Step 1: take them out for 2-6 weeks (elimination)
What you take out, what to swap it for and how long it lasts.
Do this phase with support: ask your doctor or a registered dietitian to supervise it, and do not extend it beyond 6 weeks.
For 2 to 6 weeks, replace all high FODMAP foods with low FODMAP alternatives. The goal is a clear improvement in your symptoms.
How to do it well:
- Use the app's food search: green = go ahead, amber = watch the portion, red = avoid for now.
- You don't need to be 100% perfect, but the stricter the phase, the clearer the answer.
- Swap wheat for rice, oats, quinoa or gluten-free bread; milk for lactose-free milk; onion and garlic for chives, green spring onion tops and garlic-infused oil.
- Cook at home when you can and read labels: onion and garlic powder hide in stocks, sauces and processed meats.
- Keep the rest of your diet normal: don't cut gluten or lactose-free dairy unless you need to.
What goes out with the food you take out. Wheat, pulses and much of the fruit take fibre with them; if you drop dairy too, calcium goes with it. Fibre you can still have: oats, kiwi, quinoa, carrot, chia seeds, brown rice. For calcium: lactose-free milk, hard cheeses, fortified almond or rice milk, tinned sardines, firm tofu. If your problem is constipation, taking out fermentable fibre can make it worse: tell your dietitian before you start.
When this is not done on your own. In pregnancy and breastfeeding, in under-18s, and if you already eat a very restricted diet for another reason. It is not forbidden: it is done with a professional watching that nothing is missing.
If there is no improvement after 6 weeks, this diet is probably not your tool: go back to your doctor to consider other options. If you do improve, don't stop here! Move on to reintroduction: staying in elimination indefinitely needlessly narrows your diet and your gut flora.
Log your meals and symptoms in the app's diary — it will be invaluable in the next phase.