Does Diet Help SIBO?
Yes.
From personal experience, yes, the diet works. And yes, doctors, researchers, and fellow SIBO friends will all say changing your diet to a low carbohydrate diet will stop or slow the feeding of the SIBO and will relieve your symptoms. Diets used to help fight SIBO limit carbohydrate intake allowing less food to fuel the infection and thus reduce your symptoms and help the SIBO stay away. There are several different diets used to keep SIBO in check. The diets are
- SCD
- GAPS
- Low FODMAP Diet
- SiBO Specific (The SIBO Specific Food Guide)
- Cedars-Sinai
A really great site with a brief description of each diet and additional resources is the SIBO Info website.
Does Diet Treat or Cure SIBO?
Yes. And no. Doctors are very clear that a low carbohydrate diet alone has not been proven to eradicate SIBO. However, the Elemental Diet is used to treat SIBO, which has a 80-85% success rate, dependent on the duration of the diet (2-3 weeks). While a low carbohydrate diet is helpful in relieving symptoms and preventing SIBO, the bacteria from SIBO can eat so many forms of carbohydrates, that a low carbohydrate diet alone is not enough.
Which Diet Is Best for Me?
It may take some time to determine what diet is best for you, as each case of SIBO varies based on the type of bacteria, location of bacteria, damage to the intestines, malabsorption issues, and additional factors such as adhesions, autoimmune issues, other infections, or other intestinal problems.
Talk to your doctor as he or she will have insight into your case specifically.
A really great article to help narrow your diet choice was just published by Autoimmune Paleo called SIBO Update 2015: Pt. 2 in which Angie Alt discusses what she learned about diet at the 2015 SIBO Symposium. Look to the middle of the article for diet recommendations.
How long do I have to be on the diet?
How long you will need to be on a diet to help with your SIBO will vary, and is dependent on your individual case. But that really isn’t helpful, is it?
You should know within a month whether or not the diet you have tried is beneficial to you or not. If you do not see or feel changes in your digestion after four weeks the diet you are trying is not working, and you should make adjustments such as switching diets, and taking a food allergy, or food sensitivity test to provide additional clarity.
You will need to be on one of the diets while you are doing an antibiotic or herbal antibiotic/antimicrobial treatment as well as after the treatment in order to allow your gut to heal. When your infection is gone and your symptoms are gone, you can start adding foods slowly back into your diet. How and when you do this is up to you and your doctor. NO ONE ELSE can answer this question for you. Remember, the goal is to be able to eat a diet with a wide variety of foods and not be stuck on a limited diet for the rest of your life.
Why is Paleo not on the list of diets used to help SIBO?
Although the Paleo diet is a low carbohydrate diet, especially when compared to the Standard American Diet, it includes a lot of foods that may be difficult for those with SIBO, or a damaged digestive system to digest. I am not about to tell you that people do not use Paleo to help with SIBO, because I think there are some people who do. However, Autoimmune Protocol or Autoimmune Paleo (very helpful for those with autoimmune issues) is more tailored to healing the gut and SIBO than just Paleo.
What do I do when I read contradictions about the diets?
As you scour the internet you will find all sorts of conflicting information regarding the diets used for SIBO. The reality is, they are probably all right answers or solutions for some person some where. SIBO is so individual that what works for one person may or may not work for another. The BEST solution to this is to listen to your body. What is working well for you? What makes you overwhelmed? What brings about unwanted symptoms for you? What can you afford? What do you have time for?
Customize your diet and treatment for your needs and you will always see beneficial results.
How do I get started?
Most doctors recommend reading Breaking The Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gotschall and beginning with the Specific Carbohydrate Intro Diet, then slowly adding foods back in as your tolerability allows. But I think the more important question is, “What are you ready and willing to try?” Begin when and where you are ready. Maybe that is simply taking out grains, or removing processed sugar, or maybe it is simply making a list of the foods you know you tolerate and remove the foods you know you don’t, or maybe one of the diets stands out to you and you are ready to dive in. Be good to yourself. You deserve it! Only start when and where you are ready!
