Throughout this program, you will be empowered with the knowledge you need to create your very own 'ideal' diet.

A large part of determining your ideal diet involves figuring out which foods are inflammatory for your body and which ones are not.

You might be thinking that your diet is already very healthy. Unfortunately, this is often not enough for people with severe gut issues, or other chronic health issues.

In fact, some of the healthiest foods are often the most problematic!

IMPORTANT DIET PRINCIPLES

First of all, we want to share a few important principles about diet.

1- THERE IS NO ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL-DIET

In this program, we will guide you through a process to help you find the right diet for YOU.

Don’t give in to pressure from stuff you read on the Internet or hear from friends and family. The right diet for you is whatever works for you and your unique ecosystem... and most importantly, the diet that makes you feel great!

Don't compare yourself to anyone else or you will drive yourself crazy.

During this program, we will slowly guide you through various steps to help you uncover foods that might be contributing to your health issues, and foods that make you feel at your very best!

2- LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Listening to your body is your best tool towards finding the diet that works best for you. You know your body better than anyone else, and in our experience, no lab tests or doctors are better than YOU at knowing what works best for you.

Always tune into your body.

Don't worry, we will keep reminding you as we go along ;-)

3- WE WANT YOU ON THE BROADEST DIET POSSIBLE

Throughout this program, you will be guided through an elimination type of approach that will feel strict at first. After many years of experience, we have found that more restrictions initially will actually allow you to figure out what works for you and what does not a lot faster and will therefore allow you to expand your diet more quickly.

But don't worry... once you identify your main triggers, you will gradually feel empowered to add in more foods without fear.

It's also important to remember that your sensitivities and intolerances will change/improve as you continue to heal by following the phases of this program.

DETERMINING YOUR FOOD SENSITIVITIES & INTOLERANCES

Determining your food sensitivities & intolerances is an absolute game changer!

In order to do this, we first need to remove ALL of the most common offenders:

• Most common trigger foods
• Foods high in FODMAPs and starches
• Foods high in food chemicals, such as histamine, salicylates and oxalates
• Processed foods, refined sugar and all grains

We will go in more details about each of these a bit later. For now, we just want to give you an overview of the process.

We will guide you through a type of elimination diet that goes a step further than others, as we have also taken into consideration various food categories that are often problematic (FODMAPs, histamine, etc). Identifying your main sensitivities and intolerances will allow you to feel a lot more in control, and will also allow you to broaden your diet whilst still feeling good, as you'll know exactly which foods to eat and which to avoid.

The first step will be to do what we call a RESET DIET. The goal is to speed up your healing by pressing your reset button!

As the inflammation in your body reduces, you will start to feel a lot better.

After the reset diet, you will transition to the SUPERSAFE DIET. You might stay here for just 2 weeks, or longer, depending on the severity of your health issues.

And then you will move on to the SAFE DIET (still safe, but allowing a broader range of foods).

And then the fun will really start when you embark on the ADVENTUROUS DIET. This is where we will guide you through a process of slowly testing various foods/food categories to discover what works for you and what doesn't.

You will end your journey by experimenting with our DAREDEVIL DIET recipes, which are still gut friendly and healthy, but will push your limits. This is where you will get to broaden your diet as much as possible while still feeling great.

To make it as easy as possible for you, we will provide you with a list of foods that are safe to eat for each diet, as well as delicious recipes, making even the 'elimination' part less daunting... and we would even say, tasty ;-)

THE IMPORTANCE OF REBALANCING YOUR GUT BACTERIA

Most people with gut issues or other chronic health issues have some form of imbalances in their gut bacteria, which can cause a myriad of symptoms. Depending on the type of imbalance (such as the presence of an overgrowth of bacteria in the small or large intestine, parasites, yeasts, etc), people will react differently to certain foods that 'feed' the bacteria, such as prebiotics, foods high in FODMAPS, as well as grains and starches.

The type of bacteria present in the gut can also contribute to the development of various intolerances, especially histamine and sulfur.

The toxins (such as LPS) produced by gram negative bacteria also contribute to food chemical intolerances by overwhelming our detoxification system. This is because food chemicals are processed as toxins in the body.

It's become very popular for people to eat foods and take supplements that feed gut bacteria to improve their gut health. This might work for some, but in our experience, might cause much suffering for people with severe gut health issues. That's why we have a phase by phase approach where we add things in at the right time, to allow you to heal with less discomfort.

The same is true for fermented foods... while some people may benefit from them, for others, they can cause very serious symptoms.

In fact, these are some of the most common mistakes we see our clients make.

So as we get started, we recommend a diet low in FODMAPs and other fermentable foods. This will 'starve' the bad bacteria, and leave more room for the good bacteria to thrive.

Later on, as part of the adventurous diet, we will re-introduce various foods that will feed your good gut bacteria, and test your personal tolerance levels. Your tolerance to these foods will improve as you heal your gut by following the three phases of this program.

It's important to note that removing foods that create inflammation in your body will also have a positive impact on your gut bacteria. That's because a healthy environment will encourage the growth of healthy bacteria.

A healthy environment = healthy bacteria = healthy you

TO SUMMARISE

First, we will REMOVE potential triggers, which include trigger foods, FODMAPs, starches and food chemicals (such as histamine, salicylates and oxalates).

Although your diet will feel very restricted at first, it is very important to start here as it will help you greatly reduce symptoms and inflammation in your body, which will then make it easier to identify which foods you react to and which ones are great for your body.

Then you will re-introduce more foods as part of the adventurous diet.

Remember that this is a process... and by the end of the program, everybody will be eating differently, depending on the information you will gain as you go through the various steps.

For example, some will discover that garlic is their biggest enemy, while for others, it could be their best friend. Some will need to be careful with fermented foods, and some will find them healing.

This is all okay... remember, it's about YOU, and what makes YOU feel at your best!

Also, remember that things change... even if you can't eat certain foods now, it doesn't mean you'll never be able to eat them. As you continue healing, you'll be able to keep expanding your diet.... this is why we encourage you to keep testing your boundaries.