Patricia, I might try the Ownyn cold brew coffee plant based drink as an option –4 g sugar for 12 ounces plus 6 gram fiber. Low FODMAP certified by Monash U as well.

Kate// Nestles Pronourish is not available anymore…. do you have any suggest for a shake-without a lot of fruit in it. I’m type 2 diabetes. Blood sugars aren’t too bad.. I enjoyed the Nestles!!! Seems off the market…
Thanks

Hi Kate; You are quite right. I have been working with the docs at Cedars-Sinai (although I live in WA state). My SIBO has been eradicated a few times but keeps returning. As you’ve written about, there’s no proven diet to prevent SIBO recurrence. Furthermore, in terms of underlying conditions, although I’m in very good control (my last A1C was 6.4) my type 1 diabetes isn’t ever going away, and I have slight gastroparesis so the slower stomach emptying probably contributes to recurrence, and I can’t always leave 5 hours in between meals because I’m trying to keep my blood sugars in tight control so I frequently go a little low and need a snack to stabilize and get them in a normal range. Add it all up, and the docs have told me that in my case, it’s probably a chronic thing that will regularly recur. So on any trip, in addition to everything else, unless it’s right after a course of antibiotics, there’s a chance that the SIBO is starting to recur.

I wonder if part of your limitation is that your SIBO is still a present problem–and needs better eradication. Just a thought. But, on the other hand, I do know how a change in environment and long international flights can wreak havoc on the gut. Let’s hope we get more responses and ideas on how to prevent life-changing travel-induced gut symptoms.

I’ve now gotten into good enough control that my symptoms are manageable at home, for road trips, and for some plane travel within North America. I follow all the tips you mentioned in your article and agree with all of them. Alas, the one time I traveled internationally, I paid for it dearly. I did a huge amount of preparation, up to and including hiring a personal chef at my destination (found him through the internet), providing him information on my modified low FODMAP diet, and then having him deliver meals and snacks every two days to my hotel that I could keep in my room fridge and heat up in the microwave in my room. I’m lucky in that I can afford something like that, but I’d encourage others to check it out as an option because it was surprisingly affordable and not much more than eating out. The first week went fine, but the last two days I had maybe the worst IBS symptoms I’ve ever had and I swear it took my body about 3 months after returning to get back into balance.

People talk about the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”. With international travel and long flights – dealing with jet lag, bloating, some dehydration no matter how much I drink on the flights, being off my usual schedule, keeping my blood sugars in control as a T1D, etc etc etc – it just seems like a few more “straws” at once than my system can handle. I wish I could figure out a solution but even with all the useful tips I’ve researched – all of which help immensely for US/Canada travel – travel overseas still seems to be a step too far and giving up future international trips and a bunch of destinations that were on my bucket list has been the biggest challenge of learning how to live with IBS/SIBO.

Would be curious if anyone has found successful strategies for overseas travel (although I recognize that everyone is different and my situation is complicated by other conditions like T1D).

As always, thanks for sharing tips and recipes!

On return trip, we knew we had a very long layover in Seattle. I brought along food in a backpack which a restaurant allowed me to graze from, as long as hubby ordered from menu–flip-top can of mandarin oranges, some wheatless granola bars with little fiber, tuna envelopes, and some gluten-free cookies. (The can of oranges was a bit difficult to bring through the TSA machinery–Woody Allen type situation–but it got okayed eventually. The liquid am’t in the can was apparently the issue, causing them to do some research. I’ve also brought canned vienna sausages through these checkpoints.) This food could be eaten over time, but it was more like prisoner food; I had enjoyed the sandwich much more.

I’ve also brought along pre-cut up cheese and crackers (e.g. the nut kind, or the potato flour kind), peanuts in a baggie (I have to chew, chew, chew but peanuts are fun to eat), certain candies, Sunbelt granola-type bars of various types. On the plane, I ask for tomato juice, a good source of nutrition in a glass, but remember that there is some onion in it. Orange juice is a back-up choice. Don’t drink their American sweet sodas–high fructose might put you over the edge of your FODMAP allowance and you will be fermenting in tight quarters. Watch out for half-and half as coffee whitener–FODMAP for sure.