I’ve been doing some thinking on how far I’ve come from when I first figured out I had IBS and discovered the FODMAP diet. Besides the constant threat of diarrhea and the pain associated with it, what I remember clearly is the panic I felt around the question ‘what can I eat today?’. I didn’t start out consciously meal planning for breakfast, but I do have a small list of go-to menu items that make it easy for me to start my day AND to grocery shop for.
I can readily admit that I’m not a health nut. I try to eat balanced, nutritious meals, but I don’t calorie count. Maybe I’ll get there, but for now, I’m mostly just concerned about the basics about feeding myself. I love eating for pleasure (having candles on the table makes food taste better, somehow), and can’t see myself gulping down a kale smoothie just ‘because it’s good for me’. Maybe someday, but not today.
If anyone reads this and is starting out on their FODMAP journey, I hope you can get some inspiration from this post. I shop at two stores: Safeway and Planet Organic. Hopefully the ideas will make life just a teeny bit easier for you…. I’ll include recipes in later posts…
Breakfast – Weekdays
I tend to alternate between two menus during the week. Easier to buy groceries for, easy to prepare on mornings when I need to eat before I’m fully woken up.
- allergen free (gluten, egg, dairy, FODMAP free) bread, toasted, spread with organic crunchy peanut butter and topped with slices of bananas.
- a dollop of goats-milk yogurt (for some reason my body can handle milk from goats but not a cow), granola (either a low-FODMAP kind from the store or home-made), and fresh berries sprinkled on top (I alternate between raspberries and blueberries, and have discovered that I can tolerate a small amount of blackberries (high on Polyols on the Monash FODMAP app).
Breakfast – Weekends
If I’m lazy, I stick to the above. But I do enjoy baking, and preparing foods with my family so will have one of the following for a special breakfast on a weekend.
- Oat scones topped with marmalade.
- Allergen free pancakes, with fruit salad (made with whatever I have on hand that’s got a green light from the Monash FODMAP app), and bacon. Served with pure maple syrup.
Breakfast – on the road
- Travelling can be a real challenge for someone with IBS. If I’m staying in a hotel, I make sure I have my rice cakes and organic peanut butter with me. I’ve found that as long as I’m at a table of people who are ordering off the menu, my bringing food doesn’t cause much of a stir (I do try to be a little discreet, though). If I get an odd look, I’ll order a side of bacon off the menu and that seems to make everything OK. On the bonus side, crispy bacon on a peanut butter slathered rice cake is incredibly yummy.
And those are about it. I’ve experimented with other options, but these seem to be my go-to menu items. At first, deciding what to eat can be daunting, but I’ve discovered that meal planning for breakfast doesn’t have to be a mind-bending, expensive or earth shifting experience. Good luck to your own breakfast plans!