Monash FODMAP Diet Reviews

1 star for attention. not mobile friendly, SUPER frustrating. all thru MonashFODMAPDiet there are links that dont work. HELLO DEVS PLEASE FIX. I wouldn't give feedback this way, but the Feedback link does not work on MonashFODMAPDiet !!! and there is no way to get a hold of them anywhere. Even if you Google MonashFODMAPDiet and go to the webpage, there's no way to communicate with them. This is an extremely easy fix to make the links work. Another example of where they work is they have a certified section where they list food partners, and it is almost impossible to get those links to work. And now I will confess that this is a super useful app. Several times a day I go on here to receive the bad news that I can't eat something or like anything 🤣 if I can make some feature suggestions, it would be great to see the data organized in terms of, what CAN I eat? For instance, I want to see a list of vegetables that I can eat. A lot of or a medium amount of they have enough data to make a slider where you can say vegetable and moderate FODMAP or very low FODMAP. Also, the recipe should be billed out more. There's only a few of them. Thanks for your work, university.

LASTLY it is very confusing that on the food index page, the green red orange dots do not consistently go in ascending or descending order, it is different for each item. They should all go in ascending order or they should all go in descending order. That makes this already frustrating situation even more confusing.

I will start by saying that MonashFODMAPDiet has helped me tremendously on this hellish diet, but there’s very simple things in MonashFODMAPDiet that were overlooked that could be fixed in a second. Like I’ve noticed multiple recipes don’t have some measurements of ingredients listed which is mind boggling that you forgot simple numbers on things. I’m also highly frustrated not knowing what bread I can and cannot eat since there are a few contradictions in the food search regarding that. And I know you can’t add every food known to man, but knowing I can look up anything would be nice (even if it’s obvious I shouldn’t eat it...ex. marshmellos). Also in the recipes, it would be nice to know how many you can actually eat of the thing...like what is the serving size for each recipe because I had like 3 rice paper wraps and my stomach was in turmoil that night. This diet is already hard and frustrating enough so when I pay $8 to make it easier, I need it to be worth it. I’ll end with saying that overall MonashFODMAPDiet is quite nice and helpful and reduces my anxiety knowing it’s certified but small things that can help and be fixed should be, specially if you’re going to charge me for an app that helps with an only ever temporary diet.

There are only 70 recipes all together. It’s like they want you to buy the cookbook. I would imagine there aren’t that many vegetarian and vegan recipes in the cookbook. Most of the products that are monash certified aren’t available in the US. Should be an option for exercise in the diary. I just use a note. I’d like to see more information on how to reintroduce foods. Types of foods to try first.

After hearing from developers I am less critical about the recipe options since they would make MonashFODMAPDiet take up too much space. I have used the reintroduction phase and it is limited. Mostly because there are so many foods that you can’t eat on the diet. Listing them all in the reintroduction feature probably takes up a lot of space also.

I’ve now used MonashFODMAPDiet mostly while shopping to check ingredients before purchasing. Low fodmap granola often has amaranth. On MonashFODMAPDiet it says amaranth high fodmap but on a google search Monash says amaranth is low fodmap. To get more info I have to go to their Facebook page which is a huge no for me. I have boycotted FB for years and wish companies would not force people to go to their FB page for info. Get your own website or use a socially conscience platform. Anyway the info I see from Monash two diff places is inconsistent on this grain. MonashFODMAPDiet gives limited info. Why not put those articles and blogs that u have on FB on your app so FaceBook haters can read them? App cost $ FB costs your soul. Take ur pick. I’d rather pay more for a more informative app than give FB more data to sell and exploit. Plus the way FB has disrupted and ruined entire countries. No thank you!

I've found the content of MonashFODMAPDiet invaluable in my search for low fodmap ingredients. Being that it comes from a reputable source makes it more reliable. Many internet sources can give two different answers about what is and what isn't considered a low fodmap food. Stick with this for reliable info.

However, the loss of two stars comes from the fact that MonashFODMAPDiet crashes. At the end of using it to record a week long account of food eaten and symptoms felt, on a daily basis , I reach the final day with a congratulations that I've completed the diary and can now print a report for my doctor. Imagine my disappointment when I am unable to get MonashFODMAPDiet to prepare my report. I'd really like an update to fix this problem, as it is one of the main reasons for purchasing it in the first place.

I'm using MonashFODMAPDiet in the elimination phase, and the guide view look up for items and serving sizes has been extremely helpful. Would recommend that for anyone trying to do a low FODMAP diet!

Unfortunately for me, the journal function is based off of using recipes found in MonashFODMAPDiet , which are a lot of recipes that I would never eat, and require extensive prep, even for lunches. I have found plenty of easy low FODMAP recipes online and would love the function in the journal part of MonashFODMAPDiet to "create a recipe" by adding the ingredients (from the guide view) to get a similarly accurate analysis as from using the recipes. I would also like to be able to journal my symptoms in real time, because at the end of the day I don't generally remember all of my symptoms since they have been so normalized for me :)

All that being said I couldn't imagine doing an elimination of FODMAPs without MonashFODMAPDiet!!

There is a bit of a learning curve to using MonashFODMAPDiet , especially since I’m in the US, and some terminology is different, but not hard at all to figure out. I’m finding that foods I thought were “safe” are only safe below a certain quantity. I’m trying be be as precise as possible with the elimination phase, so I’m really having to measure and weigh a lot. I really like the diary, easy to use and I will be able to send to my dietitian. Two suggestions: for bowel movement tracking, it would be useful to track amount as well as type. Also, could you add a tracker for water? The amount of water you are drinking or not drinking could play a role in GI symptoms. Right now I’m just adding to notes. Those two additions would make this a 5 star app, IMHO.

Before finding MonashFODMAPDiet, my only source of help – and a good one too- was A website called help for IBS. I also had heather van Voorhis‘s Help for IBS cookbook. The amazing thing about the Monash app is the university’s breakthrough discovery of FODMAP chemicals as a real cause of IBS upsets, and the helpful guide to what foods to avoid or limit. I needed to lose weight, and I wanted to do weight watchers, but it would never work for me because of the foods they suggested. Now, with the use of the Monash app, I have been able to coordinate WW with MonashFODMAPDiet Guide, and finally I’ve lost 13 pounds. Yay! But even more important is the helpful information. Sometimes when I have a flair I don’t know why, but I’ll go on MonashFODMAPDiet and look at some of the foods I’m not sure of and I see exactly what I did wrong, and how to avoid it again next time. Thank you so much for your hard work, for your research, and for caring about this medical problem that is so debilitating and so ridiculed by the medical community.

You should be able to add food items from the guide section to your diary. I don't like that they give you a seven day "meal" plan with specific recipes for each day, I'd rather enter individual foods that I cook up and make for myself. Additionally serving sizes of the foods would be helpful to be able to track.

A copy/paste feature for the diary would also be so helpful in tracking meals. Inputting food into the diary takes a lot of time, so being able to add things you’ve entered before would make it much more user friendly!

Also there aren't really any US brands, it would be cool to see a bar scanner so users could add products to be submitted for review or something. The data base is good, but the diary... not so much.

My husband has had IBS for 20+ years, but could never figure out what was wrong. We knew he was lactose intolerant, but there were so many more problems than just that. In 2018, after blood tests, cat scans, excrement sampling, colonoscopies, etc., his gastroenterologist suggested we try a FODMAP diet. Parsing through all the conflicting information felt impossible, and in the end, the best source was getting it straight from the horse’s mouth: Monash University. After months of elimination and reintroduction, we discovered that he is Fructan intolerant on top of the lactose intolerance. He has now been off fructans (or on low fructans) for 3 years, and his IBS is virtually gone! Unless he accidentally gets too much, he feels 100%! We use MonashFODMAPDiet EVERY SINGLE DAY just to check if some random food or other is okay to eat. I recommended it to everyone with IBS, just in case they solve their issues. (And we’ve had five friends that have found their solutions, so that’s amazing!) Definitely worth a few bucks!

I have only been using MonashFODMAPDiet for seven days so far and have experienced great improvements in my bowel movements. I have been dealing with constipation my whole life and it feels like the Low FODMAP diet has been actually helping! I have attempted the diet using other apps but I did not have the knowledge of serving sizes and even being careful with mixing “safe foods” and as a certain FODMAP could increase by doing this make those “safe foods” not safe. I talked to a dietitian through MonashFODMAPDiet (which I highly recommend if you have any confusion about the diet), and she explained to me how to use MonashFODMAPDiet correctly to make sure I wasn’t getting too much of one FODMAP. I noticed a lot of the foods I was eating, even though they were deemed “safe” all of them together probably gave me too much fructan. MonashFODMAPDiet unlike others is updated and well researched! Most of the other apps don’t go as in depth as this one! So save yourself some trouble and buy MonashFODMAPDiet. It’s worth it.

I was very hesitant to pay this much with the USA reviews. After much google frustration with wildly conflicting advice I decided to get it for the best, most recently accurate source of information available- even if it wasn’t completely useful in the US. I’m sooo glad I did! Most of what I need IS here! :)
The confusing lack of decaf tea (?) and the annoying diary setup are my only complaints. I’m doing the diary but I’m not doing their recipes, so it’s severely handicapped for results- but I want to record my daily improvements anyway.
I consider the source of this Apps information as the important factor. If my Dr. had only advised me of FODMAP foods over the last 2 years of confusion and misery! I’m very grateful to these researchers and felt better after the first day! I had no idea I’d been causing extra misery with common ‘healthy’ foods! Those excessive exclamation points are appropriate to me, lol. MonashFODMAPDiet is handy and this information is life-changing! Happy in Mississippi, USA :)

**UPDATE: Please don’t self diagnose from the internet! I had all the symptoms of FODMAP problems, except my bloat was unremitting. I spent 3 weeks using this diet and it DID alleviate some symptoms but - a stool test showed I had E coli. When my bloat continued to worsen after a course of antibiotics, a CT scan revealed Stage 1 ovarian cancer. The bloat was from Ascites, not IBS.

Use this ONLY if you have seen a medical professional.

There is so much conflicting info in the internet and in books, not just in anonymous forums but coming from people who claim to be coaches. People misinterpret things, or only give partial info...like I was 2 weeks in before I learned (from a Monash blog) that eliminating the high FODMAPS had also eliminated all the prebiotic food.

Seriously, I’m kicking myself for not having gotten a stool sample sooner. BUT if you insist on going this alone, I rate this a 5-star tool.

Monash University is constantly testing foods and updating. This is the ONLY way you can search for a specific food, and see exactly what the rating is for each of the 4 FOMAPS. It’s the ONLY way you’ll get a sense of which of the 4 might be your problem.

$8 is less than the cost of a book and besides, you’re helping to fund the research that made this possible.

My doctor told me to start a fodmap diet, gave me a handout and said if I felt better after 4-6 weeks to continue it for life. I scoured the internet for information, downloaded many apps, and found lots of it to be conflicting and incomplete. My only regret is not buying MonashFODMAPDiet sooner, it’s the only one I kept. I love the serving information, stoplight design for the different fodmaps, and most of all the developers at Monash are incredibly responsive! As I’m in the challenging phase it has helped me stay organized and on track. I am feeling better than I have in a long time! A few suggestions to improve it:
1. Offer more food options for reintroductions, as well as the associated amounts.
2. A comprehensive list/chart of all of the categories and foods under each would be so helpful.

I’m pretty happy with MonashFODMAPDiet. I like that you can set your country and that’s what comes up when looking for something. I use this when planning out my meals. I like that it tells you what amount of a particular item you can have. For instance, some apps will say no to red bell pepper completely. MonashFODMAPDiet will give you how many grams are okay to eat of red bell pepper. I could understand you not liking MonashFODMAPDiet if you mostly go out to eat or you use box foods to eat but I mostly use whole foods when I cook so it makes it really simple for me. It also doesn’t hurt that these people are the developers of the FODMAP diet. I trust them to know what they are talking about. I also can say after 4 days of using it I feel better already. Thank you!

EDIT: To clarify, my point is not about heads and stalks being differently rated. My point is that both of those are green for small servings and red for high servings, but one is rated overall green and the other overall red.

MonashFODMAPDiet is great, thanks to Monash for developing it! There's one bug that I tried to submit feedback for but MonashFODMAPDiet didn't let me - foods like broccoli heads vs. stalks are rated overall green for the heads and red for the stalks. My guess about the bug: heads are rated green for small servings and red for large, while stalks are rated red for large servings and green for small. Because of the difference in the sorting order, they are rated differently overall when they should be the same. Or maybe I'm misinterpreting something?

I visited my dietician more than 6 months ago and she recommended this. Since I rarely spent any money on apps I think it’s absurd to spend $8 on an app. I thought it’s the same information I can get online for free.

No! Since the nutrients in food is changing from time to time depending on many reasons (i.e. how it’s grown.) Those information online were just copying from one source and another and people rarely update it. It’s a melee.

When I followed the information online, I felt like there’s nothing much I can eat, and I ate the same thing over and over again. Sometimes, even I followed what they said but and I still have symptoms. I lost hope with food and became depressed, such psychological factor worsened my health. I hardly have appetite and once I have it I binge-eat. It was not fun to go out with friends telling them I can’t eat this and that (a lot of things are made with onion, garlic and wheat flour these days).

MonashFODMAPDiet changed that. Monash constantly update their database and they tell me the amount I can eat (even with chocolate.) Within days, my symptoms subsided, the depression with food is gone and I can feel I have better control of my life.

MonashFODMAPDiet has given me my life back. I tried to use MonashFODMAPDiet when I was first diagnosed with IBS a few years ago, I was not truly ready or committed to following the fodmap diet but could not deny the positive results of using it. I fell off the fodmap train if you will and quickly found myself needing the elimination phase again….Fast forward to 2022 where my flare ups became unmanageable and I was living in constant pain… I committed to fodmap and using MonashFODMAPDiet to help “heal my gut”. MonashFODMAPDiet has helped me clearly identify my triggers, reduce bloat, and most importantly has given me my life back. I love MonashFODMAPDiet and use the diary to document my daily food intake so I can look back on my patterns of eating, nutrition, and also remember recipes I made that myself and my family enjoyed. Not only has MonashFODMAPDiet helped me live pain free but I also overall feel better mentally. I hope MonashFODMAPDiet gives others the same freedom it has given me. (I also went gluten free thanks to MonashFODMAPDiet teaching me my body feels much better without gluten)

I struggled for ten years with undiagnosed IBS. God led me to MonashFODMAPDiet and it changed my life.

My IBS had progressed to SIBO and leaky gut syndrome. I was struggling with bouts of diarrhea and vomiting so severe that I would pass out on the bathroom floor. It was so bad I could hardly eat even low (yes low) FODMAP foods. So, if MonashFODMAPDiet/diet doesn’t work for you, talk to your dr about SIBO. It may be your IBS is so severe you need to do a “selective carb diet” concomitantly with the Low FODMAP to treat IBS and SIBO together. It took me three months, but my gut healed. I had no choice but to do it while pregnant and no harm was done to the baby! Fetus thrived while I was on it. You can do this while you are pregnant but get in with a good dietitian first and make sure your OBGYN agrees.

Liz, RN

One of my favorite things about MonashFODMAPDiet is the serving size information. For any food item the red, yellow, green light system provides detailed information about serving sizes that help me to understand how much of a food I can try at any time. Particularly helpful during the re-introduction phase in anytime you want to try a new food. I don’t use it yet when I shop, but I am certain it will come in handy. I use this in conjunction with the Spoonful app. Not all the items provide helpful information, and sometimes it is difficult to find products based on your geographical location, but that’s going to be true of any product. I am so glad that I got MonashFODMAPDiet and I use it every day.