dieting & Gut health

👉🏼 It is way beyond common to have some sort of gut-related issues. While some bloating after meals and at the end of the day is perfectly normal, serious gut concerns have become too frequent.

 👉🏼 Our gut is like a world of its own, which hosts multiple populations of different gut bacteria, all of which have different functions and aid in the digestion of different foods.

 👉🏼 Dieting results in a depletion of various gut bacteria populations. This is because as we stop eating all the “banned” foods, those populations don’t get the fibres they feed on and die. Next time you eat those foods and wonder why you’re feeling so bad, don’t rush to blame the food. It’s because the bacteria that is meant to digest and absorb those foods is not there.

 👉🏼 Ironically, when dieters start feeling bloated 24/7 what appears to be for no reason, they are quick to cut out even more food groups, whether due to completely self-diagnosed intolerances or due to dodgy home intolerance test kit results (check out my recent post on this).

 👉🏼 This further exacerbates the problem, while gut discomfort often leads to lower body confidence, so the dieting and disliking yourself cycle goes on.

 👉🏼 I’m not saying that real gut problems don’t exist and also not saying it’s your fault for ruining your gut, but very often it’s not food’s fault either. It’s generations of diet culture systemically hiding in everything that is to blame. 

 Have you ever thought about it this way?