Decoding Your Digestive Symptoms
Eating what I believed to be healthy food has always been part of my life. I grew up eating garden fresh veggies, whole grains, and summers picking fresh fruit from local farms. But what do you do when all the fresh, healthy food fights back and you feel terrible when you eat this so-called healthy food? Why would all the healthy foods be so irritating to someone’s digestion?
Let's get one thing cleared up first…
There are a lot of healthy foods out there but not all healthy foods are right for your body.
So what gets defined as healthy anyway?
Most of us could probably agree that “healthy” foods tend to be: high in vitamins and minerals, low in simple carbohydrates and sugar, and great sources of fiber and healthy fats. Some of these healthy food categories include:
Organic vegetables
Organic grains
Organic meats, poultry, wild-caught fish
Organic nuts, seeds, beans and legumes
Yet, not all of these foods in these categories are right for my body and they may not be right for you either.
I’ve personally experienced this many times in my life as my body (and digestive system) have changed over time.
In my last blog post, we talked about eating for your microbiome and that each color of food is feeding the microbiome in different ways; increasing the variety and amount of vegetables and fruits from the rainbow of colors into your diet.
But this way of eating is not always right for everyone.
For some people, they have underlying health conditions or digestive imbalances that make eating a large variety of fresh foods difficult. Oftentimes, eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, or whole grains brings on extensive digestive dysfunction.
Have you ever experienced this?
You’ve worked really hard in your adult life to eat fresh produce, either cooked or raw, but now after every meal you are feeling bloated, gassy, feeling like food is just sitting in your stomach, or you end up with diarrhea or constipation. Not only does your stomach hurt, but you’re not sleeping well at night. You've noticed an undercurrent of anxiety or agitation that is not improved by going to yoga class.
So then you try eliminating some of the foods, you think you have it figured out and then the cycle starts all over again. Pretty soon, your list of “safe” foods has dwindled down to a short list of foods you can eat and it's getting smaller all the time.
Or, you don’t know what the cause of all the bloating, gas, and digestive dysfunction is from. You keep trying new things and nothing is bringing you relief. You’re frustrated, overwhelmed, and don’t know what you should try next.
I understand how frustrating this can be. I’ve been in your shoes. Walking through the grocery store, not knowing what to eat. Feeling depressed that you can’t enjoy food like everyone else. You can no longer tolerate the favorite foods you used to love to eat. And trying to eat out at a restaurant feels like russian roulette.
So what can you do when so many foods cause so much discomfort?
As you have probably experienced, taking irritating foods out of your diet is often where people start. But how do you know which are the right foods to eat versus the irritating foods to avoid? Or, you tried eliminating foods in the past and haven’t had success.
This is where functional nutrition lab testing helps to decode the unexplained symptoms of your digestive health.
For the past 7 years, I have been studying herbalism and using basic food elimination diets to help clients improve their digestion. Removing the top allergens: gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, and corn, monitoring symptoms and removing other foods as identified we were able to pinpoint specific irritants in the diet from symptoms alone. We had some success, but it always felt like elimination was the end point of success. Or some people struggled to find relief despite eliminating the most common food irritants. But despite all the work with herbal digestive supports, it seemed like the foods eliminated had to stay out of the diet forever. And eventually, new sensitivities started showing up. This wasn’t what I wanted for any of my clients. Plus they always struggled in social situations to not feel like a burden to others because of their food limitations. It wasn’t until I started learning about functional nutrition lab testing with the GI-MAP and the MRT, that I found success for my clients. Both tests pair well together, along with a food log, to help decode the messages your body has been sending related to your digestive health and food sensitivities. Through this testing I am able to better evaluate how you are digesting your food, the balance of the good bacteria vs opportunistic bacteria in your microbiome, the presence of infections such as H. pylori, yeast overgrowth, parasites or worms. With the MRT, I am able to find the foods that are causing inflammation and help you focus on the right food for your body. After this nutritional lab assessment, I work with clients to restore the balance of their digestive system. Building strength in their digestive capacity over time and eventually work to bring back foods that they’ve once avoided.
When I ran the tests on myself, I had no idea that avocados and cauliflower were part of my digestive struggles. I would have never thought to take them out of my diet. I wasn’t seeing an immediate connection between eating those foods and the symptoms I was feeling. Running the MRT shed light on many foods that were causing inflammation in my gut. The GI-MAP showed where I needed to support my digestion so I could give targeted support to relieve the irritation and inflammation. Removing the inflammatory foods gave me a huge “ah-ha” moment when the underlying inflammation went away. Not only did my stomach feel better, my whole body felt better. Using herbal teas and supplements along with targeted food elimination gave my gut time to heal. Bringing foods back into my diet has been so enjoyable and knowing that I have control over my symptoms.
If you have tried every diet and they haven’t worked, feel like you “eat healthy” but are not getting the results you want, or feel just plain stuck when trying to improve your health then it's likely because there is a difference between eating healthy and eating right for your body.
You too have the ability to tap into your body’s innate healing ability.
You are not broken, your body does not hate you.
Your symptoms are messages from your body, to you, asking for help.
These are the 2 main tools I use with my clients in the process of decoding what foods are right for their bodies:
1. Food and Body Language Log
If you haven’t already tried this, I want you to tune into your body when you eat. Get out of autopilot and start connecting with how food makes you feel. Reactions to food can happen immediately or be delayed as long as 72 hours. They can show up in various ways too, not just stomach upset.
Using the food and body language log, track 6 - 10 meals and snacks over the next several days. Select the graph that most aligns with the ratio of protein, carbs and health fats from your meal or snack. In this food log, all fruits, vegetables, and grains are lumped into the “carbs” section. After eating, check in with yourself 30 minutes to 2 hours later to assess your mood, energy, and how your body physically feels. If you feel anxious, tired, bloated, gassy or just “off,” this could be a result of something you ate. These same symptoms can also show up over the course of 3 days after eating something that doesn’t agree with you. Follow the Food and Body Language Log for each meal, marking the sections for satisfaction, energy and mood, paying attention to both positive and negative reactions you have. If your symptoms come and go, start tracking them along with what you ate to see what you can correlate. This log will help you dial in the right ratios for proteins, carbs and fats that your body needs to feel its best.
2. Test Don’t Guess
Tuning into your body to find out what foods support your body the best is important, but sometimes the messages from your body may not be super clear. Food sensitivity testing, as I previously talked about, can help pinpoint exactly what foods your body is reacting to so you can be empowered to support your body with the foods you need. Generally, food sensitivities are a result of having a leaky gut and they only need to be avoided for a period of time to help the gut heal. Once your digestion is in a better place, you can retest your food sensitivities to see which ones can be added back in, and which ones still might not be right for your body.
I want to help you decode the missing pieces of your health journey, to get the answers that you’ve been searching for, so you can live life fully with the ones you love.
And let's find the foods that are right for your body, build your foundation of health, so you can keep showing up for the life you love.
If you'd like to further discuss your health concerns, book your pathway to whole-body health strategy session here.
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