Last month we talked about why it is beneficial to eat seasonally. This month will be an extension of that as I am discuss the importance of variety in your diet. Oftentimes when we are trying to get to root causes of our health issues, we find ourselves cutting out multiple foods, and even whole food groups. Paleo, Whole 30, AIP, Keto, Carnivore, Low Histamine, etc.- the information out there is exhausting and overwhelming and leaves us feeling like all we can consume is a glass of water. My first point of advice would be: Speak to a trusted healthcare practitioner! It can be daunting doing an elimination diet, and potentially more harmful than helpful towards your medical conditions.
Once you decide on an elimination diet with your provider, and the healing treatment begins, you may be on this diet with variations for 3-6 months, and in some cases up to a year. However, the goal is to get you back to something sustainable post-program once you are all healed up and feeling better! In an ideal world, our patients would do a short-term elimination while they heal, and then they would be able to add back in high quality versions of foods they may have cut out to find a good balance moving forward. For example, maybe you had to cut out dairy for a few months but now that your gut is balanced and healed and your root causes have been identified, you can add back in some grass fed/organic dairy with no issues or reactions and have it a few times a week moving forward.
I bet you’re thinking, well, if I cut something out and feel better, why would I want to add it back in again? The answer is: you don’t have to! However, if you have cut multiple food groups that have a lot of useful nutrients in them, then you would likely benefit from having them again in the future. For example, some patients must cut out high histamine foods like tomatoes, spinach, fermented foods, and strawberries, but these foods are loaded with phytonutrients, probiotics, and fiber, and can be an easy and enjoyable way to get nutrients into your body! This is just one of many reasons why I preach variety with my patients.
Some other reasons why variety is so important:
- Different foods have different nutrients that we need, so if we are eating the same foods all the time, we may be high in certain vitamins and minerals, but deficient in others.
- Your gut microbiome has thousands of different bacterium, and they need a variety of different foods to feed different microbes and keep them alive and thriving.
- Our bodies can often mislabel foods as intruders if we have them in high quantities overtime, and therefore, we build up sensitivities to those foods. This causes us to start having inflammatory responses when eating them, further limiting the list of “safe foods” that we can eat and feel ok with.
So how often should I be having a variety of different foods and what does that even mean?
Variety in the diet should look like rotating through different proteins, vegetables, and carbs throughout the week. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat the same foods 2 days in a row, it just means that you should be varying your sources throughout the week. For example, maybe one week you have chicken for a few meals, salmon for a few meals, and beef for a few meals, that’s great! However, I know we can get stuck in a rut with just eating chicken for every dinner of the week or maybe you are more plant based and don’t have as many options for proteins- try getting creative! Even varying different types of legumes can be a way to get variety in your diet.
If you feel like this applies to you and your family, and you need some assistance, for more uniquely tailored information, set up a call with our dietitian to talk through this topic and brainstorm some new ways to incorporate variety in your diet!
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
