Today I’m going to show you how a confused 36-year-old working Mother, finally found useful direction to reverse Leaky Gut by using a sensible approach to Leaky Gut Diet.
Lisa is a 36-year-old Mother of two, works in a busy family restaurant in a City.
Her day begins at the restaurant at 6 AM and ends at 11 PM.
Because she and her husband had started a small family restaurant, both had to spend a lot of time at building and running the busy restaurant.
Because of her busy schedule, she did not pay much attention to her diet and meal timing.
She used to munch on whatever she could get hold of.
She would mostly consume Hot dogs, pizzas, pastries, carbonated beverages.
It had been 2 years since they started their family restaurant and Lisa began to experience some strange response whenever she used to eat anything.
Lisa’s leaky gut symptoms
After having any meal, she used to feel Bloated; Abdominal pain/ discomfort; Diarrhea; Flatulence; Weakness.
This change was strange and shocking to John as she had never experienced these symptoms earlier.
Lisa thought these symptoms were temporary and ignored during initial stages.
These symptoms grew day by day.
One day, she decided to invest some time to learn about the reason for her symptoms on Internet instead of consulting a holistic doctor or a Functional Medicine practitioner.
She browsed through and found that there were lot of diets recommended by almost everyone on the Internet.
Some were recommending Paleo diet, some Low FODMAP, some Fibre intake, some Prebiotics, some Probiotics, some Whole 30, some Gluten Free.
She was overwhelmed by the amount of information and the diets that majority of the health coaches and Nutrition professionals were recommending.
Lisa’s casual approach to treat her gut
Based on whatever information she got and learnt, she decided to take some Prebiotics and Fibre supplements.
But guess what, her problems aggravated.
She thought that taking Prebiotics and more Fibre would help minimize and stop her symptoms, but it worsened.
Now, she decides to try Gluten free diet thinking that a diet free of gluten would help her situation.
It did not help.
Lisa found herself in a helpless situation.
Based on her husband’s recommendation she consulted a doctor who recommended anti biotics.
She took Antibiotics and her symptoms reduced to a certain extent. But after the recommended dosage, her symptoms were back.
Lisa’s turning point
Finally, based on an advice from her best friend, she fixed an appointment with a Functional Practitioner who changed the course of her life.
On the day of her appointment the Practitioner carefully listened to what Lisa said about her last 3 years of her health journey.
This is how the conversation went between Lisa and Functional Medicine practitioner named Raj.
Raj: Lisa, there is nothing to worry but you need to take some actions which I would recommend.
Lisa: Sure Raj. What is it?
Raj: Lisa, we need to focus on your gut health and take actions to reverse your leaky gut.
Lisa: What? Leaky gut? Is it serious?
Raj: It is not a serious threat. It is reversable.
Raj: Unknowingly you have ignored the timing of your meals and the diet. Most of your diet is Inflammatory diet and it has led to all your symptoms.
Common misconception about leaky gut diet
Lisa: Really. I thought taking Prebiotics and Fibre supplements would help solve my symptoms.
Raj: Lisa, It’s not your fault. But they have aggravated your issues.
Raj: Many think that taking Prebiotics, fibre and Pro biotics would help solve their gut issues.
But, before that we need to know why you should take Prebiotics, Fibre and Probiotics and When.
Probiotics is live bacteria that you are putting into your Gut Eco System.
Prebiotics and Fibre act as food for a specific group of bacteria in your Gut Eco system.
Lisa’s aha moment..
But, in your case, you already have a Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth.
Meaning, you have more unwanted bacterial groups thriving in your gut eco system.
Prebiotics and Fibre are food for bacteria to thrive and that is what your supplements have done.
You have unknowingly increased unwanted bacterial groups instead of reducing them.
Lisa: Shocked. That was eye opening.
Raj: There’s more 🙂 You have also ignored your meal schedule.
Our Gut Eco system wakes up at a certain time in a day. Operates at certain intervals in a day and shuts down for most part of the day.
They operate according to their own Rhythm called the Circadian Rhythm.
But, in your case you are acting against the Rhythm of your body unknowingly.
Lisa: Oh my god. This is very interesting and helpful. Please go on Raj.
Raj: Ok Lisa. Before I come to a solution to your situation, I will tell you some of the Principles.
Leaky Gut Diet Principles
Lisa: Principles?
Raj: Yes. Everybody talks about diet. Everybody recommends some or the other diet for every other situation. But only few talks about diet principles.
Diet principles are the foundation of any diet. In case of Leaky Gut, I would recommend the following Diet Principles:
The best diet is no diet at all 🙂 meaning “Intermittent Fasting”
to be followed under doctor’s supervision only for a short duration of time
Too much of anything is too bad.
Eat to reduce Inflammation, meaning Anti Inflammatory Diet
Every “body”is different. There is no Universal diet that works for everybody.
- Develop self-awareness about your body.
- Is your body allergic or intolerant to any food source like dairy products (lactose), peanuts, or any other food source?
- If you don’t know you need to identify based on your body’s response.
- If you do know, then try to avoid until your body becomes tolerant or anti allergic to that food source.
Diet Principles continued…
Eat to balance your body’s blood sugar level.
Rotate your diet according to seasons.
- Do not stick to any diet 365 days of the year.
- Nature knows best when to provide what.
- Stay close to nature and in rhythm with nature.
- Meaning, change your diet according to the seasons and your body’s response.
Do not copy any other region’s or culture’s diet unless you live in that Eco system
- The land that you live in, especially the soil around you naturally enables growth of group of foods at certain times of the year.
- If olive grows naturally in the soil around you, then include olive in your diet.
- If coconut grows naturally in the soil around you, then include coconut in your diet.
- So, if you live in and around the Mediterranean region you need to include olive in your diet (if your body is not allergic to it)
- Similarly, if you live in South India you need to include coconut in your diet.
Always eat food in its most natural form (except for certain food types that need to be cooked)
Diet alone will not help. Having a happy and good lifestyle is very important too.
Restrictive Diets (Gluten Free, Paleo, Low FODMAP, Keto etc) should only be followed for a short duration (around 2 weeks) only upon Doctor’s advice or supervision especially for children. Period.
Lisa’s questions on diet to reverse leaky gut
Lisa: Wow. That was really mind blowing to me. I have heard of a lot of diets, but I have not heard or read a lot about Diet Principles.
Lisa: I understand all that and will adhere to going forward. But, what do you recommend me to follow as a solution to my Leaky Gut problem?
What about the diets that I followed and what about so many diets that are being helpful to many people?
Raj: Let me explain…
As I said earlier, one of the diet principles is “Not every diet works for everyone”. Everybody is different and responds differently to the same diet at different regions and different times of the year.
Research says that Gluten Free diet works for people who have a celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.
Lisa’s diet plan to reverse leaky gut
In your case, you need to follow 4 steps:
- Intermittent Fasting (For a week)
- Heal Gut lining with Bone Broth (along with Anti Inflammatory food)
- Stop Prebiotics, Fibre and Probiotics
- After a week, we shall start with Low FODMAP for 2 weeks.
We shall monitor your body’s response through out and make suitable changes when required.
Lisa: But Intermittent fasting is not a properly researched area. There is research from Cancer Research Centre that confirms Intermittent fasting is not the best approach.
Raj: I agree. Can you remember my first Diet Principle? I said Intermittent fasting must be done with doctor’s supervision and only for a short interval.
Can you also remember my second Diet principle? “Too much of anything is too bad” (especially if followed daily)
So, we are adhering to both the principles 🙂
We shall follow Intermittent fasting along with Bone Broth for a week and then switch to Low FODMAP diet for 2 weeks.
Clearing the Bone Broth Confusion
Lisa: Bone Broth? I heard that consuming Bone Broth will lead to increased consumption of lead. Some research suggests that as well.
Raj: It is true that there was some Research that was done on Bone Broth which focused on the metal intake. It is questionable as well. (Shared in the Reference section of this Blog post)
Bone Broth prepared from Organically grown meat, when cooked with Anti Inflammatory vegetables for long is good for your leaky gut.
Bone Broth contains collagen which when broken down by human body leads to an Amino acid called Glycine.
Glycine is Anti Inflammatory. Meaning it is good to reverse the Inflammation in your gut.
So, there is nothing wrong in trying a good Bone Broth for a week.
And then, we shall follow a LOW FODMAP diet in your case to reduce unwanted bacteria in your Leaky Gut.
But again, we shall follow it only for a couple of weeks and watch your body’s response.
Then we shall switch over to Anti Inflammatory diet.
What about Low FODMAP to reverse leaky gut
Low FODMAP is not a universal solution to all Leaky Gut problems.
Raj performed some preliminary tests before he figured out the actual root cause of Lisa’s problem and concluded that she had SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial overgrowth).
His first step was to reduce the unwanted bacterial colonies in her gut and heal her gut.
Then, as a long-term solution, he recommended Anti Inflammatory diet.
Anti-Inflammatory diet comes in various forms and is not universal again.
Lot of factors come into play when recommending diet as a solution for leaky gut.
Your body type, your body’s response, local grown seasonal rotation of Anti-Inflammatory food groups etc.
Interested to know more?
If you are interested to know more about the Leaky gut diet approach, I would recommend reading the best book I have read so far related to this post Healthy Gut Healthy You
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I may earn small commissions from qualifying purchases from Amazon.
Reference
- Bone Broth and Lead Contamination
- Happiness Quotient
- Gluten Free Diet
- Long term gluten consumption in adults without celiac disease
- Efficacy of the low FODMAP diet for treating IBS
- Controversies and Recent Developments of the Low-FODMAP Diet
- SIBO – Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth
- Beneficial Effect of Nonessential Amino Acid, Glycine
Conclusion
Which diet to follow is not a right question to start with if you want to get rid of your Leaky gut problems?
What is your body’s response to certain foods?
Is your body allergic or Intolerant to any specific food group? Inflammation is the root cause of majority of gut issues.
Following the Diet principles is more important than any specific diet.
Restrictive diets need to be followed only under doctor’s supervision and only for a short interval of time. Cannot stress that enough.
What do you think about the Leaky Gut Diet Approach to reverse leaky gut outlined in this post?
Have you used any other approach?
In either case please do comment and share for the benefit of others.
