I recently purchased a copy of 
Sue Shepherd’s “The Complete Low-FODMAP Diet” book. It was a great read. The photography is beautiful and the information is clear.
As a dietitian, I absolutely love learning new information. I was reading along and BOOM! out popped an “A-HA” moment for me. How had I missed this important tidbit in all my years of researching irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)? Under the section listing causes of IBS, number 5 caught my eye: Joint Hypermobility. The book states, “About one in five people has joint hypermobility syndrome… It has recently been found that this condition is associated with a higher chance of having IBS. It is assumed to be related to the relative laxness of the tissues in the gut– they tend to distend more.”
Here is a photo from my youth. Do you think my elbows are hypermobile? (I have not been diagnosed with joint hypermobility syndrome, but I do meet some of the criteria.)
You can find more information on hypermobility syndromes here. I’m still researching the connection between hypermobility and IBS. I plan to write a longer blog post in the future.
In other FODMAP news, my friend and colleague Patsy Catsos, MS, RD, LD (author of
“IBS– Free at Last” recently published her FODMAP cookbook. You can read about it on her website www.ibsfree.net and purchase on Amazon here.
Another 
colleague and friend Kate Scarlata is also a wonderful FODMAP resource, including some free downloadable handouts (I love free stuff!). You can find her blog here and her website here. By the way, Kate recently co-authored “21-Day Tummy” with Reader’s Digest.
If you are about to embark on a Low-FODMAP diet, there are many choices. You will also need to partner with a knowledgeable registered dietitian/nutritionist to help you navigate the diet.
