“What is the ONE food to eliminate if you want to heal your gut?”
I get asked some version of this question maybe once a month, and I’ll be honest with you: it drives me nuts. Because there is no ONE food that is going to alleviate all digestive distress. It reeks of the magic-pill-seeking, single-solution-to-complex-problem kind of thinking that gets in the way of true healing.
That said, while there is no one single food to eliminate that will heal your gut, there is one food that if you do not eliminate it, will prevent you from full healing no matter what else you do.
Any guesses?
I share what it is and why it needs to be eliminated in this video:
If you’ve already removed gluten from your diet, please share in the comments below the effects it’s had on your health.
I have tried eliminating gluten from my diet on several occasions. Personally it makes me feel awful. My body apparently likes gluten. When I eliminate it I gain weight because I am always hungry, I am now too with gluten but when i don’t eat gluten i feel miserable. No satisfaction, no energy. I’m very athletic and expend a lot of calories. And it didn’t change the interesting behavior of my gut either. I have been tested for everything under the sun. So gluten it back in my diet.
Teri, I’d be really curious of a couple of things: 1) how long have you gone without it? Have you heard of gluteomorphin? (also called gliadorphin) It’s a compound released when gluten is processed and for some people with compromised gut lining, these peptides can leak out of the gut, then attach to opiate receptors in the brain. When that happens, going off of gluten is a much more severe and intense process, because it is like going through full-blown drug-addiction-withdrawal. People with this situation often feel far, far worse going off gluten in the short term, and have to get past that initial process. 2) For the calories – there’s a lot of other ways to get your calories than gluten. Even if you tried g-free grains like rice, buckwheat, quinoa, for example, there should be lots of options. I, too, am very active (currently training for a marathon) and have been dedicated g-free for 5+ years, so there’s absolutely a way, but you need to consciously replace it, not just remove something. Maybe you’ve thought of these pieces already, but just wanted to add to your thinking.