Savor The Sweetness, Minus The Fructose & Polyols!
This week we’re all about adding sweetness, minus the offending FODMAPs – Fructose & Sugar Alcohols.
You guys have been asking us a lot lately about what the deal is with sweeteners; which ones are high & low FODMAP, and at what serve sizes.
This blog aims to help you make your sweetener choices simpler.
We all deserve a sweet treat from time to time!
Have you noticed that ‘stressed’ spelled backwards, is ‘desserts’? Life can go awry sometimes… don’t forget to treat yourself with something sweet every now and then!
When you do decide to indulge from time to time, make sure the sweetener choices you make are low FODMAP.
Need some support in choosing with confidence? Read on to learn more about our sugars and syrups comparison.
Sugars and Syrups
Whilst following a low FODMAP diet, navigating which sugars and syrups are low FODMAP can be a challenge. Therefore, we’ve put together a simple table distinguishing low FODMAP and high FODMAP options of commonly consumed sugars and syrups.
The sugars & syrups in the green column are tested to be low FODMAP in the given serving sizes so you can use them in cooking, baking, making desserts or sweetening your beverages with confidence!
White sugar/table sugar is low FODMAP
The ingredients listed in the red column are high FODMAP, mainly due to their high fructose content. Fructose is a Monosaccharide (a type of simple carbohydrate) that occurs naturally in a variety of foods such as certain fruits and honey. Since humans have a limited absorptive capacity for fructose, it is often incompletely absorbed in the small bowel. The fructose that is not absorbed combines with water and is rapidly propelled into the large bowel, where gut bacteria ferment fructose to carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and short-chain fatty acids. This can produce a laxative effect and cause rapid gas production, leading to distention, bloating, abdominal discomfort, and increased gut motility, in people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
For more information about the FODMAP percentage cut-offs for both low & high FODMAP sugars & syrups, click here to download the FODMAP Friendly App.
To learn more about fructose and fructose malabsorption, click here.
Honey is high FODMAP due to its high amount of fructose.
Reading food ingredient labels
If you are buying packaged desserts or lollies, read their food labels to check if they contain any high FODMAP ingredients.
Honey is sometimes used to flavour desserts and ice-creams. HFCS is a common source of fructose used to sweeten desserts, soda, and some other processed foods.
Sorbitol and mannitol are sugar alcohols frequently used to sweeten ‘diet’ lollies. They are also a type of FODMAP that can cause unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms in people with IBS. A few other sweeteners to look out for when label reading are maltitol, xylitol, erythritol*and isomalt.
*Erythritol is not high FODMAP, it is generally well absorbed in our small-intestine compared to other polyols.
Low kilojoule alternatives
Artificial or non-nutritive sweeteners are often used as an alternative to sugar. These sweeteners are very low in energy (kilojoule or calorie).
If this is what you are looking for, check out NBI’s Sweet & Gentle sweetener and Type 2 Protein sweetener. They are FODMAP Friendly certified sweeteners that can be used to sweeten your food and beverages too.
NBI Sweet & Gentle sweetener
NBI Type 2 Protein sweetener
Maple Syrup Rice Pudding
If you’re craving something sweet that’s also low FODMAP, try out this nice little recipe for dessert tonight.
You won’t regret it, and your tummy won’t remind you about it afterwards!
Ingredients (4 servings)
3 ¾ cup almond milk
½ cup short-grain rice
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp maple syrup, plus more for drizzling
Directions
- Bring 3 1/2 cups almond milk, the rice, sugar, vanilla, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup almond milk and the maple syrup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Divide among parfait glasses or bowls, and drizzle with maple syrup.
Recipe modified from: https://www.marthastewart.com/318082/honey-rice-pudding?utm_campaign=yummly&utm_medium=yummly&utm_source=yummly
Wishing you a sweet day!
Eat with Confidence!
