Diet can start to feel like religion. Especially when its tied up in ethical or political ideals. And even more so when you eat for health and healing.  And why not? What enforces habitual behavior better than ritual?  And what is ritual in food if not daily meditation on the benefits of habits that bring shades of well-being but aren’t necessarily easy to keep?

I don’t know how others might or do feel in my place; I’ve really had to fight the tendency to grasp on to one diet tightly and cling on for dear life, pouring all my hopes and dreams of health into a glass of kefir, a rare steak, or a capsule full of fish oil. I know that my house recently welcomed its first copy of Nourishing Traditions, which now sits on our kitchen counter, already dog-earred in certain spots, and which we only half jokingly refer to as “the bible.”

But it isn’t the bible. Not for everyone. And certainly not for me. I didn’t start this post to talk about why specifically the WAPF way of eating isn’t 100% ideal for someone with SIBO. It isn’t ideal, but neither is Atkins, nor Paleo/Primal, nor the Optimal Diet or the SCD. But these diets do provide something to the typical SIBO sufferer that many dietary paths do not, and that is a template, or a starting place, for a successful diet.  I’m super glad that a small British study recently found that soluble fiber helps a lot of people with IBS, but this frankly just isn’t true for me or a lot of other people with SIBO. 

So look to the sidebar in the next few days for links to great diet templates; starting points for those of us with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. I’d especially like to invite people with low carb, whole food blogs to submit their picks for sound dietary advice.