Everything You Need to Know About the Low-FODMAP Diet, an Eating Plan for IBS Patients
It's usually done to eliminate food triggers for those with irritable bowel syndrome.
November 21, 2025 5:00 pm
Many women deal with the uncomfortable impacts of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and turn to their doctors for relief. Alongside medications, doctors may ask them to follow a specific eating plan to figure out which, if any, foods make their IBS worse. The dietary approach is known as low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols, or the Low-FODMAP Diet for short.
Flow Space spoke with experts about what the Low-FODMAP Diet is and how it can benefit women with IBS.
What Is the Low-FODMAP Diet?
The Low-FODMAP diet is designed to limit a certain kind of carbohydrate, fermentable short-chain carbohydrates (sugars), that the small intestine absorbs poorly, which can make these foods especially hard for certain people to digest. The diet involves temporarily restricting these types of carbs to relieve IBS symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, pain and gas.
“It’s a way to reduce fermentable carbs if you want less gas in your intestine,” Dr. Walid Chalhoub, a gastroenterologist at MedStar Health, told Flow Space.
High-FODMAP foods include vegetables like artichokes, cauliflower, garlic, mushrooms and onions; fruits like cherries, mango, peaches, watermelon and apples; milk, yogurt and ice cream with dairy, plus soy milk; some beans and processed meats; grain products like bread and cereal with barley, rye or wheat; and certain sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup and honey.
Many women deal with the uncomfortable impacts of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and turn to their doctors for relief. Alongside medications, doctors may ask them to follow a specific eating plan to figure out which, if any, foods make their IBS worse. The dietary approach is known as low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols, or the Low-FODMAP Diet for short.
Flow Space spoke with experts about what the Low-FODMAP Diet is and how it can benefit women with IBS.
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What Is the Low-FODMAP Diet?
The Low-FODMAP diet is designed to limit a certain kind of carbohydrate, fermentable short-chain carbohydrates (sugars), that the small intestine absorbs poorly, which can make these foods especially hard for certain people to digest. The diet involves temporarily restricting these types of carbs to relieve IBS symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, pain and gas.
“It’s a way to reduce fermentable carbs if you want less gas in your intestine,” Dr. Walid Chalhoub, a gastroenterologist at MedStar Health, told Flow Space.
High-FODMAP foods include vegetables like artichokes, cauliflower, garlic, mushrooms and onions; fruits like cherries, mango, peaches, watermelon and apples; milk, yogurt and ice cream with dairy, plus soy milk; some beans and processed meats; grain products like bread and cereal with barley, rye or wheat; and certain sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup and honey.
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Foods with low amounts of FODMAP include: vegetables such as eggplants, bok choy, potatoes and zucchini; fruits like cantaloupe, kiwi, oranges and strawberries; certain kinds of cheese like feta and almond milk; eggs; oats; sweeteners like dark chocolate and maple syrup; and certain nuts and seeds like pepitas, peanuts and walnuts.
Laura Manning, a registered dietitian nutritionist, certified dietitian nutritionist and clinical nutrition manager at Mount Sinai Health System, said the diet is all about figuring out which foods trigger IBS symptoms and make them worse.
“It is the most evidenced-based dietary treatment of choice for IBS and can be enlightening to learn what foods may be causing excess gas, bloating, diarrhea and pain,” she explained. “It is best utilized in an individual that identifies a connection between meals, particular foods and GI distress.”
How Does the Low-FODMAP Diet Help with IBS?
To be clear, these foods aren’t necessarily bad or unhealthy. But foods with high FODMAPs include short-chain carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed by the small intestine, which can cause issues for people with IBS.
“You don’t want oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols because they’re rapidly fermented by the gut bacteria and start producing gas and drawing water into the intestine, which leads to the pain, to the diarrhea, to all the bloating and to all this discomfort in patients,” said Chalhoub.
It’s important to note that not everyone who has IBS needs to go on a Low-FODMAP diet and that this isn’t meant to be a permanent way of eating. Chalhoub said people who have IBS-D, which means they mostly get diarrhea, generally have the most benefit. Because it’s so restrictive, the goal is to identify which, if any, foods trigger symptoms so only those can be avoided in the future.
In that same vein, Manning said certain people like those who had or currently have eating disorders, who are already avoiding high FODMAP foods, are malnourished or have difficulty accessing food may not do well on the diet.
“It is important that a person is screened before starting the diet to make sure they are a good candidate and the diet is appropriate,” she added.
How to Follow the Low-FODMAP Diet
Manning said the Low-FODMAP Diet consists of three phases that typically happen over the course of about three months.
1: Elimination
In this first phase, which typically spans from two to six weeks, fermentable foods are avoided until the person on the diet is “mostly symptom-free,” explained Manning.
2: Reintroduction
“This is where you add one FODMAP group back in at a time and observe your response to eating that group,” she explained. “This is done over the course of three days with a gradual increase to a serving size… the remainder of the diet remains Low-FODMAP as you isolate the tested category.”
This phase usually lasts from four to eight weeks, but it depends on how quickly one progresses through testing all the foods.
3: Personalization
This third stage is when all the findings are put together to figure out how a patient should eat to minimize gastrointestinal symptoms going forward.
“Here is where all the information is gathered to make a diet plan that can help you manage your symptoms,” said Manning, who mentioned that it can be “very empowering” to learn which foods do and don’t trigger IBS.
Tips for Going on the Low-FODMAP Diet
Because so many foods are included, Manning and Chalhoub said it’s highly recommended to do this diet under the supervision of a registered dietitian. The dietitian can work with you to make balanced, tasty meals that don’t sacrifice nutrition.
“Once you work with an experienced GI dietitian, they are very good at guiding you through a Low-FODMAP diet,” said Chalhoub.
Despite how many foods are included in the diet, Manning said it’s possible to have meals that taste good and still include food groups such as vegetables, fruits, proteins, fats and whole grains. They can also provide essential support to transition out of the Low-FODMAP diet and back to a more varied eating pattern safely.
“There are lots of resources out there to help create delicious Low-FODMAP meals in the elimination phase with lots of flavor,” she said. “If individuals are recommended to start the diet and are not comfortable in the kitchen or have busy schedules, there are meal delivery systems that can provide 100% Low-FODMAP meals that can help you navigate phase one and two with ease.”
Even if you don’t follow a strict Low-FODMAP diet, people with IBS often benefit from keeping a food journal, said Chalhoub. The journal is a helpful tool to note which foods make IBS symptoms worse, whether you’re following a regimented diet or not.
It’s also likely that your doctor will recommend other treatments in addition, like medications or lifestyle modifications such as regular exercise and stress reduction.
Although it can be a lot of work, experts say the Low-FODMAP diet can be worth it for the answers it provides.
“It is time consuming, but the knowledge and comfort that a person obtains from doing the Low-FODMAP diet is worth the effort,” said Manning.
