The Best Ways To Deal With Fructose Malabsorption?

[bridgetm]

Last winter I started noticing a problem with fructose, especially in digesting vegetables (tomatoes, corn, sweet potatoes), apples and sugary foods/drinks and also trouble with large amounts of fat (I couldn't digest nuts or seeds and had to watch out for butter and grease). I cut back on these things and noticed improvement. After a few months I began to eat them in moderation again and over the summer started eating them even more frequently. A few weeks ago I was slammed with those symptoms again (cramping, bloating/gas; loose, greasy, sweet-smelling stool). I'm hungry constantly; no matter what or how much I eat my stomach is growling again within an hour and everything goes straight through me. My acid reflux has also come back with a vengeance. One day I can eat anything with no problem and the next I'm nauseous after a lightly buttered slice of toast.

I just moved back onto campus in an apartment with a full kitchen so it will be easier for me to cook around these problems, but I am anxious about having to deal with the symptoms while getting to class and work. I had stopped taking my supplements (C, B12, iron, calcium and double doses of D for some bone density issues) in June because of a major knee surgery (my system gets screwed up from the anesthetic and narcotics so I take only what is absolutely necessary during the first phase of recovery) but just started back on them last week.

Obviously avoiding these foods is the best course of action but does anyone have any good ideas for how to deal with the symptoms? On occasion I'll slam some Pepto and Immodium to shut it down and 'reboot' my system, but that is not a solution I can use frequently.

I've gotten nothing but good advice here in the past so any help would be greatly appreciated.

~ Bridget

[bridgetm]

Okay, I think I pretty much answered my own question there... How about this one:

What foods do you keep at the base of your low-fructose/fructose free diet? When I'm having a lot of trouble, I go back to the simple recovery diet (i.e. white rice, gluten-free bread, bananas, etc.), but unless I'm getting over a glutening I go crazy sticking with that.

[ksymonds84]

Hello, I am a fellow fructose malabsorber. Honestly for me the only way not to be sick is I don't eat any fruit except maybe a few red grapes or 1/2 very ripe banana and never on an empty stomach. What helped me the most was joining the Australian fructose malabsorbtion group. they are way more advanced then we are here in the states on the disorder here is the link

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It is an email based forum and you have to request membership but a very knowledgeable and helpful group.

[bridgetm]

Hello, I am a fellow fructose malabsorber. Honestly for me the only way not to be sick is I don't eat any fruit except maybe a few red grapes or 1/2 very ripe banana and never on an empty stomach. What helped me the most was joining the Australian fructose malabsorbtion group. they are way more advanced then we are here in the states on the disorder here is the link

Open Original Shared Link

It is an email based forum and you have to request membership but a very knowledgeable and helpful group.

Thank you for the link! I'll definitely check that out. Bananas are the only fruit I can eat consistently. Some berries on occasion and the rare tomato, but bananas are a staple for me. The big problem for me at school is that beans are one of my main sources of protein (cheap, fast and easy) when I'm here but I really have to limit them and plan all my other meals around them-- If I haven't had them for a week I can eat a cup or more with no problems, but if I eat them everyday I can only handle a tablespoon or two. The mean planning is getting very frustrating.