Can't Eat FRUITS? Get Bloating and Diarrhea? Please Contribute.

[boron]

Hi to all. I'm doing an online investigation about DIETARY FRUCTOSE INTOLERANCE (DFI). In this condition most fruits (apples, pears, prunes...), honey, some vegetables (tomatoes, artichoke...), products with added High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), sorbitol (in "low calorie" foods or "sugar free" chewing gum) and often wheat and onions cause BLOATING and DIARRHEA (also headache or depression). For more info click on my username and check "journals".

If someone thinks, he/she might have this condition (often misdiagnosed as IBS), I want to discuss with you in this thread about which exact fruits, vegetables, cereals and sugars you can/can't tolerate.

[Gabts]

FRUITS:
- mango  N
- oranges N
- raspberries N
- strawberries N
- watermelon N
- kiwi N
VEGETABLES:
- onions Y
- leek  not sure
- carrots  Y
- garlic  Y
- parsley  Y
CEREALS:
- wheat  Y
- barley  Y
LEGUMES:
- beans  sometimes Y sometimes N
- green peas  don't know
- soy  Y
- lentils  Y
NUTS:
- pistachios  Y
- peanuts (peanut butter)   Y
- hazelnuts  Y
- almonds   Y
- cashews  Y
- chestnuts   Y
- walnuts   Y
- coconut   Y
SUGARS/SWEETENERS: don't consume any
- sucrose
- splenda
- maple syrup
- molasses
- brown sugar
- raw sugar (Turbinado, Demerara)
- sorghum syrup
- caramel
- stevia

Hi Boron, hope u can help me.  I've been living vegan for about 20 months now (& don't wanna give up that.-by now only the thought of animal products makes me sick & became lactose-intolerant too)  . I eat a lot of self-prepared fruit cocktails, salads, and veggies.  But in the last 2 months or so  I seem to have become fructose intolerant.  I cannot eat my usual big fruit cocktails anymore  without getting bloated and a lot of gas; & some level of tolerable stomachache  but nevertheless the whole thing is extreme uncomfortable.  Can one suddenly become fructose intolerant?  have any advise?   Thank you!!

[Shinelle]

FRUITS:
N- mango
N-oranges
N- raspberries
Y- strawberries
N- watermelon
N- kiwi
VEGETABLES Vegetable laxative:
Y- onions
?- leek
Y(Cooked)- carrots
Y- garlic
Y- parsley
CEREALS:
Y- wheat
Y- barley
LEGUMES:
Y- beans
Y- green peas
Y- soy
Y- lentils
NUTS:
N- pistachios
50/50- peanuts (peanut butter)
Y- hazelnuts
Y- almonds
50/50- cashews
?- chestnuts
Y- walnuts
50/50- coconut
SUGARS/SWEETENERS:
?- sucrose
Y- splenda
N- maple syrup
50/50- molasses
Y- brown sugar
Y- raw sugar (Turbinado, Demerara)
?- sorghum syrup
Y- caramel
?- stevia

[Matthew007]

Yeah i'm still in the process of trying to figure out what I can and can't do..

It's weird I think it may be the cornflour used in wheat that may be the problem.. but I can tell for sure when I eat something too much with fructose (instant headache/nausea/insomnia/anxiety/IBS issues) so I'm a weird case but it's still trial and error.

The oats I *SHOULD* be fine with so i'm experimenting with plain water/milk combo's trying to figure out what to do there because the last 2 weeks i've been eating nothing but eggs (which works but gets old super quick).  I'm not sure about gluten which is why i'm testing myself..quaker oats I believe are not gluten free, but I could be wrong but we'll see.

anyway thanks for the advice, too bad there's not a test out there that tells you exactly what to do and what to avoid :P

[boron]

Mathew007,

I encourage you to find out what are you intolerant to exactly.

I'm pretty sure you have fructose malabsorption (FM) - dates, raisins and honey are rich in fructose. You can tolerate table sugar (= 50% fructose + 50% glucose), since one mollecule of glucose helps in absorption of one mollecule of fructose even in people with FM. So, you might tolerate other foods with greater amount of glucose than fructose. Be aware, that you don't need to avoid even tinny amounts of fructose, if you have FM. The important thing is, which exact foods (nutrients) you can't tolerate.

Fruit juice often contains either fructose or sorbitol.
There is some fructose in brown rice.
Oats is rich in soluble fiber. Pure oats should not contain gluten, but it can be contaminated with it during harvesting and other processes.
Can't explain why corn would irritate you - I mean, it's probably just a separate intolerance.

Are you sure about gluten? If you can tolerate wheat "in moderation", you don't likley have celiac. d., but you probably can't tolerate *fructans*, which are in wheat and onions.

[Matthew007]

Hey :)

You know mine is really weird.. I can tolerate some amounts of sugar even almost a spoon full of it...luckily, but it's fruit juice concentrate or brown rice...rice milk.. soy..corn..at first I thought it was only soy...then gluten but small things, even dates send me into a pure nausea misery.

anyway I bought the blue book from amazon, and also I've been using a few lists online but anything with concentrated forms or raisins or dates..cranberry's honey of course.. wheat/corn give me serious issues as well as oats so i'm not sure if it's a gluten issue as well.

I've been sick since October of 2005 *yes that long sadly* my dumb doctors never even thought about recommending testing for it with pure nausea/anxiety/insomnia/IBS loose stools/constipation and only NOW being fructose free for a few weeks my hands are not sweating and even though i'm still having IBS issues I've improved big time.  Thanks for the advice!

[boron]

can you tolerate a small amount, like a tespoon of a table sugar?  Also, from when do you have digesting problems?

Search for "nutrition guide for fructose malabsorption" and check a table with many examples of safe "to try" and "to avoid" foods. If that doesn't help, you can tell for more foods you can't tolerate, since FM is often combined with other food intolerances.