as working by a nurse at her gastroenterologist’s office, changed her daily life. She says she felt so much better that she lost interest in moving to a modified diet, and that this reluctance is common: reintroducing foods usually means getting sick. Her first attempts were unstructured, eating things and dropping whatever hurt, which she says wasted time because without measuring she could not tell whether a half portion might have been fine. She now tests one food a month with measured amounts, using the Monash app, and has filmed the trials partly to force herself to keep going. Working from home during the pandemic made it easier to be ill on a test day.
She has reintroduced only a few foods. Over the holidays she ate garlic bread and legumes, felt fine for a couple of days, kept going, and then woke in the night with a flare she compares to mild food poisoning that lasted several days. She tries to exercise three to five times a week but can no longer manage the 45-minute high-intensity workouts she once did.
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Individual experience, not evidence. Results are not typical and may not apply to you.
TreatIBS has no relationship with the creator and did not verify these claims.