The Video
When you start the low Fodmap diet for irritable bowel syndrome and move from a diet which is hurting you to a healthy diet which eliminates IBS symptoms, it is possible that you will have withdrawals symptoms from some of the foods you have been eating like sugary foods and caffeinated drinks. Have a look at my video to learn more.
Transcript of the Video – Headaches on the Low Fodmap Diet
Why do I have a headache now I have started the low Fodmap diet?
Today I’m going to talk to you about withdrawal symptoms when you go on the low FODMAP diet. Many of my clients when they start the low FODMAP diet, they complain of headaches and other aches and pains that are unrelated to their IBS symptoms of bloating, diarrhea and/or constipation.
When you go from a diet which has actually actively been hurting you, and in fact, you probably haven’t been absorbing many of the nutrients from the food at all, because it’s been going straight down until your large bowel, where it’s fermenting, and you start eating good healthy food that will include less sugar, and less processed food, there is the possibility that you could get some withdrawal symptoms from that unhealthy diet. Especially if you’ve been a great sugar lover and you put sugar in your tea and your coffee, and you have chocolate, you have sweets, and candies, and you also perhaps at morning tea or afternoon tea, you have something sweet to eat like a biscuit, or a bun, or a piece of cake. Now that’s a lot of sugar going into your body. And when you’re on the low FODMAP diet, you really have to limit your sugar. The best sugars for you – and I have another video on this – are your table sugar, your normal sugar because it’s 50% fructose, and 50% glucose, and the glucose helps the fructose to be absorbed. But you can’t use too much of it, or the glucose stops doing that job. So a few teaspoons of sugar a day are not going to hurt you. But if you start having a few tablespoons of sugar a day, which is above the preferred amount anyway, then you’re probably going to be having IBS symptoms from that. But when you stop having that, you could get withdrawal symptoms which would include a headache. Now the other thing that often happens when you start the low FODMAP diet, is you stop drinking soda and pop drinks. Things like Coke.
Coke has got a lot of caffeine in it as well as sugar. And so if you stop – cold turkey – drinking it, you’re going to suffer. You’re going to have withdrawal symptoms which will include a headache.
The same with coffee and tea, both of those have got caffeine in them. So if you restrict those whereas, perhaps before you were a big drinker of coffee and tea, and had it strong, and now you have to drink less, and drink it a bit weaker, you’ll probably get some withdrawal symptoms from that. These symptoms vary from person to person, and they could take up to a week to clear. You guys are going to have to really hang tough during this period until those headaches go away while you’re withdrawing. It’s not unexpected for this to happen, especially when you go from a diet which has been a processed diet, which is hurting you, to a clean, unprocessed diet which is helping you. It seems counter-intuitive that you might actually feel worse from one point of view during this period, but that will pass, and you’ll be very grateful for that having passed, and for the fact that this low FODMAP diet is really keeping away your IBS symptoms.
So, stick to the diet and stay strong during this period of discomfort. Thank you very much for watching, and goodbye.
Pesce Finto
Here is another old-fashioned recipe and an old-fashioned plating. This is a second kind of tuna mousse but with a different recipe to the last one - see it HERE. My recipe in Italian in my little green book calls it Pesce Finto, which means false fish. I should really have used a fish mold but I don't own one and I am unlikely to ever use it again so it went into a simple ring mold instead.
- 300gms/10.6oz tuna (canned)
- 500gms/17.8oz cooked potatoes
- 5 tbsp of homemade mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp capers
- 2 tbsp parsley (chopped finely)
- Salt & pepper
- Process together the potato, tuna, parsley and mayonnaise.
- Mix in the capers and season.
- Spoon into an oiled mold.
- Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
- Unmold onto a serving plate.
I did a juice fast once and apparently people who go on them usually get headaches because of the caffeine withdrawal. Fortunately, I’ve been caffeine free for years so wasn’t affected. Your fish mousse is very retro and takes me back to my mother’s dinner parties xx
Juice fasts can actually cause toxins to be released into the system and they cause all sorts of problems like headaches. You are spot on about the retro aspect to this dish. Ah, the memories!
Been experiencing headaches and can’t sleep. It’s been 4 days now and I have to tell you that I feel worse. This is an awful period. Hope I get through it.
Margaret, it’s not clear from what you have written but are you on the low Fodmap diet? headaches can come from many different sources.
Hi Suzanne,
I’ve just started the Fodmap diet because of bloating due to IBS, sensitive bowel & fibromyalgia. I haven’t had any kind of caffeine for over 30 years. I only drink still water, never touch anything fizzy. I’m very careful what I eat because of having the IBs since 1980. I usually do eat quite a bit of bread & butter, cakes & chocolate as unfortunately my tummy & bowel can’t tolerate my favourite foods which are fruit, vegetables & salads. I’ve changed to foods that are milk, wheat & gluten free. I have bought some chocolate, cakes & biscuits from the range just mentioned, because I’ve already lost over half a stone, but only weighed 9 1/2 stone to start with. I have a heavy head & feel very dizzy, Is this because of the withdrawal please ??
Eating chocolate, biscuits and cakes is not a healthy diet and not the way to gain weight. Most sugar except in fruit should be avoided. We can eat fruit and vegetables but only in certain amounts at each meal. Watch this video to make sure you are getting the amounts and combinations right. https://www.strandsofmylife.com/combinations-accumulation-fodmaps-plus-thai-shrimp-salad/
Hi Suzanne,
I did try to leave you a message about how I’m feeling but the site just said i’d duplicated my message which i hadn’t as i’ve not messaged you before
Hi just started the diet I feel better physically in my tummy but this is the second night I have not been able to sleep at all – can you help me out with this?
Cheers
Beau
For your sleep, it is key to focus your mind on something other than your random thoughts. Our minds are powerful, independent creatures but we can control them with effort, consistency and determination. This is what I try if I wake and can’t get back to sleep. I pick a topic like countries in the world or girl’s names – anything with a list – then I go through the alphabet and say one country for each letter. So, Austria, Botswana, Canada, Denmark etc. Or you could decide to say two for each letter if the list had many possibilities. When you get stuck and can’t think of one, try for a bit but then move on. The idea is to engross the mind in what it is doing so those unwanted thoughts don’t dominate. After you have done this consistently for several nights, your body will get the signal that this is about going to sleep. I seldom get past D these days. It’s about creating new pathways in the brain with associations. In this case the association is letter game=sleep.
I have been on the fodmap diet for 5 days now and I have a funny tummy, brain fog and what seems like symptoms of thrush. Is this normal?
First make sure you don’t have a tummy bug. But I suspect, you are inadvertently not following the diet correctly. It is complex and difficult to get right without guidance.
Hello it’s been about 7 days I started the FODMAP diet. Never been a coffe or soda drinker mainly water. But I did love sweets cakes candies sugars lots of fruit things like that. Now I’m having a headache been about 3 days. Could this be as a result of the diet and xifaxin I’m taking
You can definitely get a headache from sugar withdrawal. It could take up to a week for that to ease off.