Local Life - Wigan - March 2018

64
Food & Drink
FODMAP diet
By Gemma Dunn
FODMAPs - fermentable, oligosaccharides,
disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols
- are types of short-chain carbohydrates that can
be tricky to digest, and they can wreak havoc for
some people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS),
a common condition associated with digestive
symptoms such as bloating, diarrhoea, constipation
and cramps.
They can be found in a wide range of foods, including
certain fruits, veggies, grains and nuts - onions,
garlic and apples are prime examples (though not
everybody with IBS is affected by the same foods
in the same ways). But cutting out, or cutting down
on key culprits can help - and if anyone can vouch
for the effective of a low FODMAP diet it’s Hatcher, a
long-term sufferer of IBS and a sensitive gut.
“It was a light bulb moment of, ‘Oh my God, this
could actually really help’,” the 23-year-old recalls of
her dietician’s suggestion to try the plan, following
years of cutting out various foods to no effect.
“You don’t realise quite how much it affects your
life until after your symptoms have gone, and you
think, ‘Wow, I’m not thinking about when I’m next
going to need the bathroom, or what I’m going to
eat on my work lunch break today’.
Discovering that the information available was
minimal - she recalls initially being handed “a very
uninspiring, four-page leaflet with a big long list of
foods to cut out” - the forward-thinking millennial
embarked on a one-woman
mission to show that the diet
needn’t be restrictive.
She’s since been a pillar of support
for countless others in a similar position, via her
brilliantly titled lifestyle blog, She Can’t Eat What?!
Now, Hatcher’s sharing her insights in her debit
cookbook, The FODMAP Friendly Kitchen.
As well as avoiding processed foods and sugars,
Hatcher devised a menu of simple, healthy and
delicious dishes, that all require no unobtainable
ingredients.
“I’m not a chef, so if I can make them, anybody
can,” she insists. “These 100 recipes were designed
to be that foundation; they’re all completely low
FODMAP, people can tailor them depending on
their personal tolerances, and they’re all really easy.”
A self-confessed chocolate lover, she adds: “It’s
such a cliche, but it is all about balance and maybe
eating healthier on a weeknight and then having
that doughnut that you really want on a Friday or a
weekend. “It’s not a sugar-free diet, it’s not a fat-free
diet,” she concludes. “You can still eat the foods that
you could eat before, you just have to make those
simple swaps, which might actually be better for
your gut in more ways than one.”
Intrigued to give low Fodmap eating a go? Here are
three tasty recipes from Hatcher’s new book to try
at home...
The FODMAP Friendly Kitchen by Emma Hatcher is published by Yellow Kite in hardback, £20.