Why is lunch hard? Because so many typical choices for lunch outside the home involve sandwiches or choosing foods in a cafeteria or restaurant. All of these options can make it hard to stick with the low FODMAP diet during the elimination and trial phases.

Once, a long, long time ago when I was just starting out in my nutrition career, I learned about the gluten-free diet. It was, and is, prescribed for adults and children who were diagnosed with celiac disease. If you’re not familiar, celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that causes a person to have an immune-type reaction to eating gluten.

If you have some type of gastrointestinal disorder, especially irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), you may have heard of the low FODMAP diet. I know it sounds strange. That’s exactly what I thought the first time I heard it. What in the world is that, and is it a legitimate diet or some type of fad?