Of the millions of people in the United States, about 1% have Celiac Disease and 15% have IBS. A Low-FODMAP diet has been proven to help those people with tolerating food. Caitlin's mom is one of the 15% of Americans with IBS. Her mom follows this diet because it is a coping method.
A Low-FODMAP diet removes lactose, gluten, fructose, and many other ingredients from people's diets because certain diseases cause these foods to create problems when they are ingested. This includes irritable bowel syndrome and problems digesting foods in general. Common problem-causing ingredients are gluten, dairy, mushrooms, garlic, and onion. Being a relatively new lifestyle, many nutritionists and doctors do not know much, if anything, about this diet.
The Michigan Council of Women in Technology's annual web design competition has allowed us to bring awareness to the Low-FODMAP diet and several yummy recipes that follow it. This year's theme is "Food! Glorious Food!" which is perfect for showing off Low-FODMAP recipes.
This diet does not just affect Caitlin's mother, but her family as well. The substitutes for gluten would be components similar to almond flour or powder, of which Caitlin is allergic to, causing the food in their house to be extremely selective. By partnering with Caitlin for MCWT's web design competition, Olivianne has discovered her mom may need to be on the Low-FODMAP diet. Her mom can learn the diet and maybe get some relief from these pain-causing foods.
We have chosen three recipes to share because they are some of the most common foods that people miss when they start the Low-FODMAP diet. The three foods we have decided to share are potato soup, pizza, and cupcakes.