Diet

I am Fructose Intolerant which basically means I am alergic to the fruit sugar found in most fruits and vegetables. As a result I must follow a pretty rigid diet which avoids fructose. The University of Iowa had an excellent description of the diet which was logical and easy to follow generated by Nancy Kraft, R.D., L.D., but recently they took the diet down. I managed to catch a cached copy of it from the internet archive and update it a bit to include things that I have found work.

Note that this has been adopted from the diet given to me by:
The University of Iowa department of Food and Nutrition Services

Dietary Fructose Intolerance (DFI)

Fructose Restricted Diet Basics

 

Taken from the internet archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20050204162723/www.uihc.uiowa.edu/FRUCTOSE/DietBasics.htm.  You can view the archived site of the University of Iowa from the time which the diet was posted.  Be aware that sometimes archive.org can be slow at retreiving older pages.

Note that the items in RED/GREEN came straight from the diet page which was on the University of Iowa site.  The other text in bold are ones which I added based on my own experience.  I've also added links to information that may be worth reading at the bottom.

Simple Choices / Sugars / Beverages / Proteins / Breads and Grains / Vegetables / Fruit / Milk Products / Miscellaneous / Spices

 

Simple Choices:

(when nothing else can be found)

  • Pizza - no tomato sauce, add feta cheese, spinach, olive oil, mushrooms, bacon, mozarella cheese
  • Plain Burger, no bun with cheese, bacon
  • Tortilla wrap with sliced beef (i.e. Steak-umm®) and cheese
  • Pasta (including tortellini or ravioli) with butter sauce or alfredo sauce
  • European salad greens (i.e. not Iceberg Lettuce) with mushrooms, cheese, olive oil/balsamic vinegar

Recommended Sugars:

  • Barley malt syrup
  • Brown rice syrup
  • Corn syrup ( manufacturer  labeling is not reliable .. may actually be HFCS) 
  • Corn syrup solids
  • Dextrin
  • Dextrose/glucose
  • Glycogen
  • Isomaltose
  • Lactose
  • Maltodextrin
  • Maltose
  • Moducal
  • Polycose
  • Sucrose (cane sugar)
  • Sugar substitutes
    • Aspartame (Equal®, Nutrasweet®)
    • Saccharin (Sweet 'n Low ®)
    • Sugar Twin® (white and brown)
    • Sweet One®

Sugars to Avoid:

  • Agave syrup
  • Brown sugar
  • Caramel
  • Fructose
  • High fructose corn syrup
  • Honey
  • Invert sugar
  • Karo light corn syrup
  • Levulose
  • Maple syrup
  • Molasses
  • Palm sugar
  • Sugar substitutes
    • Splenda (Sucralose)

Sugar Alcohols to Avoid:

  • Erythrytol
  • Hydrogenated starch hydrosalate
  • Isomalt
  • Lactatol
  • Lactitol
  • Maltitol
  • Mannitol
  • Sorbitol
  • Xylitol

Recommended Beverages:

  • Alcoholic beverages (limit to 1 ounce)
    • Gin
    • Rum
    • Vodka, from grain or potato
    • Whiskey
    • Wine, dry, white
    • Wine, red -
    • Sake (Japanese Rice Wine)
  • Carbonated mineral water
  • Cranberry juice, pure, sweetened with allowed sweeteners
  • Coffee/tea
  • Carbonated beverages, diet( no splenda)
  • Milk
  • Powdered drinks, sugar free
  • Water

Beverages to Avoid:

  • Beer
  • Carbonated beverages, sweetened; diet, citrus based
  • Chocolate milk, sweetened
  • Juice; cider, fruit drinks, vegetable
  • Powdered drinks, sweetened
  • Wine, sweet (if they added the original grape juice back... you have to avoid it)

Recommended Proteins:

  • Eggs
  • Legumes
    • Chick peas (garbanzo beans), ¼ - ½ cup
    • Lentils, ¼ cup
    • Lima beans, ¼ cup
    • Mung beans, ¼ cup
  • Grains and seeds:
    • Amaranth, cooked - ¼ cup, raw - 2 Tbsp.
    • Flax Seed - 2 - 3 Tbsp.
    • Millet, cooked - ¼ cup, raw - 2 Tbsp.
    • Poppy
    • Pumpkin, 1 Tbsp.
    • Sesame, 2 Tbsp.
    • Tahini, 1 Tbsp.
  • Meat, fish, shellfish, poultry, organ meat; plain, unbreaded or breaded at home
  • Nuts
    • Pistachios, 2 - 3 Tbsp.
  • Soy products
    • Soy protein isolates, unlimited
    • Tofu, ¼ block

Proteins to Avoid:

  • Legume products other than those listed
  • Meat; processed with honey or brown sugar, other untolerated sugar, commercially breaded
  • Nuts other than pistachios

Recommended Breads and Grains:

  • Refined breads and grains (0 - 0.2 gm fructose): Servings: 5 per day, 1 oz servings
    • Bread, white, homemade or from a bakery using no fructose (i.e. real sugar and not corn syrup or corn meal)
    • Cereal, cooked
      • Barley
      • Cream of Wheat
      • Grits
      • Grouts
      • Oatmeal, regular and quick
    • Cereal, ready to eat:
    • Corn meal, degermed
    • Crackers, rice
    • English muffin, selected brands that don't use HFCS, corn meal, or honey
    • Flour, white/rye
    • Pasta, white
    • Rice, white
    • Tortilla, flour
  • Whole breads and grains (or up to 0.2 - 0.45 gm fructose): Servings: 2 per day, 1 oz servings
    • Bread, whole grain, homemade or from a bakery using no fructose
    • Cereal, ready to eat
      • Oat
      • Shredded wheat
    • Chow mein Noodles
    • Crackers; rye, wheat, soda
    • Pasta, whole wheat
    • Rice, brown

Breads and Cereals to Avoid:

  • Breads/cereals/cookies/cake; any containing fruit, fruit juice, coconut and nuts other than pistachios
  • Cake, commercial containing untolerated sugar
  • Cereals/grains, containing germ, untolerated sugar
  • Cookies, commercial, containing untolerated sugar
  • Instant cereals, flavored

Recommended Vegetables:

  • (0 - 0.2 gms fructose) 2 - 4 servings per day. Tolerance may be dose dependent. Servings: 1?4 to 1?2 cup.
    • Broad beans
    • Celery
    • Chives
    • Dandelion greens
    • Endive
    • Escarole
    • Mushrooms
    • Mustard greens
    • Pea Pods, immature
    • Potatoes, baked, mashed, fried, hash-browns
    • Shallots
    • Spinach
    • Swiss chard
    • Turnip greens
  • Vegetables I generally have to avoid because I can not tolerate them (0.3 - 0.6 gm fructose): 2 servings per week. Tolerance may be dose dependent. Servings: 1?4 to 1?2 cup.
    • Asparagus
    • Beans, snap, canned, drained
    • Broccoli*
    • Brussels sprouts*
    • Cabbage, raw, white*
    • Cauliflower*
    • Cucumber, raw*
    • Green peppers, raw*
    • Leeks, cooked
    • Lettuce, iceberg
    • Radishes, raw*
    • Summer squash
    • Watercress
    • Zucchini

*Indicates gas forming foods and may need to be avoided

Vegetables to Avoid:

  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • Corn
  • Eggplant
  • Onions
  • Peas
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Turnips
  • Winter squash

Recommended Fruits:

  • 1 - 2 times weekly. Tolerance may be dose dependent.
  • I am unable to tolerate: After 4 - 6 weeks; test tolerance with ¼ - ½ cup servings of:
    • Strawberries
    • Raspberries
    • Orange sections

Fruits to Avoid:

  • Other fruit, fruit juice or drinks
  • Other jam and jelly

Recommended Milk and Milk Products:

Serving size: 8 oz. milk, 1 oz. cheese (These products contain lactose and may need to be limited or avoided for those who are lactose intolerant.)

  • Cheese other than veined cheese
  • Acidophilus
  • Buttermilk
  • Dry; whole, skim
  • Milk; skim, 1%, 2%, whole
  • Whey
  • Goat
  • Lactaid
  • Yogurt; plain, lemon, vanilla sweetened with aspartame or dextrose
  • Ice Cream (made with real sugar).  Many Breyers® flavors and Starbucks® are good but make sure it doesn't say corn syrup on the ingredients.

Milk Products to Avoid:

  • Chocolate milk, sweetened with high fructose corn syrup
  • Sweetened condensed milk, sweetened with high fructose corn syrup
  • Yogurt; other fruited, sweetened with high fructose corn syrup or Splenda
  • Ice Cream made with corn syrup

Recommended Miscellaneous:

  • Bouillon, regular and low sodium (Look out for Onion)
  • Commercial salad dressings (dose dependent); Ranch (original, low fat) selected Caesar, olive oil and selected vinegar
  • Fat; butter, margarine, oil
  • Gelatin, sugar-free
  • Vinegar; rice, malt, some balsamic, distilled white

Miscellaneous to Avoid:

  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Vinegar, apple cider
  • Tomato based sauces; catsup, salsa, pizza, spaghetti
  • Condiments with untolerated ingredients
  • Soy sauce

Spices to Limit or Avoid:

Other spices and spice seeds may be used as tolerated. Choose name brands of herbs and spices to avoid untolerated sugar fillers.

  • Chervil
  • Coriander
  • Dill weed
  • Garlic; fresh, powder, salt
  • Ginger
  • Hot chili pepper
  • Onion; fresh, powder, salt
  • Parsley
  • Pumpkin pie seasoning

Additional Reading

Along the way I have discovered other sources of information which may be useful: