“I’m autistic. I have a certain amount of foods that I like. I didn’t have to remove them all from my life”
As a young woman dealing with IBS and autism, Carla found cutting out entire food groups overwhelming and unsustainable. Finding the FoodMarble breath testing device changed everything for her.
Background
When Carla started experiencing stomach issues two to three times a week, along with painful constipation lasting days at a time, she knew it was necessary to see her doctor. Through testing and monitoring, her doctors diagnosed her with IBS, and recommended the next step was to go on the restrictive FODMAP elimination diet. She was told to cut out whole food groups, see if anything changes and then try the next food.
For a lot of people, this process can be tedious and exhausting, and sometimes the restriction leads to no change at all. As a young woman with autism, Carla has a set number of foods she knows and trusts, the idea of removing them one by one, for weeks at a time, with no guarantee of answers, didn’t make sense to her.
So she went looking for a better option and found FoodMarble.
Finding FoodMarble
What she wanted was straightforward: a way to find out exactly what was upsetting her stomach, without months of trial and error.
She came across FoodMarble and ordered the AIRE 2 breath testing device along with the food intolerance test kits. The principle is simple — rather than cutting out foods and waiting to see what happens, the breath tests measure your hydrogen and methane levels after consuming specific food sugars. You get a clear reading on what your gut is reacting to.
For her, this was a practical solution to a practical problem. No guesswork. No removing foods that might have been fine all along. Just data she could act on.
What She Found
The results pointed her towards specific changes and importantly, they were small ones. The app suggested substitutions rather than complete removal: spring onions instead of red onions, gluten-free bread instead of regular bread.
“The app tells you small changes you can make to your diet, for example, instead of red onions, just try spring onions. And that was amazing.”
This meant she didn’t have to give up the types of meals she enjoyed. She just had to adjust specific ingredients within them. For someone whose relationship with food is closely tied to routine and familiarity, that distinction is significant.
Over time, the testing also helped her understand how her body responds to different foods in combination — learning, for example, that waiting thirty minutes after dinner before eating fruit made a noticeable difference.
“I’m more educated now. I know what my stomach can tolerate and what it can’t. So when I go out for meals, I know what I can eat, what I should maybe limit, and what I should do afterwards. For example, if I’m having dinner, I should maybe wait 30 minutes to have fruit because it has a high FODMAP content.“
Where Things Stand Now
She’s been using the FoodMarble device for over a year. In that time, she’s gone from stomach issues multiple times a week to only once or twice a year. She no longer worries about being caught out on a walk or during a day out with painful symptoms. This is the kind of low-level anxiety that anyone with IBS will recognise.
Carla had a problem, the standard approach didn’t suit her circumstances, and she found a tool that gave her the specific information she needed to make targeted changes to her diet.
She’s since recommended FoodMarble to family and friends, and her advice to others struggling with IBS – especially those with autism – is simple:
“If you’re autistic, try it — because you don’t have to remove foods from your life. You can just use this to help you figure out what’s working and what isn’t.”
That’s really what it comes down to. An elimination diet asks you to take food away and hope for the best. Breath testing tells you exactly what’s causing the problem, so you only change what you need to.
