The Low-FODMAP Eating regimen for Inexperienced persons: A 7-Day Plan to Beat Bloat and Soothe Your Intestine with Recipes for Quick IBS Aid

Perfect beginner’s guide
This book is succinct and easy to understand without going into academic explanations of biochemistry… I am finding it so helpful, have tried some of the recipes; and have marked many more to try. Best of all, the diet is really making a difference in my symptoms, and I am thankful to be feeling better!

Not just a cookbook
This cookbook is very informative, it gives you the steps to identify foods that trigger stomach symptoms so that you can eliminate them from your daily diet. It starts of with a meal plan to eliminate foods and the recipes are easy to follow.

Great introductory info, but it doesn’t take its own advice
TLDR: I would recommend this book, to expand your recipe repertoire (especially for the price) but you can’t follow the recommended meal plan to the letter if you’re a beginner so it’s not what I thought it was and what I needed.
The short version is that it has a lot of good info about IBS, FODMAPs and the overall diet and “challenging” process, but my issue is with some of the recipes in the meal plan, which is the main reason why I got this book. I needed some guidance because everything I know how to cook has FODMAP ingredients in it, and I didn’t want to have to hunt for recipes and put together a meal plan that worked.
The book recommends using the Monash University app to help figure out what is acceptable to eat, because they are the pioneers of the FODMAP diet. However, the book doesn’t follow its own advice during the preliminary stages of starting the FODMAP diet, before the “challenge” stage. Theoretically, you’re supposed to start with ONLY stuff that is definitely low FODMAP, so that you can cleanse your system out. THEN 3-4 weeks later, you challenge to see what your unique tolerance is for each of the FODMAPs. The problem is that there are several recipes in the book’s week 1 starting meal plan that ask you to make something that has ingredients which (according to the Monash app) are only “green” if you have a small amount (cabbage, or unripe bananas), are borderline “yellow” (zucchini) or are actually “red” in the app (blueberries). This makes it really hard to follow the diet if you’re a beginner and don’t know what your sensitivities are yet and these recipes terrible choices for the beginning stages of the diet, when you’re trying to figure it all out. Maybe the author can eat small amounts of blueberries, and cabbage and all that, but not everyone can, so having these in your first week of trying the diet defeats the purpose.
Also, a side note, they have ridiculous amounts of food to buy in the first week and it’s really expensive obscure stuff. If you’re cooking for one, you will end up with tons of food (especially fresh produce that you can’t freeze) that you won’t be able to eat before it starts to spoil. Then there are tons of leftovers, and you end up eating the same thing for 3 meals. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid because as you may know, high quantities of the same low FODMAP food may shift it from a low to a medium or to high FODMAP if you have “too much” at once. There are also typos in the shopping list. You end up with a couple of items that you will not use and you’ll get to some recipes that call for something that wasn’t on the list.
I really wanted to give the book 5 stars, because it’s pretty good in that it has some recipes that are INCREDIBLY helpful and tasty (Fish and Chips, how to make your own ketchup, salad dressing, pesto, etc.). However, some are kind of obvious, and I didn’t need a cookbook to tell me how to make (a basic salad, and grilled veggies?? are you serious?). It wasn’t too expensive and I would recommend it if you’re looking to expand your recipes, especially your sauces, dips, dressings and deserts because the store-bought versions usually have onion and/or garlic in them.

Essential for everyone who loves cooking and eating delicious and healthy!
I don’t give more stars because I can’t 🙂
I found this book looking for a way to reduce some GI issues. The intro and info about the FODMAP plan is excellent as well as the 7 day kick-off plan. However, my favorite part are the recipes!! (that thankfully make up most of the book). Everything is so healthy, simple to prepare and just delicious. Of course there are some uncommon ingredients, but nothing you cannot find at Whole Foods or alike. Molly typically also gives tips about how to modify the recipe, so in many cases she gives you the basic one and then you can take it from there with different toppings, seasoning, etc.
I do recommend this book to absolutely everyone – not matter if your gut is healthy or not. But if not, the plan in this book should help too.

Tengo el SIBO y necesitaba apoyo para mantener la dieta bajo fodmap y ese libro es todo un compañero. Es fácil de leer, recetas fáciles de hacer y saben muy bien. Con ese libro no cuesta hacer dieta! Lo recomiendo 100%.

Being a beginner to fodmap and not having a clue I’ve found this book basic enough for me to understand and actually use. Everything’s been thought through and well set out. I bought the kindle edition but was able to print off the various trackers and food lists needed with the provided link. Thank you for including that excellent detail. Being an Aussie and an American book there were a few terms and foods I couldn’t understand but a quick google soon had me identify the foods which was no problem for me.