Are You Eating Too CLEAN for Your Gut? 🤔 Why Over-Sanitizing Your Diet Can Backfire

I’m going to hold your hand when I say this… 🤝

You DON'T have to be doing it perfectly to see results!

If you’ve ever felt like healing your gut is an all-or-nothing game, where one misstep erases all your progress, I’m here to tell you: it’s not. You don’t need the perfect diet, the perfect supplement stack, or a flawless lifestyle to start feeling better.

Your gut isn’t keeping score. Every small, consistent change you make, you’re sending a signal of healing. And the best part? You don’t have to do it perfectly to see results:

  • Choose real, whole foods 80% of the time.

  • Prioritize rest where you can.

  • Slowly build a toolbox of stress relief tools to dig into when you need to.

Perfection is the enemy of progress. 

How many times have you started strong, slipped up, and then thought, “Well, I messed up, might as well go all in on the junk food and start over Monday”? That mindset is what keeps people stuck. Not the occasional indulgence, not missing a supplement, not skipping a workout.

Your gut thrives on progress, not perfection. So instead of stressing over doing everything “right,” focus on doing something right, today, tomorrow, and the next. Small, sustainable changes add up faster than you think. 💗

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Are You Eating Too CLEAN for Your Gut? 🤔 Why Over-Sanitizing Your Diet Can Backfire

If you’ve cut out gluten, dairy, sugar, grains, processed foods, and basically anything that tastes good in an effort to heal your gut, you’re not alone. Many people go all-in on elimination diets, convinced that the cleaner they eat, the healthier their gut will be.

However, you’re only selling yourself short as your gut thrives on diversity, not restriction!

Going too “clean” for too long (especially without a plan for reintroducing foods) can actually weaken your gut’s resilience, disrupt your microbiome, and make you more sensitive to the very foods you’re avoiding. 

Here’s how it works:

Your Microbiome Needs Variety to Stay Strong

Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria, each with a role to play in digestion, immunity, and even hormone balance. When you eat a diverse range of foods, you feed different strains of beneficial bacteria, keeping your gut microbiome strong and adaptable. 

But when you eliminate entire food groups long-term, your gut bacteria diversity shrinks. Over time, this can make your digestive system less resilient and more reactive when you try to reintroduce foods. Signs your gut may be too restricted include:

  • New food intolerances appearing out of nowhere

  • Digestive discomfort when reintroducing foods

  • Feeling bloated or sluggish despite eating “clean”

  • Increased anxiety around eating out or traveling

Eliminating Everything Can Weaken Your Digestive Function

Your gut is designed to adapt to different foods. If you stop eating certain foods completely, your body may stop producing the necessary enzymes to digest them properly. That’s why someone who hasn’t had dairy in years might feel awful when they suddenly have a piece of cheese, not necessarily because dairy is “bad,” but because their gut isn’t used to digesting it anymore.

Similarly, avoiding fiber-rich foods like whole grains and legumes long-term can reduce the beneficial bacteria that thrive on those fibers, making digestion harder when you try to add them back in.

The goal isn’t to eat everything or nothing, it’s to find balance. If you’ve been on an ultra-clean diet for a while, slowly reintroducing a variety of whole, nutrient-dense foods can help restore gut resilience. Here are my top tips to help:

1. Start Small & Slow – Introduce one new food at a time in small amounts to see how your body responds.

2. Prioritize Fermented Foods – Foods like sauerkraut, kefir, and yogurt help repopulate your gut with beneficial bacteria, making digestion easier.

3. Support Stomach Acid & Enzymes – If digestion feels sluggish, try apple cider vinegar before meals or digestive enzymes to help your gut adjust.

4. Reduce Stress Around Food – The stress of constantly avoiding foods can be just as damaging as eating inflammatory foods themselves. Gut healing is about what you add in, not just what you cut out.

Not sure how to safely reintroduce foods? Let’s create a plan that works for you. Book a discovery call, and let’s chat about what you need to get your digestion (and your food freedom) back on track! 🫶  And check out my favorite hormone-safe products and supplements HERE.

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Supplement Of The Week: Saccharomyces Boulardii 

I often recommend Saccharomyces Boulardii for anyone struggling with gut dysbiosis, travel-related stomach issues, or post-antibiotic recovery. Here’s why:

1. Supports Gut Balance – Helps crowd out harmful bacteria like Candida and H. pylori while promoting beneficial gut flora.

2. Reduces Antibiotic-Related Digestive Issues – Protects the gut from antibiotic-induced diarrhea and helps replenish healthy microbes.

3. Boosts Immune Function – Strengthens gut immunity by supporting secretory IgA (sIgA), your gut’s first line of defense.
4. Helps with SIBO & IBS Symptoms – Reduces bloating, inflammation, and intestinal permeability (leaky gut) by supporting a healthier gut lining.

Jamie Sheppard