Today we adjusted Rebecca's diet, whether temporarily or permanantly we do not yet know ... I will write more on that later. I decided to still post her diet as it may be helpful to someone else out there who is looking for information on Fructose Malabsorption or also known as Dietary Fructose Intolerance. The following diet is a very restritive diet that Rebecca has been on for almost 4 weeks now as we struggle to make her feel better. This would be the type of diet a person who had just been diagnosed with Fructose Malabsorption would start with and once feeling better they would slowly reintroduce various foods on the "safe list" to see what they can tolerate. For the first week Rebecca's diet also consisted of no vegetables ... obviously this is not a healthy balanced diet and so after a week we had to reintroduce a few of the veggies that should be okay in small quantities. At this point in the diet we are also striving to keep all her sugar intake as low as possible, and are therefore relying more on various alternative sweeteners.
Later I will post more about how we ended up here and where we're heading for now, as well as various links for anyone who might be trying to find further information about Fructose Malabsorption (Dietary Fructose Intolerance)
Rebecca’s Current Diet ~ Fructose Malabsorption
Some Basic Fructose Knowledge
● Fructose is a simple sugar (monosaccharide) which the body uses for energy
● Sugar (sucrose) is made up of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. and so she should only consume limited amount of it.
● Glucose is needed in order to process fructose - so glucose (or dextrose) is good
● When balancing a fructose diet you must look for items that have a higher level of glucose in
them then fructose (and unfortunately this is not general knowledge and takes time to learn)
● Fructans are chains of fructose and wheat has fructans in it therefore making it unsuitable for many who have Fructose Malabsorption
● Sweet Tarts are almost pure glucose and so for Rebecca they are considered medicine.
-if it is likely Rebecca will not be able to maintain her diet or is going to eat something that she probably shouldn’t have she can eat SweetTarts about 5-10 minutes before having the food in order to give her system extra glucose to process the incoming fructose
-this will only work for excess fructose but not fructans (wheat and onions)
-although this helps it is not a cure ... the body still has a total fructose tolerance level and no matter how much glucose you consume it’s going to suffer
No-No Items
No Fruit
No Wheat as a main ingredient. It should not be listed as one of the first 5 ingredients.
No Candies (except SweetTarts)
Honey
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
Vegetables
-onions (you can cook with onion in large chunks for flavouring and then remove the onion pieces before consumption
-tomatoes - this includes sauces, ketchup, spagetti sauce, salsa
-asparagus
-beans
-peppers (maybe just as few in a salad)
Sugar (sucrose) - try not to have this listed within the first 3 ingredients - not always possible, but limit overall sugar intake as much as possible
Other Ingredients to avoid if listed as first 5 on ingredients list:
-fructose, honey, corn syrup solids, high fructose corn syrup, fruit, fruit juice/fruit juice concentrate, sorbitol (or any items ending in “ol”), sucralose, tomato paste, onion
So-So Items (small amounts)
brown sugar (sparingly)
corn syrup (sparingly)
Vegetables
-peas (this is the lowest fructose vegetable and she likes them lots)
-lettuce
-carrots
-cauliflower (prefers raw)
-broccoli (no stems) (prefers raw)
-cabbage
-cucumber (better without skins)
-corn (very small amount)
-spinach
-pickles
-celery
Banana - she is just trailing this now, but is must be eating with a meal and she can only have ½ or 1 every other day
Potato Chips - regular, salt and vinegar, dill picklet
Cheese Puffs/Twists
corn chips/tortillas
doritos/nachos
Okay Items
maragrine
eggs
white rice and white rice pastas (brown rice supposedly is not good)
oats
rye (so far I haven’t been able to find 100% rye bread ... but I’m doubting she’d like it anyways)
gluten free breads
rice cakes (she likes these and they function as her bread)
meats (checked pre-seasoned meats as some have corn syrup)
cheese (she doesn’t like it by itself but it’s allowed mixed in things)
cheez whiz
plain cream cheese
garlic spread (a favourite - remind her to brush her teeth after)
Pepperettes - check ingredients, some have no sugar some a fair amount of sugar
- Schneiders Original Pepperettes are safe
mini rice chips/cakes -cheese, salt and vinegar, dill pickle
mayonaise (not whipped salad dressing/miracle whip)
yogurt (plain yogurt -which she doesn’t like ; or Astro Fat Free Zero Vanilla flavour
plain nuts and seeds (she’s not to fond of these)
rice crackers
SweetTarts
Basic Meal Ideas
Breakfast
Porridge/Oatmeal with a small amount of brown sugar
Puffed Rice, Millet or Corn (find in Organic Food Section of Stores)
Eggs on RyeCrisp (she doesn’t really like these) or a Rice Cake
Bacon
Gluten Free (GF) pancakes
GF Waffles
Lunch
Rice Cakes with garlic spread (only allowed one cake with this), peanut butter, liversausage, egg salad
GF Bread - very dry and she doesn’t like - load on the toppings if using this
Soup made with meat, boullion cubes, rice noodles and a few carrots and celery
Cream of Chicken Soup
Macaroni and Cheese - use cheese package from Kraft Dinner with rice noodles
Supper
Potatoes
French Fries with ranch salad dressing
Meat and/or fish (non-breaded and check seasoned varieties to make sure no corn syrup is added)
Veggies - small amount or do peas and a tiny serving of another okay veggie
Salad - caesar salad is fine without the croutons or a regular salad and she’ll pick out the tomatoes
White rice with a meat based sauce and few okay veggies (no onions or remove onions and no tomato sauces) or something using cream of chicken. Rice with margarine and brown sugar is something she also likes
Rice pasta with a meat based sauce and few okay veggies (no onions or remove onions and no tomato sauces) or something using cream of chicken
Tacos - no salsa or tomato but can have other salad toppings
Snacks
Veggies and dip
Vanilla Low Fat Yogurt (kind that is sweetened with aspartame or splenda)
GF bread sticks with ranch or caesar dressing or cheez whiz
Rice crackers
GF Crackers and Cheese (not to fond of this)
Potato chips
Cheese Puffs/Twists (only small amount as made from corn)
GF baking that are low in sugar (haven’t really found any yet - many are sweetened with pear juice or honey)
Drinks - she must drink lots as her diet currently has a lot of grains/cereals
Crystal Light Drinks
Water
Milk (only plain, no chocolate or strawberry flavour)
Tea (preferably decaf or herbal like Roobois - she hasn’t notice when I gave her this kind, but doesn’t like much herbal varieties) sweetened with alternative sweetener/packaged sugar
Dessert
Sugar-free Jello with nutriwhip
homemade popsicles - 1 cup (or a bit more) boiling water with sugar free jello and add yogurt
very small amount of ice cream (after having sweet tarts first)
9 comments:
Wow, can't get too much more specific there!! That's soooo limited! Good idea to post the list...is that really all Rebecca can have right now? Or is this the "easy" list for other people??
Laura :)
Yes that is pretty much all that she eats right now. For a house that enjoys variety in meals this has been a bit of challenge for her and for me to think of things to cook so that she doesn't feel left-out all the time.
We do allow a few other odds and ends here and there, based on how she's done for the day. Usually things that seems okay, but are sort of on the iffy list ... like Presidents Choice (only PC brand) Sweet and Salty Granola Bars ... she loves these and the first ingredients appear okay, but there are still iffy ones on the list, so we eat it more as a treat. Or sometimes using vegetables that have conflicting information on whether the are good or not just so that we can make a more interesting meal.
She also has the occasional treat which is simply not good for her, but if she's done well on the diet the rest of the day we allow her to eat her Sweet Tarts and indulge a bit ... sometimes this works okay, other times not so good.
She seldom complains about the diet and works hard to maintain it. So we know her pain is real if she's willing to cooperate so well. Occasionally she'll ask if she can binge on some SweetTarts so she can enjoy something she likes, but mostly she just sighs and finds something from her cupboard of food.
I just figured out I have HFM. I know cause I was turning yellow and my liver hurt. All my life the doctors could never figure it out so I didn't bother going to the hospital.
You have the best explaination of the HFM diet I have seen here.
I had other symptoms such as depression, lack of energy, and diarheah.
Chad
I hope that you are finding the necessary treatment, resourse and support to cope with the changes necessary in your diet and lifestyle and that you will quickly feel better and more symptom-free.
All the best.
Hello!
My name is Eliza, I am in Melbourne Australia and I came across your post (a few times now actually as it is always good to refer to another person who is or is caring for some one with Fructose Malabsorption).
I was diagnosed when I was 21, after being diagnosed at 11 with 'severe Irritable Bowel Syndrome' and have been in a lot of pain after eating from then until I was diagnosed with FM and changed my diet.
I look it further and cut out all gluten, dairy and fructose, but 3 years on I have introduced some dairy again (no straight milk or high fat dairy) and some glutinous products such as natural chips cooked in oils that have been exposed to gluten.
Over time I have found tomatoes are fine for me, same with lettuce and zucchini. My advice as your little one grows up, is that as her body gets used to being healthy with no fructose, gradually she will be able to try more foods and can cope.
My advice is that in time introduce 'vegetable enzyme pills' which are a natural product which help break down products within the body, did WONDERS for me and I hope one day it will help your family.
Best of luck, Eliza
Hi Eliza
Thank you very much for your comment and information. I willk eep the vegetable enzyme pills in mind. It is always good to hear from someone who has had a few years experience, especially for me since I have to go by what my kids say and they don't always know how to express how they are feeling.
As it turns out Rebecca's FM really is not a health concern and is only a very minor problem. But we are still dealing with Matthew and fructose restrictions as we have not yet been able to figure out if he has a mild form like the rest of is, or if his is more serious.
If interested it would be great if you joined the new FM Group (listed on the sidebar) as we could always use people on there who have dealt with this issue a bit longer.
Thanks for your comments and it's great to hear that finding out you had FM finally relieve those long term IBS symptoms, that must have been a relief and I imagine feeling better is well worth the diet restrictions.
All the best
Your blog has been SOOO helpful! Thank you so much. My son, 5, was diagnosed yesterday with fructose intolerance. I know it's only been a day but I've been frantically trying to understand what I can feed him so that he will finally feel better. Again, thank you so very much! *hug*
~Julie~
Just wanted to pass on one thing I learned from my nutritionist a couple days ago. WalMart is now adding high frutose corn syrup to their brown sugar.
Hope everything is going well for you and your family :)
Julie
ps. THANK YOU for the tip about sweet tarts. I didn't realize that it was almost all glucose. My son will be so happy to have this as a treat!
julieelizabeth
Are you in the US? I am guessing this as HFCS is much more common in the US then in Canada. I will keep an idea on the brown sugar though, just to see what is coming through here.
Thanks for the heads up.
Post a Comment