Low-FODMAP Vegetables To Enjoy this Fall for a Healthy Diet
The arrival of fall means also brings us more fruits and vegetables for a healthy diet. While some traditional cool-weather foods like bread and fruit pies may be off-limits, there are plenty of culinary reasons to celebrate the low FODMAP vegetables of autumn. Lean into the many low-FODMAP fall vegetables there are to enjoy.
When gluten-free eating isn’t enough to reduce all those nasty digestive symptoms of celiac, many turn to low-FODMAP foods as a solution. It’s easy to see why. The term is an acronym for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols. They’re usually carbohydrates with high sugar alcohols that can result in stomach pain and bloating. Low-FODMAP foods can help heal gut damage and are delicious. Read on for a list of some of the best of these foods fall has to offer.
Greens
Cooler weather is when greens begin to shine. While arugula may be on the wane, bok choy, collard greens, and kale are perfect this time of year. All sorts of low-FODMAP lettuce (butter lettuce, red romaine, radicchio) are coming to farmers’ markets near you. It’s also easy to find spinach and Swiss chard. If you’re so inclined, you can grow your own greens at home in a container without much effort. If salad seems too much like a summer food, think again. Try a hearty wilted spinach salad with roasted potatoes for the best of both worlds.
Winter Squash
Despite being called winter squash, these delicious vegetables are available right now. Spaghetti squash, butternut squash, pattypan, pumpkin, and zucchini are all ready for harvest. They’re perfect for roasting, steaming, stuffing, and stewing. Spaghetti squash is great prepared with a marinara sauce for anyone who misses spaghetti. A pumpkin pie is not out of the question if you can concoct a gluten-free crust. Just don’t overdo it: Pumpkin is considered a low-FODMAP food only in small amounts.
Root Vegetables
When sweater season begins, one of the first places we feel it is in the kitchen. Now’s the time for roasting, braising, and steaming. Root vegetables are delicious roasted with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Carrots, celeriac, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, and rutabaga are all fantastic steamed. You can also mash or puree them into creamy soups.
Cruciferous Veggies
Fall is prime time for these superfood vegetables. Brussels sprouts, broccolini, and kohlrabi are mature and ready to harvest now. Some people may object to the strong flavors associated with some of these vegetables, but this is usually because they haven’t prepared them well. With a bit of experimenting, these may become your favorite vegetables. Kohlrabi is wonderful raw in salads or slaws, and Brussels sprouts are best roasted in a pan or the oven.
Fruits
Straying a little from vegetables, it’s worth mentioning that some of the best low-FODMAP treats are harvested in fall. A low-FODMAP diet forbids many fruits, but there are some exceptions. Cantaloupe and passionfruit are at the tail-end of their harvests right now. Citrus, however, is coming into full swing. Clementines, lemons, limes, mandarins, oranges, and tangelos are hitting the grocer’s shelves now and are all acceptable fruits on this diet. Prickly pears, if you can find them, are another delicious treat that’s acceptable.
Eating low-FODMAP foods can feel a bit restrictive, but it can also give you a reason to try some fruits and vegetables that weren’t on your radar before. With a limited diet, one of the keys to feeling satisfied is experimentation, so get out there and enjoy all that fall harvests have to offer.
