Trying a Gut Cleanse Diet

I spent a week and a half on a gut cleanse diet — a strict diet to “reset” my gut and “rebalance” the bacteria in my digestive system. Methodology delivered food four times over a two week period. No sugar. No carbs. No starch really. All pure protein (e.g. chicken and salmon), and non-starchy vegetables (e.g. broccoli not squash). I didn’t eat out at restaurants during this time period; I only ate from the jars in the fridge.

Some intermittent fasting was prescribed, too. No eating for 16 hours — which means, after dinner, I wouldn’t eat till lunch the following day.

Six fish oil pills a day. A probiotic pill in the morning. A vitamin D pill at lunch.

How’d I feel? A bit cleaner, I suppose. Something really was happening internally because the one “cheat” meal I had along the way — 6 days in, I ate a bunch of bread and a breakfast burrito — made my stomach feel upset for 7-8 straight hours. I did sleep well during the cleanse. Knowing that my diet was pre-set did relieve some decision making burden of having to choose what to eat and where for every meal.

The primary challenge was hunger. Even if I ate tons of greens and proteins, it was hard to ever feel full with no carbs.

The science of nutrition is maddening. There truly is no consensus. Show me any study on diet and I’ll show you a counter-study. In this case, some of the gut cleanse program’s descriptions of why such-and-such a technique is good for your “gut” seemed a bit farfetched. Indeed, in researching the various microbiome tests available online, it seems the science is still pretty sketch at this point. I understand the cool factor of receiving a personalized report that says “this food is good for you, that food is bad for you” — but it isn’t based in much, apparently. I’ll wait a few years till the science improves before mailing in my stool sample.

I’m happy I did the gut cleanse. I’m still mostly trying to avoid sugars and carbs. Not religiously, but when I can. And I’m wondering whether I should keep up intermittent fasting on a regular basis…