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Carotene: Does it Really Have to Be Capsules and Tablets?

Carotene tablets are supposed to protect our skin and, as “beauty capsules”, ensure “beauty from within”. But is it really necessary to supplement carotene or can we also meet our needs naturally?

What are carotenes?

Carotenes are secondary plant substances and belong to the group of carotenoids. They are the reason for the red, yellow or orange coloring of various types of fruit and vegetables. Synthetically produced, they are therefore also often used as food coloring. The name comes from the Latin word “carota”, which means “carrot” and thus alludes to the best-known carotene supplier.

There are over 600 carotene variants, of which around 60 can be converted into vitamin A by the human organism. The so-called beta-carotene has the highest vitamin A activity and is therefore the best-known and most important representative of the carotenes. Since it is an important precursor of vitamin A, it is also referred to as provitamin A.

Why do we need carotene?

The most important function of carotenes is their cell-protecting (antioxidative) effect: carotenes eliminate free oxygen radicals in the tissue and thus protect us from harmful environmental influences such as infections and UV rays. Carotene is also instrumental in strengthening our immune system.

If carotenes are converted by metabolism, they fulfill other important functions as vitamin A. The importance for our eyesight is well known. Surely everyone has heard the saying “Have you ever seen a rabbit with glasses?” However, what many do not know is that without vitamin A we would not be able to see anything at all. The gaze impulses that hit our eyes first have to be forwarded to the brain, where they are processed into correct images. This forwarding would not even take place without vitamin A. A vitamin A deficiency can therefore actually lead to visual disturbances, such as night blindness or reduced visual acuity, as well as very dry eyes.

Another well-known function of vitamin A is its importance for our skin. Dry, irritated or very sensitive skin can be a sign of vitamin A deficiency, as this plays a key role in the structure of the skin. Vitamin A is also important for the stability of our bones and the functionality of our mucous membranes.

Which foods contain carotene?

In the dietary supplement market, carotene tablets are advertised as “sun protection from within”, “help to activate a tan” or “cure against dry skin”. However, if you integrate different types of fruit and vegetables into your diet every day, you will be able to cover your need for carotene without tablets and pellets. According to the German Society for Nutrition, the recommended daily intake of carotene is two to four milligrams.

As a rule of thumb, all red, yellow, or orange fruits and vegetables are high in carotene. These include e.g.:
carrots
sweet potatoes
pumpkin
paprika
tomatoes
apricots
mangoes
nectarines
peaches
sea ​​buckthorn
persimmons
But many green vegetables also provide your body with carotene. The color of the carotene is overlaid by the green of the high chlorophyll content. Kale has the highest carotene content of all foods: just 25 to 40 grams cover your daily requirement. Spinach, rocket, savoy cabbage or lamb’s lettuce are also examples of vegetables containing carotene.

So that your body can use the carotene accordingly, you should always eat the vegetables and fruits mentioned with some (high-quality) fat. For example, you can sauté vegetables in some oil or butter, add olive or linseed oil to your salad, or sprinkle some nuts and seeds over your fruit salad. In order to make it even easier for your body to digest it, you should also chew the food long enough or enjoy it pureed or as juice.

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Healthy Fast Food: Does it Exist?

Healthy fast food sounds ideal: It’s quick and easy and still healthy. Unfortunately, the latter rarely applies – instead, fast food usually contains many calories and few nutrients. But there are exceptions.

“Fast food” – that means first of all “fast food”. This rather vague term has a wide variety of associations:

Fast food is food that can be prepared quickly and easily – partly because it is produced in large companies using standardized processes.
Accordingly, as a customer in the snack bar, you never have to wait long for your fries or currywurst – and you don’t have to pay a lot either.
Fast food is also “fast” because it is usually eaten quickly.
A wide variety of meals fit into this broad field. French fries, burgers, doner kebabs and currywurst are typical fast food, but you can also call sandwiches or cakes from the bakery and ready-made meals from the supermarket fast food.

With many fast food dishes it is quite obvious that they are unhealthy. But what about supposedly healthy fast food such as packaged salads? We take a closer look at the different cases.

This is why typical fast food is not healthy

Few believe that fast food classics are healthy. Dishes such as burgers and fries are characterized above all by the fact that they have a high energy density. This means that there are few nutrients for many calories. Instead, typical fast food dishes primarily contain:

simple carbohydrates that get into the blood quickly and can cause cravings.
a lot of fat, including many saturated fatty acids and various trans fats, which are said to increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, among other things.
a lot of salt and sugar – both of which are also considered unhealthy in large quantities.
Additives, thanks to which the product has a longer shelf life, tastes better and is easier to manufacture.
In addition, residues of harmful substances are often found in processed food. For example, Öko-Test tested various chicken nuggets and found multi-resistant germs and mineral oil residues in many products.

Because fast food is so diverse, it’s hard to say exactly how healthy or unhealthy it is. Hardly anyone eats fast food in such quantities as Morgan Spurlock in the shocking film “Supersize Me” and suffers obvious health damage as a result. As a review explains, studies nevertheless come to the overall conclusion that the above-mentioned unfavorable nutrient composition increases the risk of numerous lifestyle diseases.

Incidentally, this is also due to the substances of which fast food contains too little: vitamins, minerals, trace elements and other important micronutrients. On the one hand, the basic ingredients already contain small amounts, on the other hand, many of these nutrients are lost in the processing.

According to a study, eating too much fast food can cause nutritional deficiencies that are detrimental to the body and mind. Another study suggests that frequent consumption of fast food increases the risk of depression, as fast food tends to be high in pro-inflammatory compounds.

Fast food: How to make the healthier choice

As I said, not all fast food is equally unhealthy. Here are a few general tips on how to choose healthy fast food:

Organic ready meals contain ingredients of organic quality – and therefore less chemical pesticide residues.
The sandwich from the baker is more filling if it is made from wholemeal flour.
Look out for Asian snack bars that work without the flavor enhancer glutamate.
In the meantime, there are also many shops that offer high-quality variants of classic fast food such as burgers or fries. However, it is then no longer necessarily fast food – many burger restaurants have discovered the Slow Food movement for themselves.

Tip: Many fast food dishes contain cheap meat from factory farming. For the sake of the animals, choose a vegan burger or a kebab with falafel or fried vegetables and lots of salad instead of a burger with a meat patty.

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Basal Metabolism: What Does That Mean?

Every person has an individual basal metabolic rate. We’ll show you what basal metabolism means and what it has to do with calorie consumption.

What is a basal turnover?

The basal metabolic rate, also known as the resting metabolic rate, indicates the amount of energy a person needs at rest per 24 hours. This energy keeps vital bodily functions such as breathing and heartbeat going. The basal metabolic rate depends on various factors such as age, gender, height, weight, muscle mass and state of health. It is therefore different from person to person and individual.

How can you calculate your basal metabolic rate?

The basal metabolic rate is a theoretical construct that is calculated using a formula. A formula that you can use to calculate your approximate basal metabolic rate is the “Harris-Benedict formula”:
Women: Basal Metabolic Rate = 655.1 + (9.6 * body weight in kg) + (1.8 * height in cm) – (4.7 * age in years)
Men: Basal Metabolic Rate = 66.47 + (13.7 * body weight in kg) + (5 * height in cm) – (6.8 * age in years)
There are other formulas like the “Mifflin-St.Jeor formula” which are similar but different:
Women: Basal Metabolic Rate = (10 * weight in kg) + (6.25 * height in cm) – (5 * age in years) – 61
Men: basal metabolic rate = (10 * weight in kg) + (6.25 * height in cm) – (5 * age in years) + 5
You notice that these formulas can only reflect a guideline and no binding, actual information.

If you don’t want to calculate your basal metabolic rate yourself, you can alternatively use one of the numerous free basal metabolic rate calculators on the internet.

Understanding Calories

Calories, actually kilocalories (kcal), is a unit that indicates the calorific value of food. Calorific value means heat energy that is released when a substance is burned. The more calories a food contains, the more energy it provides. You can find information on calories in Germany on every packaged food item in the nutritional information.

Note: Even healthy foods can contain a lot of calories. Pay attention to the quality of your food and a healthy diet.

Basal metabolic rate and calorie requirement

As mentioned, your basal metabolic rate is the amount of energy your body needs to survive. Your calorie requirement (or energy requirement) is the energy that you consume through exercise and work in addition to the basal metabolic rate.

This is how you can calculate your calorie requirement: total energy requirement = basal metabolism + performance metabolism

Each activity of the day is added up and, together with your basal metabolic rate, represents your specific daily calorie requirement. Another factor that influences your total energy requirement is thermogenesis. This is the energy you need to metabolize the food you eat.

Just as there are online calculators for basal metabolic rate, there are also calculators for calorie needs and total energy expenditure.

Lose weight with the knowledge of basal metabolic rate and calorie requirement

The more you train, the more you move every day, the more calories you burn. Your basal metabolic rate is always the same, you can only make a difference with exercise and food intake.

When you consume calories from food or drink, you have to use that energy to keep from gaining weight. Otherwise, the excess energy is converted into body fat. This is due to evolution, because in the past it was vital to have (fat) reserves for bad times. In today’s society, this is no longer an issue.

There are three options:
If you take in more calories than you expend, you gain weight. (calorie excess)
If you take in the same number of calories as you expend, you will maintain your weight.
If you take in fewer calories than you expend, you lose weight. (calorie deficit)
If you’re a little over your energy needs, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re gaining weight. For example, if you do strength training, this excess energy is used to build muscle.

In order to burn one kilogram of body fat, almost 7,000 calories must be burned. Every body burns energy and therefore calories at different rates. People with a higher proportion of muscle, for example, have a higher basal metabolic rate because muscles also use energy at rest.

In short: More exercise means more calories burned. If you also pay attention to a correct diet, you can lose or maintain your weight.

Important: You should never consume so many calories that you fall below your basal metabolic rate. Because this is essential!

Note: Losing weight quickly is unhealthy and usually has a yo-yo effect. Listen to your body and take your time. Avoid cheat days, extremes are rarely good. A balanced diet is the be-all and end-all.

You can calculate your BMI as a guide to your current weight status, because this makes statements about whether you are normal, underweight or overweight. However, the BMI does not say whether you are healthy or not and should therefore be viewed with caution.

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Celery Cleanse: What Celery Juice Really Does

Juice cleanses are becoming more and more popular, because on the one hand they promise to be a relaxation cure for the stomach, since no solid components have to be digested, and on the other hand they entice with a lot of vitamins. In most cures, whether homemade or bought ready-made, fruit and vegetable juices are combined and varied. For a juice cleanse that focuses on a single vegetable, celery excels. Wanda from my harvest team tested it.

That’s why celery is so healthy

For a long time, celery had a rather inconspicuous existence as a soup vegetable, and for a long time the most exciting thing that was done with a celery stalk was to stir a Bloody Mary with it. Celery is full of vitamins and minerals.

For a juice cure, celery (also celery or blanched celery) is primarily used. Many nutrients are found in both the stems and leaves. However, the leaves are usually a bit bitter and if you dare to approach vegetable juices in general, then you should approach the amount of leaves slowly.

Almost forgotten medicinal plant

Celery was considered a medicinal plant in the past and was used to treat all kinds of ailments.
And in the gastrointestinal tract, celery is said to work wonders for some. What is definitely true is that celery juice is a source of potassium and vitamin K1 and is high in protein.

Celery cleanse, how it works

For a celery cleanse, you will need to make fresh celery juice or use a ready-made juice cleanse. Otherwise, the handling is very simple:

Drink around 500 ml of celery juice every morning on an empty stomach
Wait half an hour (don’t eat or drink anything) so that the celery can really look nice
Eat a varied and balanced diet for the rest of the day
So you do a celery cure in addition to your usual diet. You eat normally, but start the day with a celery juice on an empty stomach. This makes it easy to integrate a lot of liquid and vitamins into your morning routine.

Since Wanda is very busy and has little time at the moment, she decided on the ready-made 14-day celery cure from Kale and Me.

Wanda’s experience diary on the celery cleanse

Day 1 – Celery has a surprising taste

Full of enthusiasm, I shook the celery juice properly and took a large sip straight from the bottle. I was actually a bit shocked about the taste, because it was relatively bitter at first and I realized again why I eat celery so rarely. I just kept drinking the juice in small sips, so in 15 minutes the bottle was empty and my stomach was filled for the time being. So the first pleasant effect was that my stomach was already full and I was neither thirsty for coffee nor hungry for breakfast. In fact, I ate two handfuls of nuts in the morning and was well taken care of until lunch.

Day 2 – Sweeten or not?

Now that I was prepared for the taste, I had considered in advance whether I would “sweeten” the celery juice with some apple juice. I had read that as a tip during my research if the pure celery juice was still taking some getting used to. However, since the health benefits only fully unfold if you actually drink the juice pure, I stayed with the pure version. In small sips it worked well and this morning 1 apple was enough for me until lunch

Day 3 – I’m looking forward to the vegetable power

As soon as I got up, I thought about the celery juice and I was almost looking forward to it, because so many vegetables in the morning are a good start to the day and you’ve already eaten 2-3 portions of vegetables. As a big believer in positive affirmations, just the thought of drinking so many veggies did me good.

Day 8 – Routine that brings energy

By now, celery juice has become routine. I have the feeling that I’m more energetic in the morning – I don’t know whether it’s because of the amount of vegetables and thus the vitamin boost or because my stomach has to work less without solid food components and the energy is therefore available elsewhere. I guess it’s the combination of both points.

Day 12-14 – The celery juice keeps getting tastier

Bottom up! I have to say, in the meantime I even find the celery juice delicious and the bottle was drunk in no time.

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Peel Cucumber: Does it Have to be?

To peel cucumbers or not? Many people face these questions when they want to prepare a cucumber. We’ll show you the pros and cons and whether it’s really necessary to peel the cucumber

Many consumers are unsure whether they should peel the cucumber. There are several reasons to peel the cucumber:

There are a number of vegetables such as carrots or beetroot that are usually peeled off before eating.
Another reason is that consumers bought the cucumber without plastic packaging in the supermarket and are afraid that there are microorganisms on the skin.
The cucumber is damaged on the peel.

peel cucumber? That speaks against it

There are good reasons not to peel the cucumber:
The skin of the cucumber contains a relatively large number of vitamins and minerals. They are very important for the body and you should therefore eat them. However, one cucumber is not enough to cover your daily requirement: 100 grams of cucumber, for example, contain an average of 160 milligrams of potassium – you need 4000 per day. In addition, the cucumber also contains vitamin K (16 of 60 µg per day).
Dietary fiber, which is important for digestion, is also mainly found in the peel. 100 grams contain about 0.5 grams of fiber – you need about 30 per day.
By scrubbing and rinsing the cucumber under running water, you can easily remove any bacteria that might be on the cucumber. However, detergents or sprays are superfluous.
If you buy organic cucumbers, you can avoid many pesticides. Because synthetic sprays are forbidden in organic farming. The organic seal provides orientation.

cucumber is healthy

The cucumber is a summer vegetable: its main season  is between July and September. Whether peeled or not: Cucumbers are tasty and also help to improve the fluid balance on hot days. Because they consist mainly of water.

The nutrients of 100 g of cucumber:

12 calories of energy
0.2 grams of fat
0.6 g proteins
1.8 grams of carbohydrates
0.5 g fiber

Tip: Sliced ​​cucumbers taste good with a dip or in a salad, for example.

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Pumpkin Time: When Does Pumpkin Season Actually Start?

It’s starting again: Pumpkin season starts as early as August, the fruit is available almost everywhere from September and pumpkin season reaches its peak in October. However, the different varieties have different seasons – and they do not all store equally well…

Like so many other things, the pumpkin is not a German or European fruit: Seafarers brought the seeds of the pumpkin to Europe and it is now native to many gardens here – you can find tips on how to plant a pumpkin in the article. In addition to the increasing popularity of Halloween, the vegetarian-vegan cooking trend in particular is likely to have contributed to the pumpkin boom.

Ornamental pumpkins are used by many as decoration in autumn. Because of the sweet and at the same time nutty taste, it is also valued for rich, filling and yet not high-calorie pumpkin soups and for curry dishes. It is rich in vitamins, potassium, zinc and other nutrients, and the yellow varieties are also rich in carotene. But when is pumpkin actually in season?

When is pumpkin season?

The pumpkin likes it hot and sunny. The pumpkins are planted from the end of April to mid-May; from June it will be too late again. Pumpkins that are then planted will no longer come to fruition.

The pumpkin season starts at the end of July at the earliest, typically at the end of late summer in August.
Pumpkin season peaks in the fall months of September and October and lasts until frost.

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Toast is Unhealthier Than Bread: Does That Also Apply to Wholemeal Toast?

Because toast is considered unhealthy, more and more people are now turning to normal bread. Could whole grain toast be a healthier alternative to buttered toast? How does it compare to real whole wheat bread?

Fresh from the toaster for breakfast or as a juicy sandwich in between – toast bread is popular and versatile. However, toast has been criticized for some time: Compared to normal bread, it is unhealthy. Wholemeal toast, on the other hand, enjoys a better image, after all it contains the whole grain. We explain how butter toast, wholemeal toast and normal (wholemeal) bread compare.

This is what toast is made of

Every conventional bread contains flour, water, yeast and usually also salt. This applies to mixed rye bread from the bakery as well as to rolls from the discounter – and also to packaged toast.

Unlike conventional bread, toast bread also contains a whole range of other ingredients: in addition to fat and sugar, it often also contains milk, soy and numerous additives such as acidity regulators, acidifiers, emulsifiers, stabilizers, preservatives and enzymes.

In a nutshell:

Toast contains more additives, making it a more processed product than regular bread.
Toast bread provides significantly less fiber and is therefore less full.
At the same time, it contains significantly more sugar and fat than conventional bread.

Is Wholemeal Toast a Healthier Alternative?

The industry has now responded to consumer demand: in addition to classic butter toast, most supermarkets and brands also offer wholemeal toast products. These are considered healthier because they contain whole grains.

The Bavarian Consumer Advice Center states in a comparison of butter and wholemeal toast:

Wholemeal toast contains significantly more fiber than regular toast. As a result, it has a better satiety value than buttered toast.
Therefore, fewer slices of whole grain toast fill you up, which means you need fewer spreads that are high in sugar and fat.
A breakfast with whole grain toast therefore tends to be healthier as it is lower in sugar and fat than one with conventional buttered toast.

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Preparing Green Tea: This is How it Does Not Become Bitter

Preparing green tea takes a lot of learning: you have to pay attention to a few things when it comes to the infusion and the temperature so that the green tea doesn’t become bitter and the desired effect occurs.

Green tea is said to have many positive effects on the metabolism, fat burning and the immune system. Since it contains caffeine, it also wakes you up and is better tolerated than coffee.

If you want to prepare green tea in the traditional Japanese way, there are a lot of things to consider: the type of tea, the brewing time, the water quality, the temperature and the amount of tea. The teapot can also affect the taste.

Preparing green tea: that’s what matters

The water temperature and brewing time are particularly important when preparing green tea. If it brews too long, it becomes bitter. If it is too short, it hardly tastes good. If the water is too hot, good ingredients such as antioxidants or tanning agents are dissolved. If the water is too cold, these substances are not bound in the water and your tea has no effect.

For a good green tea you have to pay attention to the following:

Use low lime water
Brewing time: Depends on the type of tea, but no longer than three minutes
Water temperature: depending on the type of tea between 60 and 90 degrees Celsius
Amount of tea: 1 -2 teaspoons loose tea or 1 tea bag (approx. 10 g)
Amount of water: depending on the type of tea, one cup to one pot
In most cases, the packaging states how much tea needs to be brewed, for how long and at what degrees.

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Lifestyle

What Tasks Does a Professional Cleaning Company Take On?

A clean building and a well-kept outdoor area leave a good impression on customers, business partners, and visitors. Regular cleaning also helps to maintain the value of the property. But it can take a lot of time. That is why many companies, but also private property owners, hire professional cleaning companies or companies to clean their buildings once or regularly.

Areas of activity: These tasks are carried out by a cleaning company

In the private sphere, many people hire domestic help or a cleaning lady to do various household chores for them, such as dusting or doing laundry. It is advisable for companies to hire cleaning companies to clean and care for the interior and exterior surfaces. The service providers take on various tasks, for example:

  • basic cleaning
  • maintenance cleaning
  • glass cleaning
  • construction cleaning

Some cleaning companies even offer complete packages. For example, at the HITECH building management company, it is possible to link the cleaning service with the caretaker service. Customers thus receive all services from a single source. Information on the service package of the cleaning company can be found on Titech.net. The company guarantees high-quality building cleaning and professional service.

Basic cleaning

Basic cleaning is an intensive cleaning measure that property owners can take advantage of, for example, in the case of very heavy soiling. In commercial properties, the basic cleaning includes, among other things, the thorough cleaning of

  • Floors and surfaces (hard floors, carpets, and other floor coverings),
  • windows and window sills,
  • furnishings and
  • sanitary facilities (removal of dirt, limescale, and rust).

Many cleaning companies also offer special cleaning work such as cleaning machines.

Maintenance cleaning

Unlike the basic cleaning, the maintenance cleaning is carried out regularly (daily, weekly or monthly). The maintenance cleaning is suitable for industrial companies, administration, and office buildings, kindergartens, schools, hospitals as well as office and residential buildings. The services may vary depending on the cleaning company. Customer requirements also play a role. Essentially, the following cleaning measures are included in maintenance cleaning:

  • Wipe down tables and desks
  • Empty ashtrays and waste bins
  • Clean tools (keyboard, monitor).
  • Dust lampshades
  • Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher
  • Clean and disinfect waiting room and treatment rooms
  • Maintain kitchen (sink, handles, shelves, etc.)
  • Clean sanitary area
  • Vacuum, sweep, or wipe floors
  • Clean hallway and stairwell

After consultation with the customer, many cleaning companies also carry out more specialized cleaning work such as window and carpet cleaning at regular intervals. In addition, many companies take over the regular maintenance of the outdoor area on request. They remove leaves from driveways and green areas, sweep paths, clean terraces and outdoor furniture, and much more.

Glass cleaning

Business partners, customers, and visitors often look first at the glass surfaces and windows of a building. It is all the more important that they are cleaned regularly. Various cleaning methods and cleaning agents are used in professional glass cleaning.

Professional glass cleaning includes, among other things, the cleaning of

  • windows (with or without frames),
  • shop windows,
  • glass roofs,
  • glass blocks,
  • glass doors and glass partitions,
  • industrial glazing.

Regular cleaning and care of the glass surfaces are particularly important if they have a representative meaning in addition to the functional one. This applies to doors and windows as well as to glass roofs and glass blocks.

Glass cleaning should only be carried out by a cleaning company that knows exactly how glass surfaces and windows have to be cleaned professionally. The issue of safety also plays a major role. Before carrying out the glass cleaning work, the company must determine within the framework of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG), which can be accessed at Laws-in-Internet.de, which occupational health and safety measures are required (e.g. accident prevention, skin protection).

Construction cleaning

The basis for the timely detection of construction defects before the building acceptance is a professionally executed, thorough building cleaning. All surfaces from the roof to the basement are thoroughly cleaned. The ten most common construction defects that often occur in one- and two-family houses are summarized on Bsb-ev.de.

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FODMAPs: How Does the Low-fodmap Diet Work?

Avoiding so-called FODMAPs can help against abdominal pain, flatulence and diarrhea. But what are these fodmaps anyway? And how does a (low) fodmap diet work?

First of all, the question of whether it means “Fodmaps” or “Foodmaps”: Fodmaps have nothing to do with the word “food” – FODMAP actually comes from English and is an abbreviation for fermentable oligo-, di- and monosaccharides and (English: and) polyols. But what is that exactly?

FODMAPs are fermentable polysaccharides

FODMAPs are dietary components that occur naturally in food or are added through food production. Today, the term stands for fermentable multiple sugars, double sugars (such as lactose), simple sugars (such as fructose) and sugar alcohols (sweeteners).

Fermentable means that the sugars can be fermented by intestinal bacteria: This can lead to bloating and flatulence. Important: Fodmaps are neither toxic nor dangerous, but they can be involved in digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome.

What do fodmaps do?

They have three things in common:

The absorption of the fodmaps in the small intestine is difficult or even impossible. Possible reasons for this are:
The molecules are too big and cannot fit through the intestinal wall.
The transport systems of the intestinal wall are not sufficient. This is the case, for example, with fructose.
The necessary digestive enzymes are not available – or not in sufficient quantities.
Fodmaps bind water: As a result, a lot of liquid collects in the intestine and the stool becomes softer or diarrhea occurs.
When Fodmaps enter the colon, they are fermented by the colon bacteria. Because they are short-chain, this process does not take much time and gas and flatulence develop after a short time.
These three characteristics mean that Fodmaps can cause some people to experience the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome: abdominal pain, bloating or diarrhea. Anyone suffering from irritable bowel syndrome suffers chronically from these symptoms.

Low Fodmap Diet: How It Works

The (low) fodmap diet is a concept for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome originally developed by Australian scientists, which you can read about here. Avoiding these substances improves the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.

In this diet, mainly foods that contain little of it are eaten. Fodmaps-rich foods, on the other hand, are avoided. One study showed that the diet significantly improved bloating, flatulence, stool consistency and abdominal pain in those affected by irritable bowel syndrome who took part in the study.

In the first phase of the (low) Fodmap diet, Fodmap-rich foods are completely avoided for six to eight weeks. If it becomes apparent during this time that the symptoms are significantly improving or normalizing, a long-term diet without these substances can make sense.

In the second phase of the diet, various Fodmap-rich foods are tested for their individual tolerability: a food rich in it is eaten in increasing amounts for three to four days to find out what amount is tolerated. A week later, the next food is tested. This systematic testing makes it possible to find out which Fodmap-containing foods trigger symptoms. These foods should be avoided in the future.

The goal of the diet is to find a diet that reduces symptoms and improves quality of life – without major dietary restrictions.

Who is the (low) fodmap diet suitable for?

This diet is particularly suitable for people who suffer from bloating, loose stools or diarrhea in combination with abdominal pain or cramps. This mostly affects patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Important: The (low) fodmap diet does not cure irritable bowel syndrome – it does help to avoid foods that cause stomach problems.

The (low) fodmap diet can also be helpful for people with fructose, lactose or sorbitol intolerance. The low-fodmap diet can also relieve abdominal pain and improve the consistency of the stool in patients with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases or celiac disease.

Fodmap list: Which foods contain fodmaps?

The (low) fodmap diet is not about eating entirely without: but the diet should be low in these substances. Unfortunately, you can neither taste nor see them. However, food can be classified according to the amount it contains.

However, the information is more of a rough guide: Anyone who eats a low-fodmap diet should test the individually tolerable amounts of appropriate foods (see the following lists).

Fodmap list vegetables

These vegetables are high in:

artichoke
cauliflower
beans
Chicory
Peas
spring onions (white part)
garlic
leek (white part)
lenses
Mushrooms
Beetroot
celery
soy
asparagus
savoy
onions

Fodmap list fruits

These fruits contain a lot of:

Apple
apricot
pear
blackberry
date
currants
cherries
mango
nectarine
peach
plum
watermelon
plums
fruit preserves
fruit juices

Cereal products fodmap list

These grain products are high in:

barley
rye
Wheat
bread
cereals
couscous
pastries
Grit
pasta

Fodmap list of dairy products

These dairy products are high in:

buttermilk
cream cheese
cottage cheese
yogurt
condensed milk
margarine
mascarpone
milk
milk ice cream
cream
sour cream

Other fodmap-rich foods

These foods are high in:

agave syrup
cashew nuts
fructose syrup
honey
Ketchup
pistachios
milk chocolate
Wine & sparkling wine (semi-sweet, sweet)
sugar substitutes

Low fodmap vegetables

aubergine
broccoli
Chinese cabbage
fennel
spring onion (green part)
green runner beans
cucumber
Ginger
carrot
Potato
Kohlrabi
Chickpeas
pumpkin
Leek (green part)
chard
olives
paprika
parsnip
Parsely
radish
Cauliflower
beets
salad
chives
bean sprouts
spinach
tomato
zucchini

Low fodmap fruits

pineapple
banana
blueberry
clementine
strawberry
Grapefruit
raspberries
honeydew melon
kiwi
lime
tangerine
orange
rhubarb
bunch of grapes
lemon

Low fodmap grain products

buckwheat
Spelt
Oats
millet
Corn
polenta
quinoa
rice
Popcorn
gluten free products
rice noodles

Low Fodmap dairy products

lactose-free milk
lactose-free dairy products
Brie
butter
Camembert
Cheddar
feta
hard cheese
coconut milk
Mozzarella
Parmesan
soy milk

Other low fodmap foods

maple syrup
dark chocolate
eggs
Vinegar
Fish
fish sauce
chicken meat
coconut
lamb meat
jam
seafood
olive oil
vegetable oil
rapeseed oil
beef
pork meat
Mustard
soy sauce
sherbet
tofu
Turkey
wine (dry)
sugar
sugar syrup

Both overviews come from the “Nutrition guide for the FODMAP diet” recommended by the German Irritable Bowel Aid Association. If you are looking for more information and tips, it is worth taking a look at the book.

In general, with irritable bowel syndrome, it makes sense to clarify the symptoms with a doctor and to discuss the change in diet with a nutritionist.

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