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Here's what you can eat—and what to avoid.

When you experience symptoms like bloating, stomach pain, and diarrhea, it’s easy to assume you ate something funny and try to ride it out. But, when they don’t go away, it’s more than fair to wonder what exactly is going on with your digestive system. One possibility is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO. Certain foods can exacerbate the condition, so eating a SIBO-friendly diet is an important part of managing the gut condition.

First: SIBO occurs when you have too much bacteria in your small intestine—particularly the types of bacteria that aren’t normally found there, according to the Mayo Clinic. They can disrupt digestion and lead to malnutrition in the long run. It’s not clear how many people in the general population have SIBO, but the Cleveland Clinic cites estimates that up to 80 percent of people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which affects the large intestine, also deal with SIBO.

Structural problems in and around your small intestine, medical conditions like Crohn's disease, celiac disease, and diabetes, and certain abdominal surgeries can all raise your risk of developing this condition.

Because SIBO is a bacterial issue, it’s mainly treated with antibiotics prescribed by your doctor. However, eating the right diet, on top of taking the proper medication, can help. In general, you don’t necessarily need to follow a certain diet when you have SIBO—but you may feel more comfortable if you do. “There are certain foods that are harder to digest and can cause even more bloating and gas,” says Lea Ann Chen, MD, a gastroenterologist at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “Those can compound the symptoms, but they won’t necessarily change the amount of bacteria in your gut.”

So, what should you be eating when you have SIBO? Here’s everything you need to know, plus a comprehensive food list and sample meal plan to get you started.

If you want to try to make the process of healing from SIBO a little easier on yourself (and why wouldn’t you?), a low-FODMAP diet can help, says Richa Shukla, MD, an assistant professor of medicine-gastroenterology at the Baylor College of Medicine. FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols, which is a really long-winded way of naming types of foods that can upset your GI tract.

A low-FODMAP diet means you try to avoid foods that are labeled as high-FODMAP, such as milk, cheese, onion, garlic, wheat, and a slew of other things. (Your doctor should be able to help clue you in.) This eating plan involves doing your best to cut out high-FODMAP foods for several weeks to help your gut settle, Dr. Shukla says. Then, you slowly add back in high-FODMAP foods to see what your biggest triggers are.

If that feels like too much for you, Dr. Shukla recommends only eliminating the top five high-FODMAP foods you usually eat and working your way back from there. It's also better to navigate a low-FODMAP diet with the help of a nutritionist and/or gastroenterologist, as opposed to attempting to do it on your own.

The goal of following a low-FODMAP diet while you have SIBO isn’t to cure the condition itself, Dr. Chen points out. But research has shown that it can cut down on excess bloating and gas, toning down the discomfort while you're on the mend.

Again, food alone won’t make or break your SIBO treatment, but staying away from these high-FODMAP foods can ease your stomach pain and other SIBO symptoms:

“In general, these are high-fiber foods or foods that aren’t well digested or absorbed,” Dr. Chen says.

Low-FODMAP foods are best. There’s a huge list of these that includes the following:

These are generally lower in fiber than their high-FODMAP counterparts, Dr. Shukla explains.

There’s a lot of variety in here and, per Dr. Shukla, and you don’t necessarily need to cut out every single high-FODMAP. Here’s a sample three-day low-FODMAP diet, JIC you want to go all in, from Keri Gans, RD, the author of The Small Change Diet:

This is not a lifelong thing. “This is really about modifying things that may exacerbate your symptoms,” Dr. Chen says. “If you’ve taken antibiotics with SIBO and it’s cleared, you should be able to resume your normal diet.” Of course, everyone is slightly different, but Dr. Shukla says you can get back to your normal eating pattern after about three to four weeks.

In general, you'll know when your SIBO has cleared when your symptoms become milder, Dr. Chen says. But, if you've finished your course of antibiotics and they're still there, talk to your doctor about next steps.

Bottom line: A low-FODMAP diet is your best bet at reducing uncomfortable GI symptoms as you recover from SIBO. Cutting out certain foods may be hard, but you'll only have to do it until your condition is gone.

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