I’ve changed my diets over the years. From Primal to Paleo to Carnivore. Always made the change in reaction to something going on with my health.

While Carnivore mostly eliminated my stomach symptoms, it didn’t solve the underlying issues. Plus, I love veggies. I really wanted to get back to eating them again. I tried reintroducing veggies twice during 2025. Both times were a disaster. The brain fog came back, as well as my severe stomach issues.

In 2025, I figured out my sleep puzzle, so I’m getting good to great sleep on a regular basis. In addition, I lowered my baseline stress level.

I decided that since I’ve taken care of those issues, I could focus on stomach and diet in 2026.

I’ve been looking for possible diagnosis for what’s been happening with me. Took me a while to come up with a possible cause: small-intestine bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO (SEE-bow).

Basically, bacteria build up in the small intestine, where they don’t belong. This leads to all sorts of problems.

One of the issues I had while trying to do research was that my symptoms didn’t exactly line up with SIBO. Not until I learned that there are actually three types of SIBO:

• Hydrogen-dominant
• Methane-dominant
• Mixed hydrogen and methane

When looking at my symptoms, I had some hydrogen ones, but not others. Ditto with methane symptoms. Nope, I lucked out and have the mixed hydrogen and methane type of SIBO. (That’s sarcasm, BTW, as the mixed type of SIBO is the most difficult type to treat.)

Why did this happen in the first place?

There are many things that can lead to SIBO, including but not limited to a slow gut, inadequate stomach acid, or even a couple of back-to-back severe bouts of food poisoning.

Me? I’ve always had a slow gut. It’s never been a problem before, but I’ve had it my entire life.

My current theory is this: Your body slows down as you age. My gut got slower to the point that things got backed up, which led to the SIBO. After I get further along this journey, I may have to check stomach acid or other potential SIBO causes. But for now, this is the working theory.

I made an appointment with a naturopath who specializes in stomach issues last week. Just as I lucked out so many years ago with the naturopath who treats my hormones, I lucked out with this doctor and treating my stomach. I went in skeptical, unsure if I’d find the right person with my first try. (She did come highly recommended by my masseuse and a couple of her clients.) I was pleasantly surprised, both in how the doctor listened to me as well as what she thinks we can do. One of the things that made me feel better instantly was that she has a chart on the wall of her office that shows the results of a SIBO test.

There are many ways to treat SIBO. One of the more popular ones is to do a nuclear strike and starve all your gut bacteria, either using antibiotics or something called the elemental diet (a liquid protein diet that you’re on for 2-4 weeks).

The problem with doing this first? It doesn’t address the underlying issue, i.e., my slow gut. It means that while I could probably blast the bacteria out of my small intestine, because my gut’s still slow, I’ll relapse. Possibly just weeks later.

And that’s one of the huge issues with SIBO. People relapse. Numbers vary, but I’ve seen estimates as high as 60%.

My ND is taking the long approach. We’re going to increase my gut motility first. And be prepared for this to be a LONG process, two years or more, before I can get back to eating veggies.

How do you increase gut motility? I have a number of things that I’m now doing.

• Ten minute walk after every meal
• Gentle twists and stretches throughout the day
• Wim Hof breathing (made me giggle when that came up)
• Ginger tea, one cup per day
• Castor oil pack on my belly at night, with gentle heat
• Visceral abdominal massage after the castor oil

I’m referring to the last couple of items as my new nightly beauty routine.

I’ve just started on this journey. We’ll see what works, what doesn’t, and how it goes. Part of why I believe this journey will take a long time is because every BODY is different. What works great for one person causes horrible symptoms for another. So you try something. It doesn’t work. Try something else. Failure. Try a third thing, that partially works, so you mix that with a fourth thing and finally have success. Then you try the next thing. Etc.

I’ve already had my first failure. She wanted me to introduce a very small amount of a specific fiber. Unfortunately, that led to stomach cramps, an excess amount of gas, and brain fog. So I’ve already cut that out.

My doctor believes that I can make a full recovery, and I can get back to eating veggies again. Reading between the lines, my impression is that she understands that I can be disciplined about this, and will work at it to get it right.

One fun thing: As y’all know, I currently make 95% of the food I eat. I consume very little processed food. Explaining this to someone new meant telling her that yes, I make my own bone broth, my own coconut yogurt, my tea blends, rubs, sauces, mayo, sausages, etc.

At some point in the conversation I was having with the doctor, she asked about the alcohol that I consume (it was on the intake questionnaire) and what kind of alcohol was it. I explained that my husband made what we drank.

Her response? “Of course he does.”

Still makes me giggle. Blaze and I have started using that as a catchphrase, because, of course he does.

Usual disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or an expert. I’m just someone going through this. I’m still happy to share what I know and what’s happening with me, though again, every BODY is going to be different when it comes to fixing these types of issues.