My dietary staples for digestive health

The biggest change I made since having and getting rid of SIBO last year was to cut gluten out of my diet 100 percent of the time.

Before that I ate gluten occasionally when going out to eat. And if I wanted a slice of pizza once a month I didn’t think much about eating one.

I never thought I had a problem with gluten because I never reacted to eating it. But after I cut it out for 8 month and accidentally ate it on a chi gong retreat, I found out I was mistaken. The next day my body expelled the gluten violently with diarrhea.

I wasn’t 100 percent sure it was the gluten. So I ate it again to test the theory. And the same thing happened.

When you are eating something that you are sensitive to, often your body finds a way to adapt, quietly absorbing the insult without much sign. But when you avoid the insulting food long enough to heal the inflammatory response (in my case the inflammation was silent) your body will send you a much clearer signal if it is indeed sensitive to that food.

And it may have been coincidence that I developed SIBO after a week long Xmas binge on processed white sugar and gluten products. And for me binging means eating both every day, as opposed to rarely.

For some people, a gluten-free life is one of suffering and deprivation, but it doesn’t have to be. So many amazing products are available now that are both tasty, gluten free and grain free. That means a happy mouth and tummy.

Don’t make this common mistake

Lots of gluten-free folks turn to processed, gluten-free versions of their favorite foods and wonder why they’re not feeling better. Gluten-free breads, pancakes and pastas are highly processed and still contain grains full of lectins, a protein that damages sensitive digestive tracts.

Clean, grain-free products are the way to go. I’m sharing my favorites here. Gut healthy foods that will satisfy the craving for bread, chips or tortillas. There’s even grain-free pasta.

After beating SIBO, I now eat high FODMAP foods and dairy with no problems. To make sure that SIBO does not return I avoid refined sugar and gluten.

Instead I eat these nachos, quesadillas, fish tacos and lox and cream cheese slathered “bagels”.

My grain free replacement for bread

The Paleo market has exploded, which means you can have your grain-free cake and eat it too. It is more expensive than the conventional versions, but you shouldn’t be eating a ton of these foods anyway. They should just be a treat.

This is my favorite Paleo bread mix. I’ve made bread from scratch, but this box mix cuts time and effort in the kitchen which is awesome. Add eggs, oil and apple cider vinegar, mix with a fork and bake. I usually make rolls in my silicon muffin tins, but you can make a loaf or flat bread.

For those who have egg allergies I suggest baking your own bread or tortillas from this amazing cassava flour (recipes are on the bag or all over the Internet and require adding only water and oil). Cassava flour is made from cassava root (also called yuca) which is a FODMAP friendly root veggie. It looks just like wheat flour, and can replace wheat flour one-to-one in any recipe.

The same company also makes pancake and waffle mix , sweet muffin mixes and cake mixes for special occasions!

They also make a pizza dough mix and crackers from almonds, tapioca flour and cassava flour.

Why feel deprived when you can have these?

Grain free pasta

Cassava flour makes grain-free pasta taste really good.  a lot like the real thing due to cassava flour. My favorite grain-free pasta company makes lasagna, gnocci and fettuccine that cook in minutes and can be frozen. You can buy in bulk and keep frozen until that special occasion.

I can’t recommend eating pasta on a healing diet, however this stuff is a million times better than the gluten or gluten-free versions. This is a great option for adding to a gut-healthy diet after the digestive system has been healed. Eating this way is how you keep it that way.

Grain free tortillas and chips

This company has changed the Mexican food game for the Paleo market. While corn is gluten-free, it’s mostly GMO, highly allergenic, high in natural sugars/carbs and can be inflammatory for some. I don’t recommend eating it regularly.

The grain-free almond tortillas and cassava tortilla chips are the best. They taste better than the originals.

What about sugar cravings?

I’ve got you covered for grain-free versions of your favorite foods, so let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

Sugar.

This is the hardest addiction to kick. People with candida yeast or SIBO overgrowth may experience intense cravings because these intestinal over growths are always demanding food!

When sugar cravings strike my go to solution also helps fight SIBO and candida. Coconut butter.

Coconut is antibacterial and anti-fungal so it fights guts over growths while still tasting creamy and rich.This is my favorite brand of coconut butter.

You can eat it out of the jar with a spoon or melt it and make treats out of it like my anti-inflammatory golden cups. The healthy fat content and subtle sweetness of coconut will satisfy the worst sugar cravings.

Yes you can have cereal and milk!

Cereal and milk is one of those tasty, convenient and nostalgic childhood foods that had to be left behind on the Paleo diet.

But no more.

I found a grain-free, lower-carb cereal made from coconut meat, coconut water and palm starch. It’s called Paleo Flakes and you can find it at Thrive Market. If you don’t know about Thrive Market, it is the best way to save money on natural food products online. And you get a 25% discount on your first order.

To be clear, I don’t think that these alternative product should make up a large part of your diet. But I do think that they make a great alternative to totally cheating and going off the rails. When working hard to fix your gut ecology, cheating can really throw you back to square 1, erasing all your hard work by restarting the inflammation cycle.

Switching to these grain-free, gluten-free, lower carb alternatives is a form of harm reduction. So you still feel like you can have some fun, comfort foods in your diet, while staying on a healing track.

The mainstay of your diet should be veggies, bone broths, fruit, nuts and seeds, animal protein and healthy fats.

The trouble with milk is Lactose is a milk sugar. And did you know that lactose-free milk is just regular milk with an enzyme added that helps you digest the lactose. Pretty sketchy is you ask me.

If you are also looking for a milk replacement (lactose is a sugar that’s not great for your gut) here’s a link to my recipe for homemade low-FODMAP dairy free milk.

You can substitute any nut or seed in this recipe. Macadamia nuts are the lowest in carbs and lowest in FODMAPs. The secret to making these milks irresistibly delicious is to use coconut water instead of regular water. This is my favorite brand because it has no additives or sugars and is naturally sweet.

How to get these foods are lower cost

You can buy most of the products I mentioned at Thrive Market at up to 30% off. And if you use this link to get a free 30 day membership and you also get 25% off your first order. And shipping is free for orders over $49. If you want to use Thrive for a year the membership fee is $60. If you don’t like it you can cancel in the first 30 days with no fees.

Thrive is where I buy my grass fed collagen at a discount.