If you’ve just discovered the low FODMAP diet, or even if you’ve been following it for a while, you’ve probably found yourself in an online group or comment section asking (or tempted to ask), “Can you tolerate avocados?” or “Do you do okay with apples?” On the surface, these seem like innocent and helpful questions. After all, food is confusing, and you’re just trying to feel better.
But here’s the hard truth: asking other people how they do with a specific food on the low FODMAP diet is not only unhelpful, it can be dangerous to your physical and mental health. Not only can it lead you astray, but it may also make your symptoms worse.
This topic is near and dear to my heart, because I see the havoc it creates every single day in online communities.
To get my point across, here are some other titles, we considered:
- Dear Internet: No One Else’s Gut Works Like Yours
- Your Gut, Your Rules: Why FODMAP Advice from Strangers Can Backfire
- How Asking the Wrong FODMAP Questions Can Keep You Sick
- Someone Else’s Digestion Is Not a Shortcut
- and last but not least: Don’t Follow Their Gut—Follow the Science
Let’s break down why this is such a common trap, and why it’s time to stop crowdsourcing your digestion plan.
- The Low FODMAP Diet Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
- Anecdotes Are Not Evidence
- How Do You Take In Those Anecdotes?
- Anecdotes Can Lead To Disordered Eating
- Your Tolerance Varies by Context
- FODMAPs Vary By Context, Too
- What You Really Need to Ask
- Trust the Science, Not the Crowd
- FODMAP App Entries Are GUIDES, Not Absolutes
- You Are the Experiment
- Listen To Your Body & Dietitian
The Low FODMAP Diet Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
The entire premise of the low FODMAP diet is that it is individualized. The initial Elimination Phase is structured and standardized: you greatly minimize high FODMAP foods for a few weeks to calm symptoms. And even this phase will not look the same for any two people.
What comes next, The Challenge Phase, is where things get even more personal. The goal is to test each FODMAP subgroup (fructose, lactose, fructans x 4, GOS, polyols) in isolation to learn your own unique triggers.
Someone else may tolerate fructose beautifully and eat honey and mangoes with glee. You might get bloated and brain-fogged for days from a quarter of a mango. It doesn’t mean something is wrong with you—it just means you have a different digestive profile. That’s exactly what the diet is meant to uncover.
When you ask others, “Do you tolerate garlic?” their answer tells you nothing about how your gut handles fructans.
Trying to base your diet decisions on someone else’s FODMAP experiences is like asking another person which chemotherapy drug worked best for them—and then deciding that must be the right one for you.
Anecdotes Are Not Evidence
Online forums are full of conflicting reports. “I can eat as much watermelon as I want!” says one person. Another replies, “Watermelon is a disaster for me.” They’re both right—for themselves. But neither helps you figure out your own tolerance.
Trying to base your diet decisions on someone else’s FODMAP experiences is like asking another person which chemotherapy drug worked best for them—and then deciding that must be the right one for you. The comparison is stark for a reason: both digestion and disease treatment rely on an understanding of individual biology, not crowdsourced anecdotes.
It’s like trying to navigate a city using someone else’s map—one that’s marked with their traffic patterns, detours, and personal shortcuts. Maybe their route works beautifully for them, but your starting point is different, your destination is different, and the construction zones in your gut aren’t in the same places. You might end up stuck in traffic, headed in the wrong direction, or missing your destination altogether.
Your digestive landscape is uniquely yours. Borrowing someone else’s roadmap doesn’t just waste time—it can actually set you back.
How Do You Take In Those Anecdotes?
Even worse, anecdotal advice sometimes gets mistaken for nutritional fact. You’ll hear sweeping declarations like “carrots are high FODMAP” (they’re not) or “you can’t ever eat garlic again” (not true; there are many forms of garlic, and tolerances change over time). Misinformation spreads quickly when people rely on each other instead of scientific resources.
Anecdotes Can Lead To Disordered Eating
Our brains are susceptible to suggestion. If you ask a group of people how they digest vegetables, and even one person says, “Green salads destroy me,” somewhere in your brain you’re going to tuck away that salad greens could spell trouble. Whether you retain this bit of information consciously or subconsciously, it could lead you to avoiding salads well before you actually know you need to. This cannot only lead to nutritional deficit, but it can also lead to a psychological condition called disordered eating.
Disordered eating patterns are becoming more and more prevalent; our Monash University trained dietitians are seeing this more and more in their clinical practice, and we see this in our community as well. Don’t fall into this trap. The easiest way is to not crowdsource information from individuals in the first place.
Think about it. Your digestive tract is not only unique, and therefore not like anyone else you’re chatting with, but it also is not static. Where your microbiome is today, and your digestive tolerance are today, are not where they’re going to be tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, or a year from now.
Your Tolerance Varies by Context
Your own FODMAP tolerance changes over time and under different circumstances. You might tolerate a small amount of lactose when you’re well-rested and not stressed. But the same amount on a day you’re sleep-deprived and anxious might send you running to the bathroom.
Other factors—like gut infections, menstruation, medications, or fiber content—can shift how well you handle a food. So even your past experiences aren’t always a reliable guide. Multiply that variability by thousands of strangers online, and it’s easy to see why comparing notes becomes meaningless.
FODMAPs Vary By Context, Too
In addition, always remember that FODMAP content in food is highly variable. Let’s say you eat some grapes, and you have trouble digesting them. You decide to go online and ask other people how they do with grapes.
The grapes you had in your kitchen yesterday can literally not be the same as the grapes that were lab tested by either Monash University or FODMAP Friendly, they cannot be the same as the grapes that you will buy a month from now, or six months from now, and they are definitely not the same grapes that the person you’re chatting with who lives on the other side of the country or the other side of the world is going to be responding about.
Please read our article, When Low FODMAP Lab Test Results Differ.
What You Really Need to Ask
Instead of asking strangers how they do with onions or ice cream, consider asking more useful questions:
- “What did you find helpful during the Reintroduction Phase?”
- “How did you track symptoms during food challenges?”
- “How long did it take for your symptoms to calm down after a failed Challenge?”
- “Do you use Monash or FODMAP Friendly apps to check foods?”
These kinds of questions don’t assume someone else’s digestion is a stand-in for yours. They ask about process, tools, and experiences that you can adapt to your own situation.
Trust the Science, Not the Crowd
The low FODMAP diet was developed by researchers at Monash University in Australia (Sue Shepherd, who went on to found FODMAP Friendly, was on the team). It’s one of the few diets for digestive health that has solid science behind it, including multiple clinical trials showing it can help reduce irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms in up to 75% of people—when followed correctly.
That means following suggested tested portion sizes, using evidence-based resources like the Monash app and the FODMAP Friendly app, and ideally working with a FODMAP-trained dietitian. What it doesn’t mean is using Facebook or Reddit comments as your food bible.
FODMAP App Entries Are GUIDES, Not Absolutes
And always remember, the app entries are GUIDES, NOT ABSOLUTES. One unfortunate feature of the apps is that they can only show one value, and that will be the most recent value of a food tested. This does NOT mean the former tests were wrong. Throughout FODMAP Everyday® you will find ranges presented, as we have tried our best to preserve the older data, as it is just as valuable.
And always remember, the app entries are GUIDES, NOT ABSOLUTES.
Let’s look at grapes as an example. Grapes have shown in lab tests to contain NO FODMAPs WHATSOEVER, and also to contain various amounts of FODMAPs. This means that the grapes you have in your refrigerator today could be anywhere on that spectrum. It is NOT a better assumption to believe that they will be closer to the most recent lab tests. Please read our articles, Are Grapes Low FODMAP? and Everything You Need To Know About Grapes & FODMAPs.
You Are the Experiment
At the end of the day, your digestive system is yours alone. You are the subject, the scientist, and the journal keeper in this experiment. No one else can run the test for you.
Asking others what they eat may feel like a shortcut—but it’s actually a detour. Instead of moving forward with data about your body, you risk taking a side trip through someone else’s digestive story. And while their story might be interesting, it won’t help you get to a symptom-free place.
Listen To Your Body & Dietitian
Next time you feel the urge to ask how someone else does with lentils or broccoli, pause. Pull out your food diary. Consult the Monash and FODMAP Friendly apps, to use as guides (they are NOT, and never were, intended to be absolutes). Consult with a FODMAP-trained dietitian. But above all, remind yourself: your gut is not a group project.
It’s personal. And that’s the point.
