I love food. Truly, I do. And I crave all things sweet. There was even a time when I could outeat a teenage boy. (Just ask my husband. I did it many a time when we were dating.) But eventually, at some point, food and I—well, things got complicated.
One of the most troublous and intimidating times during this health journey led to a diagnosis of fructose malabsorption. So, what is that? Well, simplistically, it’s when the cells—the enterocytes—in the small intestine are impaired, which makes it difficult for the body to break down and absorb fructose. The result is a build up or increased concentration of fructose throughout the intestine. And that is not a happy situation.
Symptoms (obviously) stem from the gut, given that’s where the primary issue resides. Most experience nausea, abdominal distention and bloating, vomiting, abdominal pain, and the like. At its worst, it can also cause malabsorption of other nutrients.
Here’s the complicating factor: Fructose is a natural occurring sugar. It’s found mostly in fruit but also in some vegetables. And it can be an added sugar. It depends on its source.
Certain gut disorders make fructose malabsorption more likely in some individuals, such as those diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, colitis, and celiac disease. Apparently, it’s fairly common, yet we’d never heard of it, and I’d never been tested for it. Not until I was about 20 years into this chronic illness life in 2016 when we were desperately seeking care at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. (That time when I was continually and unintentionally losing weight from my already slight 5’6 frame and was down to a mere 98 pounds.)
Diagnosis wasn’t difficult. In fact, it involved one of the least invasive, easiest tests out there—a hydrogen breath test. But finding a doctor or clinic that offered the testing was the challenge. Nothing was available locally. Or, at least it wasn’t six years ago.
It is possible to determine whether you have fructose malabsorption through an elimination diet, so that is an option if you’re at a loss for testing. But it shouldn’t be done without some sort of oversight by a physician or with a dietician—the fructose malabsorption diet is highly restrictive. At it’s most basic, it’s a gluten-free diet with variances in which fruits and vegetables are ok: Blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries are fine. But watermelon, apples, pears, and peaches are not. Legumes—beans, peas, and lentils—are a definite no, too.
Here’s the thing for me, though: My symptoms are constant and consistent (fructose malabsorption isn’t the only diagnosis I manage), so eliminating food and tracking symptoms would be difficult if not impossible for me. So, testing was, well, imperative.
I’ve been eating this way for six years now. And it’s taken us that long to just begin to figure it out. Admittedly, Tony has a better understanding of it than I do. He does all the cooking. And he’s found ways to expand these limitations beyond what I ever thought was possible. So, I want to share that with you. It’s one of the reasons why here you’ll find fructose malabsorption-friendly recipes from our own test kitchen.
Grilled Chicken Summer Salad
INGREDIENTS
50/50 spinach and spring greens mix
2 chicken breasts, pounded thin
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons Tamari sauce
salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 ears sweet corn
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, chopped
for the maple-dijon vinaigrette
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
pink Himalayan salt
fresh ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
for the chicken
Pound chicken breasts thin, place in gallon-size bag, pour equal parts olive oil and Tamari sauce over top of chicken. Add salt and pepper. Refrigerate and let marinade while preparing the rest of the salad.
for the maple-dijon vinaigrette
Add all ingredients to a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake to combine.
Shuck corn and brush olive oil and salt and pepper over kernels.
Preheat grill to medium-high heat. When grill is hot, place chicken on grates. Turn as needed, grilling until cooked through.
Place two sweet corn cobs on the grill alongside the chicken. Rotate on grill until kernels are slightly charred.
Chop grilled chicken and cut kernels off the cobs. Place on a bed of spinach and spring greens. Add sliced tomatoes and diced avocado. Top with maple-dijon vinaigrette.
