How to do the elemental diet for SIBO

Mary, my recent SIBO success story shares her experience in beating Methane overgrowth with the elemental diet.

The elemental diet is an option for clearing SIBO when herbs or antibiotics don’t work. I’ve had several clients clear SIBO with the elemental diet when herbs were not effective.

The elemental diet is psychologically challenging because it’s a liquid diet that lasts 14 days or more rarely, 21 days for difficult cases.

The thought of not eating for 14 days is scary for many people, but in some cases the elemental diet may be more nutritious than real food when digestion is weak.

But you don’t need to fear starving, the elemental diet provides complete nutrition alone with vitamins and minerals. It’s just a bit boring, time consuming and disruptive. It contains all the macronutrients you need (protein, carbs and fat) broken down into its simplest form so it doesn’t need to be digested.

After it’s consumed, it’s then absorbed in the small intestine, nourishing you instead of the bacterial overgrowth .

The cons of the elemental diet is that it is full of simple carbs and could feed a yeast overgrowth.

To decrease the chance of this happening there is a dextrose free formula that I recommended for my client Mary. I also told her to sip the shake slowly to not spike blood sugar.

She still had issues with yeast overgrowth, so I recommended an antifungal supplement to counterbalance that.

It is always suggested to do an elemental diet under the guidance of a practitioner to troubleshoot any issues that come up. Support is very important.

And when done correctly, it can turn a multi month supplement protocol into a 2 to 3-week liquid diet protocol.

Mary’s success methane story

Mary cleared her methane overgrowth with a 14 day elemental diet after a few failed attempts with and reactions to herbs. We decided to try the elemental diet and it worked beautifully, banishing her bloating and constipation.

She’s sharing her experience below to demystify the elemental diet, which makes it more approachable. I hope it helps if you’re considering this approach.

You can get elemental formula here. After quickly creating an account, search for Physicians Elemental Formula. And make sure you are working with someone skilled to supervise you. This is very important.

I also suggest buying a small bag first to see if you like the formula. It is quite clean and palatable but not everyone likes it.

I have a few recipes in my spring and summer cookbook and SIBO rescue guide for an elemental shake using the Physicians Elemental Formula and a DIY version that won’t work for a full diet but can help with a flare.

Mary’s elemental diet experience in her own words

“I had been unsuccessful beating Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) with herbs.

Angela recommended an elemental diet. I bought 6 or 7 bags of the medical food from Integrative Therapeutics Physicians elemental diet. Each shake was approx 120 calories, so I needed to consume 12-13 shakes per day to maintain my weight (1500 calories per day).

The Elemental Diet philosophy is to let the small Intestine rest from the rigors of digestion and basically heal itself. The Elemental diet is made up of amino acids which are considered “pre-digested” since they’re the building blocks of all foods.

The small intestine has to do very little work to digest this food, so it can concentrate on strengthening the immune system and flushing out what’s not supposed to be there (bad bugs). The elemental diet starves hydrogen and methane so it dies and gets flushed from the system.

Some basics:
1. I weighed in each morning at the same time.
2. I weighed in each evening at the same time (to see if I’d lost weight throughout the day).
3. I set a timer for 3 minutes and took a sip every 3 minutes…to pace myself so I wouldn’t drink too fast. This also helped my small intestine “rest” because I wasn’t consuming too much at a time.
4. I started the program weighing 120.8 pounds and ended it weighing 118.8 pounds.

Day 1: This day was pretty “easy” because I was excited about getting better. I made half of my shakes in the morning and I added one scoop of powder per 12 oz of water. I made 4 servings at a time in a blender and poured them into 4 containers. I labeled each with a time so I knew which one to drink next and could keep track of how many shakes I drank. 12 oz of water was a little sweet, for me, so I increased the water to 16 oz the second 6 shakes. I drank one of the shakes too fast and got a stomach ache. This is when I decided to set a 3 minute timer.

Day 2: Very similar to Day 1 – didn’t lose weight. I added the elemental diet to decaffeinated coffee in the morning and that helped break up the monotony! I also added ice after I made one of the afternoon shakes so I could make a slushy. That helped me have the satiety of “chewing” something! I did this periodically so as not to feel “starved”.

Day 3: I got very hungry this afternoon and decided to try the Chocolate Elemental Heal (not from Integrative Therapeutics) I’d bought earlier. Having another flavor really helped me be successful. Each afternoon, I’d have a chocolate shake to “spice” things up. I noticed that I began to have ulcer like sores in my mouth and my Chilblain acted up (in my fingers – began itching) and told Angela – she recommended a anti-microbial supplement – Yeastonil to help counter it all of it. She also told me that that should go away once I stopped the elemental diet.

Day 4: I began having Diarrhea and Angela told me she thought it was a die-off reaction.

Day 5-9: Consistent diarrhea. I was concerned about losing weight, so Angela recommended I add beef broth and/or MCT oil to the shakes. Both of those seemed to worsen the diarrhea, so I just stuck with the shakes.

Day 10-14: Got in a rhythm and listen to Dr. Allison Siebecker’s podcasts on Elemental Diets (found on the Listen to Your Gut website). When she confirmed that the diarrhea was normal and expected, I was able to relax. I highly recommend listening to podcasts for additional support.

I had to slowly reintegrate food – very slowly. 80% elemental diet and 20% food (rice, eggs) on Day 15, 60 % ed/40% food Day 16, 50/50 Day 17 and so on.

I re-took the SIBO test and it showed my Methane had gone from 81ppm to 8ppm! Hurray!!

Since beating SIBO, my gut health has gotten slowly and consistently gotten better.

I also feel more freedom in my eating – which is HUGE!! I’ve been able to think about food differently – knowing that avoiding certain foods is a given and it will only improve my overall health. Much of the time, I don’t feel deprived in avoiding the foods that make my gut unhealthy like gluten and diary.

Because I have gotten my health back I love spending time with my husband and kids, playing cards/games with them, walking/exercising/yoga, COOKING, reading, spending time with friends, throwing the ball with my dogs, and watching my kids grow up!

I recently had my 50th birthday party and was able to indulge in cake and other treats without a big flare up from my gut.”

Mary’s story is about perseverance

As a health coach, I love to share Mary’s success story to show that SIBO is not impossible to beat if you don’t give up and keep trying new things.

Different things work for different people. And sometimes a combination of approaches work best.

While a full elemental diet may not be sustainable for some people, there are choices in between: like combining a partial elemental diet with herbs and also strategically using antibiotics (with the right gut support).

I go in depth about how to do that in my SIBO rescue guide. Where I provide all the information you need to beat SIBO for good.