Toots & Trots / Who it's for

Who Toots & Trots is for

If your gut is sensitive, surgically altered, or just unpredictable, Toots & Trots gives you a consistent way to compare foods. The goal is the same for everyone — fewer surprises — but different situations lean on different parts of the score.

None of the following is medical advice. Conditions like Crohn's, colitis and pouchitis are driven by inflammation, and a stoma blockage or dehydration is a medical problem — a food score helps with day-to-day comfort, it doesn't treat any of that. Work with your own clinical team.

J-pouch (ileo-anal pouch / IPAA)

Built for this first. After the colon is removed and a pouch is formed, output is naturally more frequent and looser, and tolerance keeps shifting for the first 6–18 months as the pouch adapts.

Axes that matter most: Stool-loosening (S), Gas (G) and Binding (B) usually matter most; Particle load (P) early on.

•Early after takedown, lean low-residue and low-FODMAP to settle frequency, urgency, night-time output and gas.
•Use binding foods (rice, potato, banana, smooth oats) deliberately to thicken output.
•As the pouch matures, widen the diet rather than staying restricted forever.

How to tailor it: Use Adaptation mode in the early months, then switch toward Long-Term Health mode as you settle. Set fat, FODMAPs and any trigger spices in your profile. Pouchitis, blockage and dehydration are medical issues — score food for comfort, but get those checked.

Ileostomy (and high-output stoma)

Very similar goals to a pouch — slowing and thickening output, staying hydrated, and managing gas. An ileostomy also adds a specific concern a pouch doesn't: the outlet is narrow, so coarse, fibrous, stringy foods can risk a blockage.

Axes that matter most: Particle load (P) for blockage risk, Stool-loosening (S) and Binding (B) for output control.

•Watch the Particle load axis closely — raw skins, stringy veg, sweetcorn, nuts and mushrooms are classic blockage culprits; chew well and favour soft-cooked, peeled forms.
•Use binding foods and reduce loosening foods to manage a high-output stoma.
•Hydration and salt matter more than the score can show — a watery output is a fluids problem, not just a food one.

How to tailor it: Treat the P (Particle load) column as your blockage radar and the S and B axes as your output-thickness dial. Adaptation mode suits a new or high-output stoma. If you ever have stoma pain with no output, that's a medical emergency — not something to manage with a food score.

Colostomy

The one that works the other way round. With a colostomy, part of the colon is still doing its job, so water still gets taken out along the way and output is usually formed or soft rather than liquid. That flips a lot of this site on its head: the day-to-day problem is more often wind, or things being too slow, than output being too fast.

Axes that matter most: Gas (G) most of the time. Stool-loosening (S) read the other way up if things are too slow — a high S becomes the thing you're looking for rather than the thing you're watching. Particle load (P) still counts, but less than with an ileostomy.

•Wind is the most common complaint, so the Gas axis is the one to lean on. Onion, garlic, beans, fizzy drinks and the sugar alcohols in sugar-free products are the usual suspects, and they're all scored.
•If things are slow rather than fast, read the Stool-loosening axis as a help rather than a hazard — and check how a food gets there, because something that loosens by fermenting will bring wind with it.
•Blockage is less of a worry than with an ileostomy, because the outlet is wider and output is formed. Chewing well and soft-cooking the coarse, stringy things still makes life easier.

How to tailor it: Long-Term Health mode suits most people with a colostomy better than Adaptation mode, which is tuned for output that's too loose. Set lactose, FODMAPs and any trigger spices in your profile. The four ways food loosens you is the page to read if things are too slow. One honest limit: we score wind, but we don't score smell — the evidence isn't good enough to put a number on it. Irrigation, appliance trouble and any change in your output are questions for your stoma nurse, not a food score.

Crohn's disease

Toots & Trots helps with day-to-day symptoms, not the underlying inflammation. It's most useful during flares and for anyone with a narrowed segment (a stricture), where coarse, high-residue food can be genuinely risky.

Axes that matter most: Particle load (P) with strictures; Gas (G), Agitation (A) and Stool-loosening (S) in a flare.

•With a known stricture, keep Particle load low — soft, peeled, well-cooked, low-fibre — and follow your team's guidance on residue.
•In a flare, gentler-scoring foods can ease symptom load while your treatment does the real work.
•In remission, broaden the diet; restriction is a tool, not a destination.

How to tailor it: Use Adaptation mode during flares or with a stricture for the lowest-residue picks, and set fat and FODMAPs to taste. Crucially: Toots & Trotsdoes nothing for inflammation — it won't replace your medication, and worsening symptoms need clinical review.

Ulcerative colitis

Diet doesn't cause or cure UC, but during a flare, lower-residue and lower-FODMAP eating can reduce urgency, frequency and cramping while treatment takes effect.

Axes that matter most: Stool-loosening (S) and Agitation (A) in a flare; Gas (G) for bloating.

•In a flare, favour gentle, binding, lower-residue foods to ease frequency and urgency.
•Between flares, eat as varied a diet as you comfortably tolerate.
•Many people with UC also have IBS-type symptoms — the FODMAP and trigger tools help there.

How to tailor it: Lean on Adaptation mode and the loosening/agitation axes in a flare. As with all IBD, treat the score as comfort guidance layered on top of your medical care, not instead of it.

IBS & low-FODMAP eaters

This is where the FODMAP evidence is strongest. If diarrhoea-predominant IBS (IBS-D) or fermentation is your main problem, the Gas, Stool-loosening and Agitation axes map closely onto what you already track.

Axes that matter most: Gas (G) and Stool-loosening (S) for IBS-D; Agitation (A) for trigger foods.

•Use the Gas axis as a quick proxy for FODMAP load when comparing foods.
•Set lactose, polyols, caffeine and overall FODMAP sensitivity in your profile to personalise.
•If your IBS is constipation-predominant (IBS-C), note that Toots & Trots is tuned toward calming loose, urgent output — some 'gentle' low-residue picks may not suit you, so weight the binding axis less.

How to tailor it: Set your FODMAP and intolerance filters in the profile and use the Gas column as a fermentability shortcut. A structured low-FODMAP elimination-and-reintroduction is best done with a dietitian — Toots & Trots is a comparison aid, not the protocol.

Don't see a way to tailor it for you?

We're actively expanding how the tool adapts — for example, weighting the Particle-load axis more heavily for stoma blockage risk, or easing the binding emphasis for constipation-predominant IBS. If your situation needs a knob we don't have yet, that's useful feedback.

How the scores are built →FAQ →Set up your profile →

Written and checked from lived experience with a J-pouch. Last updated June 2026. The GASP Score is a modelled estimate, not medical advice — always work alongside your own clinical team.