SIBO diaries

A new weekly segment I'll be writing as I start the elemental diet for SIBO (again) and then the SIBO bi-phasic diet. Oh, and with a low histamine diet thrown in too.

I have had digestive issues as long as I can remember. While re-hashing it all would take days to write and feel excessively self pitying, I will recap very briefly.*

I have had lifelong issues with certain foods and was diagnosed with Candida as a kid. In my early 20s, I was diagnosed with gastroparesis without a known cause. I have my suspicions around Ehlers Danlos and/or POTS, but these things remain undiagnosed suspicions. I hate to say it as I have respect for the profession and the knowledge needed, but finding a Doctor who takes you seriously can be a STRUGGLE.

On the note of struggle, it took me a long time to get a SIBO diagnosis. Once I finally got there, I tried the whole box of tricks: antibiotics, stronger antibiotics, herbal protocols - you name it. What finally kicked the damn thing, for me, was the elemental diet combined with the SIBO bi phasic diet and a herbal protocol implemented at stage 2 of the diet.

I have seen some people advocating against this method online and I can’t speak to any of that. I’m not a doctor, nutritionist or qualified to discuss the merits or otherwise. I also don’t want these posts to be construed as championing a method or offering medical advice - I am just just sharing my experience as I go. Please please please seek independent medical advice because there are different types of SIBO and you might make yours worse if you’re following a protocol that isn’t suited to your condition.

Round 1 of the SIBO diet

I last did the elemental diet and SIBO bi-phasic diet in 2020. It was the perfect time to get it done - we were in lockdown, in case you forgot (you didn’t).

However, almost straight after completing the diet, feeling incredible and successfully ridding myself of SIBO, I began work on my second cookbook, Intolerance Friendly Kitchen. A gluten free baking book with plenty of sugar, flour and all the things that SIBO loves, I fell off the wagon very quickly.

When you’re a small fry cookbook writer who knows how to use a camera, the book falls to you. Where a famous chef would have a stylist, a photographer, home economists (AKA someone to help cook and clean) and hell, maybe even a recipe developer and writer, you wear all the hats.

I spent a year frantically perfecting recipes, styling them and shooting them. I was passionate about the recipes and determined to make them great. Naturally that involved testing each cake, each brownie, each croissant. Naturally, that involved a vicious SIBO return and a weight gain of a casual 20kg.

In the years since, I have always been busy working on my website and making excuses. I adore developing recipes and find the whole process so interesting. It is also possibly the worst career path I could have chosen as someone with a digestive system like mine.

Today

So I said my recap would be ‘brief’* (sorry) but we’re finally in the present day.

Last week, I finished up work on any floury, sugary recipes for the next three months (and hopefully longer). I whipped out my Elementall chocolate formula - I had three tubs leftover from my last attempt. I know, I know - they are old! But the elemental diet is incredibly expensive and this economy is not the time to be picky.

My intention for completing this round of elemental is to kickstart the SIBO diet process. Last time, I found that the hardship of getting through an elemental diet really set me up to follow through on the SIBO bi-phasic diet without any slip ups. The elemental diet is truly no joke.

I also want to give my system a break. The way I thrash it in the name of recipe testing and not wanting to waste food is truly A) poor form, B) half the cause of my issues and C) and something I want to work on moving forward.

Upon finishing the elemental diet, I’ll be moving to a semi elemental protocol and then a combination of the SIBO bi phasic and a low histamine diet. I have only recently identified that I am having strong histamine reactions and that my diet is very high histamine.

This involves one big change for me: reintroducing some meat. I have been pescatarian since my early 20s. This is for ethical and moral concerns as well as taste and texture issues. However, my beloved trio of tofu, canned tuna, and eggs are all histamine concerns (eggs are debatable but I need to test my tolerance nonetheless).

So yeah, I will be reintroducing some meat. It is scary for me given I know almost nothing about cooking meat, but I am also struggling with the ethics side of things. I hope I will be able to eat more vegetarian and pescatarian food in the future, but it is unfeasible for a low SIBO low histamine combo, so here we are.

Where to next?

My intention is to update this SIBO diary weekly as a way of keeping myself on track and accountable. With that said, I also want to go into the weekly ups and downs with people in the same boat.

My hope is to share how I’ve been feeling, what I have been eating, any progress I’ve made and easy SIBO recipes.

I know that not everybody has SIBO, so I’d love to hear from you if there’s other topics of interest, too :)

Next week, I’ll be sharing my experience of round 2 on the elemental diet in an effort to kick SIBO once again.