Exploring The New Microbiome Diet Trend

Diets have always been about losing weight and working towards a healthier you. Some diets do none of those things either, but the microbiome diet might be holding up to its promise!

The microbiome diet is centered around eating foods that benefit the bacteria in your gut. The bacteria in your gut sometimes lose their diversity and can even get a little lax when it comes to helping you with digestion.

The food we eat affects the bacteria in our gut; it can either encourage your intestinal flora to thrive or lead to its destruction. Here’s all you need to know about the microbiome diet.

What’s the reason behind it?

Dr. Raphael Kellman, who works with disorders of the digestive system, thyroid, and autoimmune diseases, developed this diet by focusing on the gut microbiome. He believes that we’ve been consuming foods that haven’t been good for our gut and killing our intestinal flora.

“An imbalanced microbiome often dooms just about any diet to failure. When the microbiome is balanced, however, people often lose weight,” Dr. Raphael Kellman.

What are the diet restrictions?

The diet has three phases; the first is eliminating foods that are bad for your gut health. The foods you should be cutting out of your diet are things like dairy, starchy vegetables, and processed sugars!

As you move through phases two and three, the diet becomes less restrictive. You’re not giving up many foods for a long time; once you get to phase two and three, you can get the starch back along with other food you’ve been missing!

"These intestinal organisms—bacteria—digest your food, govern your appetite, control your metabolism, orchestrate your immune system, influence your mood,” Dr. Raphael Kellman.

There are absolutely no restrictions when it comes to calories! His entire premise is that you should listen to your body’s needs and feed yourself as much as you need.

Is it healthy?

The diet is focused on increasing your vegetable and herb intake. Much like The Mediterranean and DASH diets which were designed to treat diseases like high blood pressure. But is it healthy?

The third phase is relatively healthy because you’re reintroducing nutrients into your diet. The first two phases, not so much. Cutting out healthy food groups might leave you deficient in some nutrients, so you might want to take this diet a little slow.

Diet culture can quickly turn to eating disorders as you become obsessive about your food, and the microbiome diet is no exception! There are quite a few restrictions to be wary of which could trigger an existing eating disorder.

While Dr. Kellman believes that a healthy gut will help you with weight loss, it doesn’t guarantee it. The foods in this diet are healthy, but you may still gain weight following this diet!