What qualifies as a “healthy substitution”?
Alright, guys. I’m about to get real for a second...
Next week, I’ll be making three recipes with healthy substitutions as part of my “Food”-related goals for September. And yesterday, I posted some recipe inspiration.
In most cases, a “healthy substitution” is just a vegetable substituting for some less healthy ingredient, like butter or oil. (You can find a giant list here.) But when deciding what the healthier option is for you, it’s important to pay attention to your body.
Because a lot of the foods used in these recipes -- like avocado, chickpeas, and cauliflower -- might upset a sensitive stomach.
Why? Because they contain these annoying little things called “fodmaps.”
Fodmaps are short-chained carbohydrates that can be poorly absorbed in the lower intestine. In other words... actually, I have no other words to explain them, because I still don’t fully understand what they are.
But I decided to learn about them because...
I have a sensitive stomach, which is basically a more ladylike way of saying “IBS.”
I know this because I went to my doctor, tried to hedge my hypochondriac tendencies by saying “I know it’s not IBS, but--,” and described my symptoms. The doctor shrugged and said, “Sounds like IBS to me.”
I used to think of IBS as something that plagued old, fat men. But I assure you, I am not an old, fat man. Exhibit A. Here I am meeting Jason Segel (also not an old, fat man), as a young, regular-sized woman:
(I’m sure Jason would love to know that his image has been used on a blog post repeatedly referencing “IBS.” Hopefully, weirder things have happened.)
Why is all this important? Because if you also have a sensitive stomach, you should know there are solutions.
I was surprised to learn that I would never be able to guess which foods were high in fodmaps. For instance, apples are bad, but oranges are good. Asparagus is bad, but green beans are a-okay.
I used to unknowingly consume a high-fodmap diet filled with apples, hummus, yogurt, cereal, and various soy products. I thought these were healthy foods -- and they are -- but they just weren’t right for my body. But even though I knew I’d feel better if I eliminated everything, I just couldn’t do it.
So, I started slow: I switched apples for bananas and meat for soy products (sorry, vegetarians), but kept indulgences that were really important to me, like yogurt and ice cream. And surprisingly, I felt significantly better.
What does this mean for your “healthy substitution” recipes?
In some cases, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Because a lot of the ingredients you’d be substituting for -- like milk and butter -- are also high in fodmaps.
But, as always, every person’s body is different.
There’s a chance that some foods bother you more than others. The trick is to try adding or removing a few foods from your diet at a time. It’s a long process with a lot of variables, but my experience has taught me that even the tiniest efforts are often rewarded.
And once you figure out which ones are really bothering you, you’ll know whether the avocado brownies are actually the better choice for you.
Happy cooking and happy eating!