Dietitian Veronica Mitchell provides a specific diet to help those with troublesome gut problems:
“Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a tricky condition to treat. There are 3 common modes of treatment for IBS – diet, drugs or psychological therapy. A recent innovative dietary treatment for IBS is the low FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharide, Disaccharide, Mono-saccharide and Polyols) diet. It is an elimination diet that aims to reduce the sugars that trigger IBS symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhoea and others. Studies show the low FODMAP diet is very effective for people with IBS, providing relief from symptoms in around 75% of people who try it.
"If you are struggling with IBS and would like to follow the low FODMAP diet, please ask your GP to refer you to a dietitian trained to deliver the low FODMAP diet.
“This recipe proves you can eat a healthy balanced diet while adhering to an elimination diet. The meal provides at least 3 of your 5 portions of vegetables a day as well as a portion of dairy, protein and plenty of slow releasing carbohydrates."
Serves 4 - 6 people
For the grain salad:
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¼ cup of mixed red and white quinoa
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¼ cup of red rice
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¼ cup of wild rice
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¼ cup of brown basmati rice
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1 small aubergine, sliced, roasted & chopped into chunks
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½ cup of blanched broccoli
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½ orange coloured pepper, cubed
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½ yellow coloured pepper, cubed
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10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
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100g of feta cheese, cubed or crumbled
Method
Cook all the grains until tender, drain and combine with all the other ingredients including the salad dressing.
For the salad dressing:
- 2 tbsp of garlic infused oil (1 tablespoon if you don’t want a strong garlic flavour)
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice
- 1 tsp of brown sugar
- ½ tsp of grainy mustard
- salt & pepper to season
Serve the salad with a good helping of green leaves. Make sure that if you buy a bag of salad leaves, you check that all the ingredients included are low FODMAP. In this meal I used a packet of babyleaf herb salad. Although I served it with sliced lamb steak, you could use any protein that you like - such as chicken, beef or fish, lightly pan fried with small amount of pure vegetable oil.