Tag: snacks

FODMAPs are sugars and carbohydrates that the body finds hard to absorb and fully digest. So, these end up in the large intestines, where they ferment and pull in water and other gases, causing IBS symptoms that people experience after consuming high FODMAP foods. When following a low FODMAP diet, figuring out which snacks to store in your house can be tricky as the diet may feel constricting. Just because you’re working on alleviating those IBS symptoms and ensuring a balance in your gut microbiome, this doesn’t mean you need to skip snacks. There are a variety of low-FODMAP desserts, and low-FODMAP snacks that you can stock up your house with that won’t irritate your stomach. There are many snack ideas that you can make easily at home and keep for later use.

Snacks are essential to meal planning because they help keep you full and fill your daily nutritional needs if you plan accordingly. However, when you aren’t careful, snacks can increase your calorie intake or even swerve you further from eating healthily and following your low FODMAP diet.

Tips and tricks for low FODMAP snacks

• Balance your food groups. For example, you can add protein to your snacks to help you feel full for longer. This can look like peanut butter on your rice cake, gluten-free bread, cheese & crackers, or yoghurt & fruit.
• Carry your snacks for when you’re on the move or busy. It is best to have a pre-packed snack from home when going to the office, like popcorn or brazil nuts. If you’re working from home, you can still have those in your kitchen or, even better yet, have some chopped vegetables and dip ready to eat from the fridge.
• Organise everything at the beginning of the week. If you can set aside one day of the week to prepare your snacks, it will be difficult, but it will save you a lot of trouble throughout the week when you want to indulge and can’t prepare a specific snack from scratch.
• You can always settle for dairy. If you aren’t lactose intolerant, you can always choose to have dairy as part of your snacks. Dairy is an excellent source of protein, calcium, and minerals. There is a variety of lactose-free milk and yoghurt these days. Carrying cheese, crackers, and yoghurt as snacks can be a perfect option for those on the move and busy.
• Get yourself reusable food containers. You don’t have to carry a single piece of fruit as a snack to work; you can do things differently these days. Reusable food containers have different compartments allowing you to carry various things all at once and even pre-cut by you. These are especially useful for those doing meal preps to take to work the following day.
• Consume more fibre. Even though you’ll be cutting out on high FODMAP foods, ensuring you consume high-fibre foods means you’ll stay full for longer. You can ensure you consume more fibre by keeping the peels on the low FODMAP fruits and vegetables. You can also sprinkle pumpkin or chia seeds on your foods, yoghurt, and salad.

Low FODMAP snacks

Here are some snacks or low-FODMAP desserts you can consume without triggering symptoms in your digestive tract.

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Low FODMAP green smoothie

Ingredients

• 130g fresh pineapple (chopped and frozen)
• 1 cup baby spinach
• ¼ cup plant yoghurt
• ⅓ cup plant milk
• 1 tbsp coconut shred
• 2 tsp chia seeds
• 6 ice cubes

Method

1. Put the pineapple, baby spinach, plant yoghurt, milk, coconut shred, chia seeds, and cubes in a blender.
2. Blend until smooth. You can always add more plant milk if your pineapple is too frozen and won’t blend. If you’re using fresh pineapple that isn’t frozen, you can add more ice cubes to make it cold.
3. Serve instantly and enjoy.

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Low FODMAP almond butter protein balls

Ingredients

• ½ cup pure almond butter (no added flavours, salt, or sugar). You can make this at home in a food processor.
• 2 tbsp maple or sorghum syrup
• 1 ⅔ tbsp oat bran
• ⅓ cup hulled hemp seed
• 2 tbsp flax seeds
• 1 TSP vanilla extract
• 3 dark chocolate squares finely chopped

Method

1. Add almond butter, syrup of choice, oat bran, hemp seeds, flax seeds, vanilla extract, and dark chocolate in a mixing bowl or food processor. Combine the mixture thoroughly until it can hold together when squeezed into a ball.
2. Ensure the balls are approximately 3 cm in diameter, and well formed.
3. You can store these in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

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Low FODMAP vegetable rolls with peanut butter dipping sauce

Ingredients

• 100g Vermicelli noodles
• 200g Firm tofu
• 8 rice paper wrappers
• 1 large grated carrot
• 1 cup red cabbage
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• ½ cucumber thinly sliced
• ¼ cup coriander leaves
• ⅓ cup peanut butter
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2-3 tbsp water

Method

1. Put the noodles in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Let it sit until the noodles are soft, drain them and shorten them with kitchen scissors.
2. Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan over medium heat and chop the tofu into small rectangles. Toss the tofu in cornstarch, then add to the frying pan. Flip the tofu on all sides until it’s done and evenly browned.
3. Soak rice paper in cold water until soft and pliable.
4. Add vermicelli noodles, carrots, cucumber, red cabbage, coriander and tofu on each piece of rice paper wrapper. Roll and tuck the edges.
5. Repeat the same for the remaining rice wrappers.
6. For the peanut dipping sauce, whisk peanut butter, rice vinegar, maple syrup, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Keep adding a tablespoon of water until it reaches your desired consistency. Serve.

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Low FODMAP muesli bars

Ingredients

• ½ cup sunflower seeds
• ½ cup pumpkin seeds
• ½ cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 tbsp flax seeds
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 TSP cinnamon powder
• ½ cup rice malt syrup
• Olive oil spread

Method

1. Melt and combine olive oil spread, cinnamon, and rice malt syrup in a pan.
2. Add oats, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, and flax seeds in a nonstick pan. Toss these over low heat for 5-10 minutes.
3. Add the seeds and oat mix to the syrup mix until combined.
4. Press this mixture onto a tin-lined baking sheet and freeze for 20 minutes until set.
5. Cut into squares. You can cut through the baking sheet and store them wrapped individually for easy consumption.
6. Store in the freezer until you need it.

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These low FODMAP snack ideas will help you figure out snacks you can consume throughout the week. Of course, not all of these will work for everyone depending on an individual’s tolerance to a particular food. To determine which foods you’re intolerant to, you can order an at home Intolerance Test. It will help you know which foods you should avoid in your low FODMAP diet. It is possible to reintroduce these foods using an elimination diet. Our recipes show you don’t have to skip the snacks with a low FODMAP diet, we hope you enjoy them!