Why food elimination can cause more problems than it’s worth
Food eliminations are often touted as miraculous cures to a host of physical, and even psychological, conditions. Ask a question about digestive issues on social media or complete a Google search and you are bound to receive “remove gluten, dairy, soy, carrageenan . . . (fill in the blank)” as the promised solution.
“Eliminate this ingredient and all your symptoms will improve” is persuasive, especially when someone is suffering and looking for answers. It often sounds like this: “I was in pain for years before discovering gluten was the enemy. It’s in everything. Take it out of your diet. It made all the difference for me.”
A convincing testimonial can elicit immediate consensus: “I am going to try that. Thank you.”
This dialogue on social media or among friends makes me cringe. People are genetically and experientially different. What works for one person is not going to look or work the same for another. And when we uphold specific foods as “digestive demons,” we breathe life into something that is often scientifically invalid. As Alan Levinovitz, PhD shares,
Tell the right story, and a new demon is born.
Digestive issues are complex. When we break it down into simplified actions, it can ignore the root cause of symptoms. Please note that this blog post is not neglecting that foods can trigger symptoms; however, food restrictions often outweigh the necessity for them and, as I will share, can perpetuate harm.
There are a host of factors that cause or aggravate digestive symptoms, including stress, anxiety, trauma, eating disorders and medical conditions. Determining the cause includes sourcing information from the body, considering one’s lived experience and appropriate medical tests.
Spreading misinformation and deflecting folx away from the true cause of digestive distress prevents healing.
Here are a couple of examples to illustrate the damage I have seen:
One of my clients was convinced her digestive system could not function. She was in complete fear of food, eating only a handful of food choices for years. Her beliefs were related to a thriving and neglected eating disorder and multiple providers systematically removing foods until she was no longer “triggered.” Her mind greatly influenced her experience; it was easier to blame food than to consider the psychological impact of her thoughts and anxiety. The narrow recommendations by her previous providers colluded with her eating disorder, hurting the opportunity for recovery and digestive repair.
Another one of my clients, an avid runner, shared that she could barely walk or go about her life. The restrictive diet she was on wasted away her muscles, and her energy was depleted from lack of carbohydrates. The anxiety related to consuming foods that could “inflame” or “feed her bad bacteria” created chronic stress and worsening digestive symptoms. Her online searches validated her fears.
Both clients were greatly harmed by a limited diet and providers ignoring the fact that nutrition interventions, such as removing whole food groups, are NOT more important than one’s mental health.
It’s essential to note that in the case of an eating disorder, additional restriction and food anxiety can further malnourish a body experiencing nutritional trauma—a deadly recommendation.
There is an intersection between digestion, eating disorders, anxiety/stress and food beliefs that need to be further explored. In the meantime, I encourage folx to consider the following:
Refrain from diagnosing or accepting food elimination recommendations online.
Remember, healing is individualized. It is dependent on your own lived experience and information from your body, which is impossible to source from general online recommendations.
Question providers who are not considering your full story.
Expect providers to ask about any disordered behavior, your mental health and past trauma.
Demand that providers ask for consent when modifying your diet.
There are options outside of removing foods that do not risk an eating disorder relapse or one’s emotional, social and biological health. Consider working with trained eating disorder and intuitive eating provider(s) to manage disordered behaviors and to bring down food anxiety (both are major contributors of digestive symptoms). Feel free to reach out to me if you are in need of digestive support. I am happy to support you and/or refer you to colleagues to aid your healing.