Sunday 20 October 2019

Growing low FODMAP vegetables in the garden in the UK

It's October, which means the vegetable garden is winding down and it's time to start planning next year's garden, or at least you need to start now if you're going to plant any onions or garlic that need to spend the winter in the ground. As onions and garlic are both high FODMAP, this isn't so much a concern if you only want to plant low FODMAP vegetables (to find out what FODMAPs are and why you might be interested in low FODMAP foods, click here). I'm thinking of going largely low FODMAP food next year, so I've compiled a list of vegetables and fruit that have no or only traces of FODMAPs in them that will grow in the UK, divided by crop type:

Brassicas
  • choy sum
  • collard greens
  • kale
  • rocket
  • radish
Root veg (carrot family)
  • carrots
  • parsnips
Root veg (beetroot family)
  • Swiss chard
  • spinach (but less than 150g of baby spinach)
Cucurbits
  • cucumber
  • kabocha pumpkin (also known as Japanese pumpkin)
  • pattypan squash
Daisy family
  • chicory (leaves)
  • witlof 
  • endive (leaves)
  • cos lettuce (also known as romaine lettuce - maximum serve unclear)
  • butter lettuce
  • iceberg lettuce
  • lollo rosso (red coral lettuce)
Legumes
  • bean sprouts
Potato family
  • bell pepper (allow to go red/yellow, do not eat green)
  • potatoes
  • tomatoes, common (not cherry or roma)
Other
  • bamboo shoots 
Fruit
  • grapes
  • rhubarb
  • strawberries

And here's a list where 75g is OK, but you need to check the Monash app for how far you can go if you want to go above that level:

Brassicas
  • bok choy
  • broccoli (calabrese, not purple sprouting or tenderstem, no data is available on those)
  • cabbage, common
  • Chinese cabbage
  • red cabbage
  • kohlrabi
  • swede
  • turnip
Root veg (carrot family)
  • celeriac
Cucurbits
  • spaghetti squash
Daisy family
  • chicory leaves
  • raddicchio
Legumes
  • green beans
Potato family
  • aubergine 
  • cherry tomatoes
  • roma tomatoes
Fruit
  • canteloupe melons (you can eat 120g, grow in greenhouse)
Additional notes: you can also grow chillies, as people who react to FODMAPS can typically eat up to 28 g of red or green chilli without it being a problem, and most recipes are likely to use less than that. Also, if you're not eating it, FODMAP is irrelevant, so you can grow loofahs (often spelled loufa or luffa when you grow them).

I'm not planning to go fully low FODMAP next year. For instance, I'm still planning to grow onions. But where there's a low FODMAP alternative to vegetables I generally like to grow, then I'm thinking about taking it. As for the raspberries, a serving size of up to 60 g of those can typically be tolerated, so they're already good in the quantities you usually get off by plants each day.




No comments:

Post a Comment