Diet Tips:Low FODMAP Vegetarian Frittata

By Monica Rundle (Student Dietitian) & Lyndal McNamara (Dietitian)

National Nutrition Week is almost here and this year's theme is 'Try for 5'- which challenges all Australians to look for new ways to incorporate 5 serves of vegetables into their everyday diet. This simple vegetarian frittata recipe provides 3 or your 5 daily serves of vegetables per portion and is a quick, healthy lunch or dinner option that the whole family will enjoy!

Top tip- Use leftover cooked/roasted low FODMAP vegetables from a meal earlier in the week to make your frittata! This will make dinner preparation even faster and is a great way to reduce food wastage.

Serves 4

 

Ingredients

·         ½ medium sweet potato, cubed

·         2 tbsp. olive oil

·         1 tsp. paprika

·         3 spring onions (green tops only), chopped

·         1 bunch of broccoli, chopped

·         1 medium zucchini, grated

·         5 eggs

·         Dash of lactose-free milk (or other low FODMAP milk alternative)

·         ½ cup mixed herbs (basil/parsley)

·         4 tbsp. chives 

·         ¼ cup Danish feta

·         Salt and pepper to taste

Method

 

Step 1	Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Toss sweet potato in half of the oil and paprika, place on lined baking tray. Roast in oven for 45 minutes of until tender
Step 2	Heat the remaining oil in a large 22cm ovenproof frying pan over medium heat.  Sauté spring onion and once softened, add the broccoli stirring occasionally until charred. Add zucchini; cook for 2 minutes or until softened. Remove from heat.
Step 3	Combine eggs, milk and mixed herbs in a food processor. Process until herbs are finely chopped and egg mixture is fluffy.
Step 4	Once cooked, add the roasted sweet potato to the broccoli mixture within the frying pan, and turn heat back to medium.  Add the egg mixture to the frying pan and stir until well combined. Sprinkle with feta and chives and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook for 8 minutes of until the egg mixture has mostly set.
Step 5	In the meantime, preheat the grill on high. Place the frying pan under the grill and grill until golden brown and egg mixture is set. Top with rocket salad (see below for recipe).

Rocket Salad

 

Serves 4

 

Ingredients

·         2 cups rocket

·         1 cup baby spinach leaves

·         ½ medium avocado

·         ¼ cup black pitted olives

·         3 tbsp. olive oil

·         1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

·         Pinch of salt and pepper

Method

Step 1

Add salad ingredients to a bowl. To make dressing, add oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to a jar. Shake well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Add to salad, toss and serve with frittata.

Nutrition Information/serve:

Energy	1791kJ
Protein	13.6g
Fat	35.0g
Saturated fat	6.3g
Carbohydrates	11.8g
Dietary fibre	6.6g
Sodium	266mg

 

Diet Tips:FODMAP Stacking – can I overeat “green” foods??

By Dr Jaci Barrett (Dietitian)

 

With the increasing amount of detail we share with you via our Monash University low FODMAP diet app, we are getting more and more questions about FODMAP stacking. Green foods on the app are low FODMAP and are therefore suitable on a low FODMAP diet, but more detail is provided in the app for some low FODMAP foods, where we reveal an upper limit serving size when the food then becomes red and therefore high FODMAP.

Broccoli and zucchini are good examples of this:

 

 

A standard serve of broccoli is ½ cup, which is low FODMAP and suitable for a low FODMAP diet. But you can see further details are given, revealing that large servings, >1 cup, contain high levels of the oligosaccharides and sorbitol.

For zucchini, a standard serve is ½ cup, also low in FODMAPs, with large servings >100g, high in fructans.

The important thing to know is that not all greenfoods have upper limit serving sizes. Most greenfoods are low FODMAP, even in very large serves. If there is no upper limit noted in the app, then you can safely eat a large amount. This is the case for vegetables such as carrot. Eggplant is green, but when you click on it you will see that very large quantities are amberdue to a moderate amount of sorbitol.

 

The questions that come with this information are around FODMAP stacking. Can I eat ½ cup broccoli, ½ cup zucchini and 1 cup of eggplant all of which are green in these quantities? Are they still green if consumed together in the one sitting? Is there an additive effect?

For the vast majority of IBS patients following a low FODMAP diet, this sort of example will be tolerated. Even if the total FODMAP content goes above the green limit, most people manage to eat amber and even the lower limit of red serves of foods. Should you FODMAP stack during the initial 4 week strict low FODMAP dietary trial? You should feel comfortable eating reasonable portions of greenfoods in one sitting, but don’t be disheartened if you eat a larger amount. It will not undo all your good work. Most people won’t get symptoms from these type of foods. It’s the really high FODMAP foods that create the most havoc, such as onions, dried legumes and pears.

 

For foods with upper limit serving sizes, you can modify your meals to ensure your serving size is controlled. Broccoli soup is unlikely to be well tolerated if it is made purely out of broccoli and you eat 2 cups of it. But a modification of the recipe to bulk the broccoli out with parsnip, potato and carrot (all of which are green regardless of how much you eat), the end result will be a low FODMAP broccoli soup. Similarly, if you consider using zucchini strips as a pasta replacement, you just might want to watch how much you use. Keep it to a small zucchini (<100g), add your low FODMAP pasta sauce and serve it with a low FODMAP red cabbage (amber but OK if you don’t eat too much) and parmesan salad – YUM! Recipe coming in the following weeks!

In the end, we want you to remember that a low FODMAP diet should include green and amberfoods (and for some people even some redfoods). So, you can consume larger servings of foods that may bring them into moderate or high FODMAP levels as long as you don’t experience any nasty symptoms. The diet should be relaxed over time and we hope that the detailed information we share with you through the app will help you to achieve this.

We are more than happy to provide some guidance with further FODMAP stacking questions. What sort of food combinations have you been concerned about? Post them on facebook and we will provide some guidance on whether they are OK, and how you could modify your meal to lower the FODMAP content.

Diet Tips:Dietary Fibre Series - Resistant Starch

By Dr Jaci Barrett 

This is part 4 of our series on dietary fibre. This week we’re talking about resistant starch! 

What is resistant starch?

As suggested by the name, resistant starch is starch that escapes digestion by the small intestine. There are four types of resistant starch:

• RS1 is not accessible by digestive enzymes – sources include partially milled grains and legumes
• RS2 escapes digestion because of the nature of the food – sources include underripe bananas and high-amylose starches
• RS3 is produced when foods are cooked and then cooled – sources include bread, tortillas, cooked then cooled potatoes, rice and pasta
• RS4 is a chemically modified starch

What does resistant starch do in the gut?

Resistant starch and other types of fibre move through the gut to the large intestine where they act as food for the gut bacteria. Resistant starch acts as a prebiotic – see previous blog post in this series ---link. Fermentation of resistant starch releases beneficial short chain fatty acids which promote a healthy colon.

Resistant starch is slowly fermented in the large intestine. It differs from FODMAPs due to this slow fermentation rate. FODMAPs are rapidly fermented and result in rapid increases in intestinal gas which, in IBS, can induce symptoms of pain, bloating and discomfort. 

Resistant starch is slowly fermented over time. The gradual release of gas does not result in the same degree of gaseous distension and discomfort as with FODMAPs.

What are some good food sources?

Food sources of the different subtypes of resistant starch are listed above, but the following table outlines the amount of resistant starch per serve in foods with a green low FODMAP serve, so that you can seek out high resistant starch foods to include in your diet to improve bowel health.

Food	Resistant Starch (g)
Underripe banana, 1 medium	4.7
Rolled oats, 1/4 cup, uncooked	4.4
Oats, 1 cup, cooked	0.5
Lentils, 1/2 cup, cooked	3.4
Hi-maize resistant starch, 1 tablespoon	4.5

Reference: Murphy MM, Douglass JS, Birkett A. Resistant starch intakes in the United States. J Am Diet Assoc. 2008;108(1):67-78.