Having been an avid plant-based eater for over thirty years, I thought I knew it all. I was never ill, I was full of energy, and, to prove that vegans get enough protein, I even achieved a Guinness World Record in speed skiing with one leg at the age of forty-seven. I thought I knew it all . . . until I didn’t. Following a Lyme disease diagnosis in 2013, I experienced prolonged digestive distress, which led to restrictive diets, medical frustration, and eventually a deep dive into the relationship between specific food ingredients and the microbiome.

I had endless endoscopies and colonoscopies, manometries, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) tests, and H. Pylori tests that showed I had serious GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). I became so afraid to eat because of the extreme pain and severe bowel reactions that I eventually gave up eating most solid foods out of fear of an accident on a ski slope! I was living off 4,000-calorie shakes to survive my extreme sports training.

Many surgeons advised surgery—Nissen fundoplication surgery to create a new lower esophageal valve, a partial colon removal (and a stoma bag), etc. If I were not so questioning by nature, having been misdiagnosed so many times in my life (for example, being told I would never have children, which I later did), I would have gone along with these surgeries, and today, I would not have my colon intact. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that the health professionals were not addressing the underlying causes.

After living as a vegan for thirty years, it was a nightmare—how could I ever have a digestive disorder? I took a very deep dive, eventually discovering that the solution for me was to minimize the extreme stress in my life and lower my consumption of certain FODMAPs, which I found I could no longer digest. For those who don’t know, FODMAP is an acronym for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. High-FODMAP foods include some dairy products, grains, and certain vegetables, such as garlic and onions, which I had always thought were healthy and which I had enjoyed for decades as the basis of my vegan diet. You can learn more about FODMAPs on our web page “What Are FODMAPs?”; the key takeaway is that many people can eat healthy high-FODMAP foods without issue, but some people have poor absorption, which can lead to gut issues.

For me, minimizing FODMAPs was easier said than done, as little was known at that time about them. What I discovered was that many products marketed as gut friendly were, for me, anything but. I also discovered that my personal journey was part of a broader shared experience. Until I embarked on this path, I had no idea how many people suffered in silence. A large portion of the adult population worldwide will, at some point, suffer from some form of digestive ailment or affliction. Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, director of the Health Service Research at Cedars-Sinai, conducted a nationwide study involving more than seventy-one thousand US adults, one of the largest studies ever conducted on gastrointestinal symptoms.^[1] They found that more than a third of US adults experience acid reflux every week and that proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are often not the answer.

In 2013, I was inspired to research and implement a solution so that others would no longer have to suffer as I had. Luckily, I am, among other things, a food manufacturer, and my company, VBites (previously Redwood), established in 1993, pioneered many of the dairy-, meat-, and fish-free options on the market today, so I had a solid basis from which to develop a solution. The result is “No Bloat,” which we launched in 2025 after years of intense testing and analysis of the gut and its reaction to food. I strongly believe that ours is the first and only convenient product on the market to fully support gut friendly eating for those struggling with digestive symptoms related to FODMAPs. Fortunately, I’m not alone in feeling this way. The highly acclaimed Monash University—global leaders in gut health—and the Harley Street Functional Gut Clinic agree: after many tests on their patients, they have lent their stamp of approval to the No Bloat range (the first time they have opted to endorse such a product).

How does the low-FODMAP diet work? We follow a three-step process for healing your digestive system, which includes (1) temporarily reducing high-FODMAP foods, (2) reintroducing foods gradually and tracking results to determine which foods are the culprits of digestive symptoms, and (3) creating a long-term plan that is sustainable and maintains your health. Research supports such an approach to minimizing or eliminating symptoms in patients with IBS.^[2–6] One of our key mantras is that “when it comes to food, we follow our gut.” In other words, the philosophy is one of listening to the body, recognizing the gut-brain connection, and offering food that both tastes good and supports digestive health rather than exacerbating discomfort.

My mission is and always has been to provide solutions. This includes advocating for first steps, even when they are far from the ideal food. Recognizing that many people have to embark on not only a physical but also a psychological transition, I created the first vegan McDonald’s burger and the first stretchy vegan VBites cheese for Domino’s pizza—methadone to the heroine of fast food—and I’m delighted to say that it has helped wean millions around the world off their meat and dairy addictions and help them slowly evolve closer to clean plant-based food. This is the difference between realism and idealism.

I bring a similarly realistic outlook to the FODMAP challenge. Even though I was initially horrified to discover that certain plant-based foods could produce so many symptoms in people with dysfunctional digestive systems, the reality is that many people jump from their meat-induced putrefied colons to something radically different, perhaps during Veganuary. Suddenly, they are consuming large amounts of foods that they are not used to, creating gas, fermentation, constipation and distention, and in many cases, pain. These symptoms can cause even enthusiastic plant-based converts to abandon the lifestyle. Various questionnaires over the years have shown how such converts sometimes give up on a plant-based diet within months or years.

Of course, recent plant-based converts can and do face other challenges, and there are many potential strategies they might use to support their journeys. Our solution is not a panacea, in the same way that meat and dairy replacements in fast food restaurants are not panaceas; however, our solution works really well alongside other strategies. It provides convenient, clean, nutritious food that helps people control portion sizes and re-educate their gut microbiome. Having developed 360 vegan food products over many decades, No Bloat is my proudest achievement yet.

To learn more about Heather and her work, visit her website. She will also be at the Plant Based World Expo in New York City from December 2–3, 2025.

References

1. Cedars Sinai. Acid reflux affects nearly a third of U.S. adults weekly. December 19, 2019. https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/acid-reflux-affects-nearly-a-third-of-us-adults-weekly/
2. Halmos EP, Power VA, Shepherd SJ, Gibson PR, Muir JG. A diet low in FODMAPs reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Gastroenterology. 2014;146(1):67-75.e5. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2013.09.046
3. Staudacher HM, Lomer MCE, Farquharson FM, et al. A Diet Low in FODMAPs Reduces Symptoms in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome and A Probiotic Restores Bifidobacterium Species: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Gastroenterology. 2017;153(4):936-947. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2017.06.010
4. van Lanen AS, de Bree A, Greyling A. Efficacy of a low-FODMAP diet in adult irritable bowel syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Nutr. 2021;60(6):3505-3522. doi:10.1007/s00394-020-02473-0
5. Dionne J, Ford AC, Yuan Y, et al. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Evaluating the Efficacy of a Gluten-Free Diet and a Low FODMAPs Diet in Treating Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Am J Gastroenterol. 2018;113(9):1290-1300. doi:10.1038/s41395-018-0195-4
6. Pedersen N, Ankersen DV, Felding M, et al. Low-FODMAP diet reduces irritable bowel symptoms in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. World J Gastroenterol. 2017;23(18):3356-3366. doi:10.3748/wjg.v23.i18.3356