I want to get one thing straight before explaining why garlic in our house is a sore topic. I'm a garlic lover from way back - I have always chopped it up and swallowed it whole at the first sign of a sore throat, added it liberally to sauces and soups and stirfries, made tonics out of it with apple cider vinegar and we even used to pierce our ears as teenagers by rubbing garlic on the skin first to prevent infections.

I grow huge amounts of garlic and I've written about my garlic crops here on Steemit before. I'm a believer, and to reduce the use of garlic, if not stop it, in our household is absolutely devastating for me.

However, because I love my husband far more (although he doesn't taste so good in a stir fry) I have to ban not only garlic, but onions, leeks and all the onion family from our kitchen. This is post is about explaining why that is - but I'm absolutely NOT decided on whether garlic is actually bad for everyone (though I'll explain another facet to the garlic issue in Part 2).

My darling lover suffers so every time we travel - we used to put it down the the local food, the stress of travel. We've been trying to work out for years other gut issues he's suffered - an IBS, we suspected, or a gluten allergy. It's been a matter of constant testing and figuring out what makes him worse and we've never been able to figure out what makes him better - until we discovered the FODMAP diet, accidentally, because my son's girlfriend is a coeliac, and it worked for her.

Fodmaps are types of sugars that are malabsorbed by the gastrointestinal tract or gut. They are triggers for irritable bowel syndrome and they are often poorly absorbed and fermented to produce gas - hence Jamie's stomach bloating even though he's lithe, fit and eats healthy foods. It's actually an acronym - F.ermentable O.ligo-saccharides, Di-saccarides, M.onosaccarides and P.olyols - the following video from Monash University explains it well, and Monash has done a lot of research into it which has been incredibly helpful for us.

The FODMAP app, which costs $12 for one time download, has been invaluable for us travelling - every meal we bring it out and double check whether he can eat that ingredient or not. Bananas are out. No cauliflower or broccoli. No beetroot, asparagus, mushrooms, peas, sweetpotato. No almonds, cashews, pistachios or any kind of beans, including lentils (although sprouted mung beans are fine - thank god, because that's my winter soup!) - no silken tofu, though tofu is okay. No apples, figs, watermelon.

Now some of these things in small amounts, and some folks can eat them whilst others can't at all. We spent a lot of time discussing it - can I eat bananas, he says - I've forgotten. And out comes that app.

However, by far the worst culprit is garlic and onion. In Bali, the conversation goes a little like this:

'Can I have the tuna steak with no garlic or onion?'
'Sorry sir, already in marinade'
'Okay, what about this curry, can I have it no garlic no onion?'
'Sorry sir, already cooked with onion'
'Okay, what about the chicken?'
'Yes, that's okay. Oh, no the vegetables have onion and garlic'
'Can I have it without onion and garlic?'
'Yes, of course'

Then the meal comes out with onion and garlic in it.

Or worse, after going through that entire process, we have to leave the restaurant as they're literally nothing he can eat there - this is rare as he usually will settle for a grilled fish with some fries and steamed vegies (this is while I'm enjoying a tempeh curry, or a nasi campur with an awesome onion and chilli sambal).

There's some ways we can get around the whole onion and garlic issue at home - the fructans in garlic and onion are soluble in water, so soups and sauces are out, but they're not in oil, so oil infused with garlic is okay and you can stir fry it and take it out - hence why nasi goreng (fried rice) has been okay here if Jamie picks the garlic out.

A delicious breakfast of tempeh, mushrooms and garlic with a mild sambal and avocado and fetta - food Jamie can't eat here in Bali. But boy, did I enjoy it!

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However, as inconvenient as it is, it's been so much better travelling this time because it's been so less painful for him and he's had so much more energy.

I've learnt some tricks over the last year for cooking sans onion and garlic. Here are a few:

• Drizzle garlic flavoured oil over the spaghetti before serving up the sauce
• Green spring onion tops are fine - we go through a lot of those!
• Lemon juice and ACV brings out the flavour in foods - we go through a lot of lemons!
• Nutritional yeast is so tasty in some sauces it's easily mistaken for onion powder

We've got used to this diet, although it's really disappointing sometimes when I want to eat at some raw vegan place and there's nothing but cashews in every single meal! You really begin to realise how ubiquitious it is when you can't have it. There is good news though - if he sorts all this out, he can re-introduce and possibly tolerate small amounts of FODMAP foods.

And I have never, ever seen Jamie turn down an almond croissant.

Do you follow a FODMAP diet and have some tricks for us? Do you have IBS and have never considered cutting out garlic and onion?

Please excuse any formatting issues with this post - I'm on the road and it's not easy to do on my phone!

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