We caught up with the brilliant Emma Hatcher from She Can’t Eat What?! who shares her epic journey from chronic IBS sufferer to champion of a life-changing way to resolve symptoms through food. Emma helps others overcome FODMAP and gluten intolerances as a food writer, stylist, and cookery teacher. She lives in the seaside town of Brighton, UK.

This is her story.

Is there a story you can share about how IBS affected your life?

When I was 14 a boyfriend cooked me dinner (macaroni cheese from a tin!). I remember leaving his house and being doubled over in pain at my parent’s front door. He’d only meant it as a sweet gesture - but neither of us knew just how much it would trigger my symptoms. It was awful. It felt like a moment in a long line of moments where I didn’t know what to do, my parents didn’t know what to do, I was upset, they were upset, I was embarrassed. Looking back, I don’t think I’d realised how much my day to day life was affected (until I started to feel such massive improvements through diet later in life).

Shortly after I went to the doctor and was quickly diagnosed with IBS. On one hand it felt quite liberating to be given a diagnosis but on the other it was confusing and isolating - I was really young. I always felt a bit different from everybody else, not being able to eat the same as others at parties or school and the beginning of my journey to understand my triggers was only just beginning.

How did you learn about this ‘life-changing’ low FODMAP Diet?

I’d spent years cutting out various different foods and food groups from my diet as suggested by my doctor - gluten and dairy for example - but each time symptoms would subside for a short time, before gradually coming back. It wasn’t until age 21, when I was suffering from really bad symptoms again (probably exacerbated by stress) that I went into hospital for more tests and it was then that I was told about, and to try, the low FODMAP diet. I wasn’t overly hopeful, but at this point I was so ready to try anything that might help.

I couldn’t believe how much better I felt within just the first few weeks. The diet didn’t only decrease my symptoms, but really did completely change my life.

What made you want to help others with your blog She Can’t Eat What?!

I realised that although the science behind the low FODMAP diet was brilliant and empowering, nobody knew about it! When a dietician suggested I try the diet (8 or so years ago now) there was a huge lack of recipes available that were both delicious and low FODMAP - along with recipes that felt familiar and comforting. I created my blog www.shecanteatwhat.com, with the aim to share my story, raise awareness of the low FODMAP diet and to help others in the same position. IBS is not a sexy subject – which means a lot of us sure are suffering in silence and I really want to change that. Simple, doable tweaks can make such a difference.

What would you say to someone recently diagnosed and starting their low FODMAP journey?

Be patient and be kind to yourself. It takes a while to understand what works for you when it comes to IBS and what doesn’t - everybody is different, but you’ll get there. Remember too, the impact that anxiety, sleep and stress can all have on symptoms. Also - if I can add something else - get learning. Read up on the diet and what IBS actually is. Educating myself made me feel more empowered to make decisions and to be prepared so I was less likely to be caught out.

How important is it to follow an approved low FODMAP dietary plan?

The low FODMAP diet can be complicated, so it’s really important to start it with the help of a dietician and to have a plan in place. What’s also really important to remember is that the low FODMAP diet is not about being incredibly restrictive long term. The ultimate goal is to eat and live as freely as possible with the least restrictions you can get away with — the more FODMAPs you can return to your diet without triggering symptoms, the healthier your gut is likely to be. Down the line it might be that your tolerance to different foods improves and you can even re-introduce those that you couldn’t tolerate before – looking after your gut health is an ongoing journey!

The testing of FODMAPs in foods is continually done which is why apps like the Monash University FODMAP app (founders of the diet) is a great resource to have on your phone for those moments when you’re in the supermarket thinking ‘can I eat this?’. Also exciting are apps such as IBS Coach: FODMAP Diet, Tracker, & Relief - something I wish had been around when I was first told to try the diet. Developed by digestive health experts, you know you’re in good hands.

You have a cookbook in bookshops, and just launched a low FODMAP recipe e-book. Can you tell us about those?

The FODMAP Friendly Kitchen is my debut cookbook, published with Yellow Kite. I really wanted it to be like the book I wish I’d been given when I’d first been told to try the diet and to take some of that frustration and confusion away. It has over 100 healthy(ish) recipes, from sea salt brownies to a cheats buckwheat pizza base, along with lots of hints and tips about how to look after your gut in our crazy busy 24/7 world, that really helped - and still do help - me. It’s available on Amazon and in all bookstores.

Then Spring is the low FODMAP recipe e-book, that I launched during the pandemic. It’s filled with 30 simple, delicious and seasonal recipes for spring and early summer, all reviewed by Dietician Kaitlin Colucci. Gluten-free fresh pasta and Almond, passionfruit & lime cheesecake are two of my favourite recipes in there! Where suitable, lots of the recipes have higher FODMAP suggestions for later in your gut health journey too, so that they can work for the low FODMAP diet and beyond. It’s really important to me that recipes are flexible and adaptable - they should work for wherever you’re at. Plus, from every sale 99p goes to charity, split between The Trussell Trust, who are working to end UK hunger and poverty and The IBS Network.

What’s your favourite low fodmap recipe?

It changes all the time, but something I come back to throughout the year is this Dark chocolate mousse with macadamia nut brittle. I think it’s an example of how a delicious, familiar recipe such as chocolate mousse can be made low-FODMAP, with just a few simple and clever tweaks. I first published the recipe at Christmas time, but serve with fresh strawberries in the summer at the end of a meal and it will be enjoyed just as much.

See more of Emma’s work and recipes at www.shecanteatwhat.com