A ‘Healthy Diet’ May Harm Your Gut
We’ve all heard the phrase “eat more greens” but for one of my clients, that well-intentioned advice was making her gut health worse.
When Sarah (not her real name) first came to see me, she was at her wit’s end. She had bloating, cramping and constant abdominal pain that seemed to appear no matter what she ate. She’d done all the right things: cut out processed foods, avoided sugar and gluten and filled her plate with vegetables.
Every day for lunch, she proudly ate what she called her ‘super clean kale salad’ – raw kale, cabbage, nuts and olive oil. It looked healthy but her gut was struggling.
Why Was Her ‘Healthy’ Diet Making Her Feel Worse?
From the outside, Sarah’s diet looked perfect but after assessing her gut symptoms, food diary and health history, I suspected her gut lining was inflamed and her digestive enzyme function was low. This meant her body was struggling to break down the tough, fibrous vegetables she was eating in large amounts.
Kale and raw cruciferous vegetables like cabbage are high in insoluble fibre and oxalates. While these can benefit a healthy gut, for someone with gut inflammation or a compromised microbiome, they can act like sandpaper on an already irritated gut lining. Instead of healing her digestion, Sarah’s ‘superfood salad’ was keeping her stuck in a cycle of bloating and pain and her gut inflammation was getting worse.
What the Gut Test Revealed
We decided to investigate further using the Microbiome Explorer Gut Test. The results showed she was low in Oxalobacter formigenes – a beneficial bacteria that breaks down oxalates. Without enough of these bacteria, Sarah couldn’t properly digest high-oxalate foods such as spinach, kale, nuts and even chocolate.
The results also showed that she had an inflamed gut and there were signs of a ‘leaky gut’. She also had low Bifidobacterium – a beneficial gut bacteria that protects against inflammation by strengthening the gut barrier.
A Gentler Gut-Healing Approach
We took a gentler approach and focused on reducing inflammation and supporting digestion. Sarah swapped her raw salads for cooked, easy-to-digest vegetables like:
- Steamed zucchini
- Roasted carrots
- Pumpkin
- Peeled sweet potato
These vegetables are low in oxalates and provide soluble fibre, which feeds good gut bacteria and helps soothe the digestive tract.
Within just a few weeks, Sarah’s bloating reduced significantly. After three months, her pain levels were down by 80%, her energy improved and she no longer dreaded eating.
Personalising Nutrition for Gut Health
To dig deeper, we ran a food reactivity test which identified a few trigger foods. Once we temporarily removed those foods and added targeted foods and nutritional supplements for gut healing, her digestion settled even further.
Sarah’s story is a reminder that healthy eating is not a one-size-fits-all. What’s good for one person can be inflammatory for another, especially if the gut microbiome is imbalanced.
Raw salads, green smoothies and high-fibre foods are often praised as the gold standard of nutrition. But when the gut is inflamed, it needs calm, not chaos. Cooked foods, gentle fibre and a personalised nutrition plan can help the gut repair and restore balance.
Are You Eating ‘Healthy’ But Still Feel Crap?
If you’re eating all the ‘right’ foods but still feeling bloated, fatigued or uncomfortable after meals, your gut may be asking for a different approach. Your body might need nourishment that supports where your gut health is right now – not where you want it to be.
If this sounds like you, it might be time to investigate your gut health further. The HairSense Nutrition Analysis Test or a Microbiome Explorer test can help uncover hidden imbalances, food sensitivities and guide you toward a plan that truly supports your digestion.
You can book an Initial Consultation with Sal here.