We know that processed food can be problematic for those of us with irritable bowel syndrome. Additives are gut irritants and can aggravate an already over-sensitive digestive system. In reality, there are very few processed foods that we actually need and those are all single-ingredient processed foods like sugar, salt, butter, oats, spices, some kind of flour etc. Everything else should be fresh.
As a little aside, we are having our kitchen renovated and so are without a stove or sink. I went to the delicatessen section of the supermarket the other day to look for something relatively fresh for dinner that didn’t contain onion or garlic. They were very helpful and went out back for a list of ingredients to check each food, and you won’t believe it but there wasn’t one single thing that didn’t have either garlic or onions or both. I explained to them how shocking that was since 20% of the Western World have IBS and can’t eat either. They looked blankly at me but tried to be sympathetic. I told them to pass the message up the line but I doubt they did.
Anyway, the point is that we can’t buy ready-made food like that or we will suffer. Fresh is the way to go. The recipe below will avoid you having to buy processed granola bars, which invariably contain additives. Tuck one of these into your lunchbox for a snack when you go to work or simply wrap one up and keep it in your handbag for emergencies when you are out longer than expected and are starving. They are wholesome and filling.
- 1 cup mashed banana
- ⅓ cup golden syrup or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½ cups rolled oats
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup chopped dried pineapple
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C or 350 degrees F. Line an 8×8-inch (20cm x 20cm) baking pan with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, mashed bananas, cinnamon and vanilla extract.
- Mix in the nuts and dried fruit.
- Stir in the oats, making sure that it is evenly mixed and all of the oats are moistened.
- Turn the mixture out into the baking pan and press into the pan, making sure it is evenly distributed and tightly packed.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Remove from the pan and cut into bars with a sharp knife. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
If oats are safe at 1/4 cup per serve, then these make 10 bars, yes?
That would be the maximum oats allowed per serving, yes. But you could make more and have less oats per serving.
What other types of oats can be used?
Most oats will work but the texture could differ.
This recipe looks great, but even a small amount of oats causes me problems. I now make porridge with a mix of rice, millet and buckwheat flakes instead and wonder that would work for this recipe? Or do you have other suggestions?
Oats can be too harsh for some people. It would certainly be interesting to try that mix instead. If you do, let us know how it goes.
I finally got round to making these with buckwheat, rice and millet flakes. I used probably about half buckwheat, 30% rice and 20% millet. (I didn’t weigh so that’s a guess – which reminds me that, being British and used to weighing, I find measuring in cups quite challenging. It would be lovely if you could offer measurements by weight too!)
I substituted dried papaya for the pineapple, simply because I couldn’t find the pineapple I’d bought months ago! For the nuts, I did half walnut, half pecan because my family prefer pecans. I also added about 50 grams of melted butter because the mixture was very dry – oats must have a moister texture than the grains I used.
I truly wasn’t convinced my version would be edible, but they were! Even the 4 people in our house who eat FODMAPs enjoyed them.
I am glad to hear they worked. You are obviously a good cook because you knew how to adjust the recipe as needed.
I have two questions.1)which maple syrup is best for us ?The maple syrup I have contains 18% carb for per 54 g .Is it okay for our gut . Secondly,Does xanthum gum gut irritant . Please answer these.Thanks.
Any maple syrup is fine as long as it is the genuine thing and not just maple-flavoured. Xanthan gum is low Fodmap but is a gut irritant, but doesn’t affect everyone.