Low FODMAP Spaghetti with Roast Tomatoes, Courgettes, Mozzarella and Pine Nuts

To me, there is nothing better in the world than a big bowl of spaghetti. This is one of our regular midweek meals as it is incredible, tastes great and is full of lovely vegetables.

We add bacon in because my boyfriend has an unhealthy obsession with it, but it can easily be left out if you prefer it.

Ingredients

• Gluten free spaghetti
• Streaky bacon
• Baby plum tomatoes
• Brown sugar
• Courgettes
• Lemon
• Pine nuts (less than 10 per person to keep low fodmap)
• Olive oil
• Buffalo mozzarella

Method

1. Heat your oven to 180c and chop your tomatoes in half
2. Lay the tomatoes in a glass oven-proof dish with olive oil and a little bit of brown sugar on top
3. Put in the oven for 45 minutes or until the tomatoes have become roasted and saucey
4. Meanwhile core the courgettes, discarding the seeds, then slice them into thin strips and chop your bacon into small pieces
5. Fry your bacon in a frying pan until crispy and set aside
6. When your tomatoes have around 15 minutes left, boil your kettle for the pasta
7. Put your spaghetti in a large pan and boil according to packet instructions, add a little salt to the water and keep stirring throughout to avoid the spaghetti sticking together
8. Take your frying pan and fry your courgettes on a medium heat with salt and pepper and the juice of half a lemon
9. Add your pine nuts to the pan for the last minute to toast and take off heat
10. When your spaghetti is cooked take half a cup of the cooking water out of the pan and drain
11. Remove your tomatoes from the oven and stir into your pasta along with the courgettes and bacon
12. If the spaghetti needs it, add some of the starchy cooking water
13. Divide onto plates, rip up your mozzarella and place on top of pasta
14. Serve and enjoy!

When to stop taking dietary advice from strangers on the internet

Last week I wrote how helpful I had found the digestively disadvantaged community, through various FODMAP friendly social media groups and blogs I had discovered.

This week, I am writing about how unhelpful this community can also be.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that all advice from strangers on the internet is bad, but what I am starting to realise is that pretty much everyone has an opinion on your diet. And quite often, they will be wrong and leave you will conflicting and confusing information.

My favourite Facebook group, ‘FODMAP UK‘, is full of lovely people who go out of their way to answer peoples questions on everything from ‘is this cake from Tesco okay to eat?’ to ‘will this pain ever stop?!’ and it’s great, it’s so nice to know that there are so many people going through the same thing as you and different ways to deal with it.

However alongside this, I have also noticed people constantly telling others what food they react badly to and as a result to ‘be wary of potatoes/bacon/gluten free pasta/gluten free bread/cheese/that dodgy looking mouse in the corner… etc.

Everyone’s diet is different, you may be able to eat all the gluten free pasta in the world and be fine whilst ‘Maryfodmapfreeforlife55’ may react terribly to it, that doesn’t mean you should base your diet on hers, or anyone else’s.

I understand that people want to help, and if they react badly to potato skin they think that someone else might also, but as a newbie to the diet this information can be overwhelming and worrying. If you are new to the diet and have suddenly been bombarded with a whole new list of banned food from strangers on the internet, on top of the fodmap banned list, please take the advice with a pinch of salt and remember everyone is different.

Follow your dietician’s advice, research registered and qualified dietician’s advice on the internet and keep a log of what food you can’t tolerate. Don’t try and follow every one else’s diet, you will ultimately end up miserable and hungry.

Week 1 – Fodmap elimination, so far so good

I started my first week of this diet probably not in the most prepared manner possible as I had just got back from a pretty exhausting bank holiday weekend with five of my best friends in Cornwall.

However, my lovely boyfriend was luckily more prepared than I and had been fodmap friendly shopping in preparation.

I wasn’t looking forward to this diet at all but so far I’ve got on with it really well. Tom (my boyfriend) and I have come up with some really lovely recipes and I’ve enjoyed every single meal. I was mostly worried that the food would be really bland but this hasn’t been the case, yet.

Instead of trawling round the supermarkets armed with the little NHS Fodmap guides, we did a Tesco shop online which was so much quicker and meant I knew exactly what I could eat without having to search through the shelves. Just make sure to tick ‘no substitutions’ on your delivery, or you will probably end up with non fodmap food in place of your chosen items.

I haven’t finished the first week so don’t want to speak too soon, but unbelievably after years and years and years of being in pain every time I’ve eaten, I’ve been nearly symptom free this week.

Hopefully this will continue, cause I can imagine having this restrictive of a diet and not feeling any better would be pretty much torture.

The best thing I have discovered this week has been a group on Facebook which is full on information and guidance that I have been reading all week, without actually commenting to say hello to anyone yet (how rude). Newbies to Fodmap I would recommend joining, along with taking a look at the below blogs/sites:

Fodmap UK Facebook group 

FODMAP Freedom – great blog with lovely recipes

Living Happy with IBS – another great blog with simple recipes and good info on Fodmap in general

I will be posting some of the recipes I’ve had this week shortly to show you can have delicious food even whilst on the strict elimination diet.