Custom Food Challenges

Custom Challenges in the FoodMarble App

If you’ve ever wondered “Can I really eat this food?” — custom challenges are for you.

Custom Challenges give you the flexibility to test real foods in real portions, helping you discover your personal tolerance. Instead of cutting foods out entirely, you’ll learn what amount works for your body. This puts you in control — and helps you enjoy a more varied, less restrictive diet with confidence.

What is a Custom Challenge?

A custom challenge is a structured test designed to measure your personal response to a specific food. It works just like the standard food intolerance challenges, with a few key differences:

Preparation:

• Eat a low FODMAP diet the day before.
• Fast for about 12 hours before starting (usually overnight).

Challenge Day:

• Instead of taking a standard FODMAP test packet, you eat a food of your choice in a chosen portion size (e.g. one Pink Lady apple, 100g of cooked leek, or a glass of milk).
• You log the food and portion size in the app.

Testing:

• Just like a standard challenge, you’ll be prompted to take a breath test every 15 minutes over a 3-hour period.
• At the end, your results appear in the app, showing whether the food triggered fermentation in your gut.

💡 Think of it as a safe, structured way to answer your “what if” questions about food.

Who Should Try a Custom Challenge?

Custom challenges can help at different stages of your journey:

Beginners: If you’re new to FoodMarble and not ready to start with the full intolerance tests, you can use a custom challenge to test a food you regularly eat but suspect causes symptoms (e.g. garlic, leeks, apples, beans).

After Completing the Four Standard Tests:

If you’ve already tested Lactose, Fructose, Sorbitol, and Inulin, custom challenges are a natural next step.

Custom Challenges let you go deeper, exploring:

• How much of a food you can tolerate (your personal threshold).
• Which additional FODMAPs, like FOS, GOS, or Mannitol, may affect you.

For example, if your lactose challenge showed a high result, that doesn’t necessarily mean you must avoid lactose completely. Instead, you can run custom challenges with smaller amounts (like one glass of milk instead of two) to find out how much you can handle without symptoms.

Finding Your Personal Tolerance

Tolerance to FODMAPs is rarely “all or nothing.” Most people can handle at least a small amount of any given FODMAP — the challenge is discovering your personal threshold.

Take lactose as an example:

• The lactose test pack contains 25g of lactose (about the same as two large glasses of milk).
• If this triggered high readings and symptoms, you might try a custom challenge with just one glass of milk.
• If that’s well tolerated, you could gradually test higher amounts.
• If even a smaller portion triggers symptoms, you may want to test with less — or adjust how and when you consume lactose-containing foods.

💡 This step-by-step approach gives you real-world answers — so you don’t have to cut out foods unnecessarily.

Why Custom Challenges Matter

A diverse, plant-rich diet supports a healthy gut microbiome. Vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and seeds are vital for long-term health — but many also contain FODMAPs.

That’s where custom challenges shine:

• They help you identify which foods you can keep in your diet (and in what amounts).
• They allow you to test real foods in real portions instead of only powders.
• They give you clarity, so you can enjoy a diet that’s both nutritious and comfortable.

Key Takeaway

Custom challenges are a practical, flexible way to help you personalize and enhance your diet, particularly if you've been restricting a lot of foods.

They empower you to:

• Identify trigger foods
• Discover your individual tolerance thresholds
• Keep your diet as varied and nutritious as possible

✨ Instead of asking “what should I avoid?” you’ll start asking “how much can I enjoy?” — and that’s a powerful shift.

Updated on: 01/09/2025