Elemental Diet For SIBO: Does It Help?

Author's Bio: Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS

Hi, and welcome back to our channel.

Today we're going to discuss the elemental diet for SIBO.

And SIBO is small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. And so as we are moving through the video today, first I'm going to start talking about just the power of the elemental diet.

What is kind of the overview in terms of what is in the elemental diet?

Also, how can you get more benefits from doing the elemental diet versus maybe doing a more traditional approach, which would be typical antibiotics.

And finally, we'll talk about how you can incorporate it if indeed it is something you want to try

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

So before we dig into our topic today, my name is Marcie Vaske and I'm a functional licensed nutritionist with Oswald Digestive Clinic. And at Oswald Digestive Clinic, I do see a lot of clients who struggle with SIBO and also other gut issues such as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas.

And if that sounds like you or someone, I'm going to link our website here where you can easily make an initial appointment. I will also link our free guide, which is Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health. So let's carry on with our video today, which is all about the elemental diet for sibo.

So first let's answer the question of

What is SIBO?

And SIBO is small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. So what happens with SIBO is that a large amount of certain flora or types of flora end up in our small intestine where they shouldn't be.

And when we get too many flora in our small intestine, it can increase many symptoms. It can look like constipation, diarrhea, bloating, gas, abdominal distension, really discomforting and uncomfortable symptoms.

SIBO can also lead to malabsorption of our nutrients. And so with these symptoms and with possible malabsorption going on, this is something that definitely needs to be taken care of.

So we know what SIBO is, but how does it happen?

How do you end up with SIBO in the first place?

And sometimes what happens is just you have a very slow digestive system, meaning that there's a lot of, I should back up and say if you have a lot of chronic stress, it creates the slowed down digestive system at times or it speeds it up.

But in the case of just kind of stopping the digestive process when we're under a lot of stress, that kind of can be a deterrent for good digestion. Other things that can cause SIBO will be certain medications and even just underlying digestive disorders.

So if you have irritable bowel syndrome or either inflammatory bowel disease, just two big ones that we think about with digestive disorders, and that can also lead to a possible SIBO diagnosis.

Now, I did chat just a moment ago about some of the symptoms of SIBO including bloating, abdominal distension, of course excessive gas, but also things like diarrhea and constipation as well as skin rashes, skin changes, and even fatigue and brain fog.

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So we might not necessarily have gut issues going on, but some more systemic symptoms.

So you may think, okay, well I have some of these symptoms, but

Do you have SIBO?

And the best thing to do is really to work with a practitioner that specializes in gut health to help run a test for SIBO to either say, yes, you have it, or no, you don't. And then we can treat it properly.

So if you've gotten the diagnosis of SIBO and you have many of these symptoms, you may be thinking, all right,

Elemental Diet For SIBO

And of course, there are antibacterial medications that do help support getting rid of sibo. But today we're going to talk more about a natural remedy, which is the elemental diet. And the elemental diet is really a kind of brings down digestion, meaning that it's a type of liquid, so you usually put it in water and it has already pre absorbed carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. So it's at the very base of those elements which help the body digest it very easily.

It really doesn't have to do any work.

Now, the benefit of the elemental diet is that it gives you some of the nutrition that you need, but at the same time, we're starving off the bacteria that we want to get rid of as well as giving time for your digestive system to really rest and recuperate and heal.

Now, the elemental diet is pretty restrictive. Obviously, you're only drinking these certain shakes when you are doing the elemental diet. You're not consuming any food. It's only these shakes, and typically people will do it for either two to four weeks, sort of depending on the severity of your sibo and of course how you tolerate it and how you're feeling as you're moving through it.

But the two to four week is a pretty good timeframe to help the body or help the digestive system rest and time to starve that bacteria.

Now, although this is a pretty restrictive diet, it's short in nature, which is very positive, and it can have some pretty big benefits if you are someone who's struggling with SIBO.

So if you're, okay, I have SIBO, maybe I want to do this elemental diet, but really

What are the benefits of the elemental diet?

One of the first things is nutrient absorption because the product in the shakes that you consume is all predigested.

The body really gets all of the nutrients in terms of proteins, carbohydrates, and those fats. And so the body is able to kind of renourish itself with easily digested digestible products. Secondly, and I already mentioned this above, but the elemental diet helps to starve out the bad bacteria.

Now,

What do bacteria feed on?

They feed on sugar and carbohydrates and carbohydrates, sugar, same thing. And so when you're doing the elemental diet, because the carb product in that shake is already predigested and it's the simplest form, you're not feeding those bacteria.

So we're getting the benefits of some nutrition. We're getting the benefit of also starving that bacteria. Also, the elemental diet is going to help to give your intestinal tract rest.

And that's one of the big things when we're struggling with SIBO and it's constantly trying to digest food. It's always inflamed and you feel it if you've got SIBO.

So by incorporating the elemental diet, you're really giving your intestinal tract a lot of rest.

Now, another benefit is going to be reduced fermentation. And this is what I was talking about with those carbohydrates, how we're starving out the bacteria because we're not consuming carbohydrates that our body has to actually break down.

We're not feeding those bacteria which will not ferment and create bloating and gas. And then lastly, the elemental diet does provide more nutrient absorption.

And this is if you're struggling with SIBO and maybe you've had it for a long time, you're going to see a lot more of those malabsorption symptoms.

And so by getting rest rid of the bacteria and then supporting better nutrition with that, you're going to start to feel a lot better. So we know a little bit more about the Elemental diet, what it's used for and kind of what the benefits are of it. And so you might be asking, okay, well

Should I do the elemental diet or should I just do the antibiotics?

And in today's date, we have many different types of antibiotics that do support specific SIBO symptoms. And the positive of doing an antibiotic is that you will find relief probably more quickly, maybe usually the round of something called Vancomycin takes about, it's probably a 10 day round. Sometimes people are on a couple rounds of it, but there are those drawbacks which all antibiotics create, and that creates just the microbiome is broken down a little bit more.

Also, it's going to with the repeated use of antibiotics, because sometimes one round of antibiotics doesn't kill off all of the sibo, and then you end up with symptoms again a few weeks later. And so therefore putting, going on another round of antibiotics isn't always the best choice.

And also they really don't create or they don't address that underlying symptom of what SIBO is. And as I talked about before, some of those underlying issues could just be digestive disorders in general, could be chronic stress that's creating a dysfunction in your intestinal tract, even medications like I spoke about.

But if you're just going to take antibiotic after antibiotic, you're only tearing down your digestive system more and really not getting to what the real issue is so that you don't get SIBO again.

And so of course, the pros of doing more of a natural remedy like the elemental diet, is that you are going to not reduce good bacteria.

It's definitely going to help to restore more of your gut microbiome. It's also going to just be easier and more natural to get to those root causes of sibo. And of course, the cons of doing natural Remedy is it's not a quick fast fix like maybe an antibiotic is.

I see a lot of people with gut health issues and many who have SIBO and who've had it for a long time, reoccurring and oftentimes have done the antibiotic route, of course, but are still ending up with SIBO symptoms again.

And so often then I'll, we'll try the elemental diet or other antimicrobials that help to support SIBO in general. So I think whatever resonates with you is what you need to do. But I think the whole idea of doing this video for you today is that you can see other ways to help support your gut health and of course your wellbeing overall.

Now, if you've listened to this whole video and you're thinking, okay, well I have been struggling with sibo, the antibiotics didn't work, maybe I want to do the Elemental Diet or vice versa.

How to incorporate the elemental diet?

And really because the Elemental diet is so restrictive and really does, I would really want you to meet with a health practitioner who specializes in SIBO Gut Health to help walk you through the whole program of it.

And you can do it by yourself, but it's always better to have someone standing in the background who's pretty well versed so that you're doing it the right way.

The Elemental Diet, because it's so restrictive, you really need to be careful that you're getting all the caloric intake that you need on a daily basis so that you can keep up your energy and still go about your life.

In addition,

How do you make those dietary transitions?

You are finished with the elemental diet. That can be a slippery slope, meaning that you're not just going to do elemental diet for 21 days or a month and then start eating regular food again, your gut's going to really tell you that that's not a good idea.

So working with somebody to help support you move in and transition, that is going to be really important.

And also just

What other supplementation might be helpful during doing an elemental diet?

Because like I've said many times, it's very restrictive and if you are struggling with other issues, sometimes you just need support with those things.

And just nutrient absorption in general, making sure you're getting all the nutrients you need. So I do recommend that you work with a gut health specialist or practitioner, someone who, like I said, is well versed on this. So I hope that this helped give you kind of a new perspective on what the Elemental Diet is, how it can support SIBO.

And if you are struggling or someone that's struggling, please make an appointment with us down below because Linked our website down there, initial appointments are, we're always taking new clients.

And of course, if you have a bad gut, you know that how much it can really change your life and impede on just having a happy life. So again, hope this helped you today and thanks for watching.

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If you'd like to explore any of this information further or obtain an individualized nutrition plan, you can schedule an initial appointment at our clinic. We also take insurance and some of our clients get full coverage, which is great.