Low-FODMAP is a test, not a diet for life
If you have IBS, someone has probably told you to "go low-FODMAP". What they usually mean is a long list of foods to avoid: onion, garlic, wheat, milk, apples, beans. What they rarely mention is that the list is temporary. The diet was designed as a test with three phases, and the restrictive part is only the first.
Here is how the three phases fit together, and why IBS AI is built around the second one.
Phase one: a short elimination
For two to six weeks you swap high-FODMAP foods for low-FODMAP alternatives. The point is not to eat this way forever; it is to get your symptoms to a calm baseline so that the next phase gives clear answers. If nothing improves after a few weeks, that is an answer too: FODMAPs are probably not your problem, and you can stop.
This phase should be short. Eating a restricted diet for months starves the gut bacteria that feed on these fibres, and makes the diet harder to follow than it needs to be. IBS AI counts the days for you and closes the phase on time.
Phase two: bring foods back, one group at a time
FODMAPs are not one thing. They are several groups of carbohydrates — lactose, fructose, fructans, galacto-oligosaccharides, sorbitol and mannitol — and most people react to only one or two of them. The reintroduction phase tests each group on its own: a test food for three days, in rising portions, then a few days of rest before the next group.
This is the phase that tells you something. It is also the phase that people skip, because it takes planning and a diary. In IBS AI, each test is scheduled for you, the portions are suggested, and your check-ins during the test turn into a verdict you can accept or overrule.
Phase three: eat everything else
Once you know which groups trouble you, the rest of the list comes back. Most people end up avoiding a handful of foods, in the portions that matter, rather than the whole catalogue. That is the result the diet is for: a short list of personal triggers and a long list of foods you can enjoy again.
Over the following weeks, IBS AI keeps matching what you eat to how you feel, so a trigger that turns out to be harmless in small portions, or a new one you had not tested, shows up with its numbers — trouble after five of six meals — instead of a hunch.
A note before you start
The low-FODMAP diet works best with a dietitian, and it is not for everyone. See a doctor first if your symptoms are new, if you are losing weight, or if there is blood, fever or pain at night. Rule out coeliac disease before cutting wheat, because the test needs you to be eating gluten. IBS AI is a tracking tool and a guide, not medical advice.