Gut Survival Over The Holidays

’tis the season for mirth and merriment! I hope this holiday season is enjoyed by all and that everyone remains safe and healthy! What follows are a few tips on holiday gut survival.

My wife and I will be staying in town with family and friends this year. The onslaught of non-standard eating has already begun, and will only get worse (better?) That’s OK, I have a plan, and my gut is probably much further along than many of you.

I know this is a very stressful time for some people. Though there are a lot of possible reasons for stress at this time of year, this website and Facebook group focuses on gut health, so I’ll focus on that. A lot  of people here are worried about their gut health over the next couple of weeks, and rightfully so. I wish I could say you have nothing to worry about, but we all know that isn’t true. There will be MANY temptations around most of us. So I would like to give you a few bullet points that have helped me survive in the past and that I will be following again this year.

•  Avoid unfermented dairy – Even if you don’t think you are lactose intolerant, many (most?) of you are. Lactose feeds bad bacteria; most strains of pathogenic bacteria are “lactose fermenters” (it is actually a bacterial classification). This means they directly consume lactose in your gut in order to thrive and multiply.  Milk, and milk byproducts (which are high in lactose) are found in many stored bought foods, including most bread, gravies, etc. As well as in many treats, such as fudge, brownies, cookies, custards, etc. So you really need to read the ingredient list closely. When making your own foods, unsweetened kefir, buttermilk, cultured butter, and hard cheeses are much better choices to use in recipes as the lactose has already been consumed by the beneficial and commensal bacteria used to make those products. Sour cream is less problematic than soft cheeses (such as American cheese, Cheese Wiz, Velveta, ‘cream cheese’, etc. Avoid these) but it can still contain some lactose, so consume in moderation. When cooking, use kefir or buttermilk instead of milk, that’s what I do. Even if you do not have SIBO, unabsorbed lactose can still be problematic in the colon (and symptoms may not start for 2  to 48 hours after consumption!) Lactase enzyme supplements only help a little, if you use them take one with your first bite of lactose containing food, then one more about half way through. The goal is to distribute the enzyme throughout the food. (note: Lactose intolerance breath tests basically look look for SIBO. If you do not have SIBO you will not test positive for lactose intolerance, even though you may still be malabsorbing lactose!)  
•  Avoid fructose – This is mostly found in fruit, but also in honey and high fructose corn syrup. Regular corn syrup can also be problematic because it is a type of “inverted sugar”, sugar that has had the fructose and glucose separated (unbound from each other). This makes the fructose more problematic. Even if you think you have no fructose malabsorption, you might. Humans can only absorb so much fructose at a time, it isn’t a very efficient process (for anyone), and how much we can absorb varies from person to person. And if you don’t absorb it, microbes below will! If you have no SIBO you may not suffer any issues from unabsorbed fructose for several hours, again, perhaps up to 48 hours! I would recommend avoiding fruit as much as possible during the holidays; when you do eat it, limit how much you eat to 1/2 cup or less, and avoid ALL liquid fruit drinks (there is no time for the fructose in the liquid to be absorbed properly as it simply flows through). If you do not have SIBO, eating fruit just after a meal is better as the food slows passage, giving fructose more time to absorb. If you do have SIBO, just avoid fructose containing foods. I limit my intake to a small amount of berries (no cream) and perhaps half a banana now and then.
• Dessert – If you have to eat desserts, try to do so in moderation. If you still have gut problems, sugar will most likely cause issues, its just a matter of how much of an issue you want to deal with! It is best to consume sugary foods after your meal (again, if you have active SIBO, avoid dessert or you will get sick), and make sure it was made with table sugar. Avoid corn syrup if possible (a very small serving of something with corn syrup might be OK for some people, but its hard to say for whom, or how much). No creams, including no whipped cream. Spreading dessert out over 2 or 3 meals is better than consuming it all at once. Again, watch for lactose and fructose. Aunt Edna will be much more understanding if you take a small piece of her pie to begin with, then if you take a large piece and leave most of it (“what, you didn’t like it!”)
• Carbohydrates – Savory carbs can still be problematic, but much less so than sugars. Over consuming will probably slow healing progress, but maybe not put you into a full setback. But be careful of things like mashed potatoes which might have lots of milk in them. If you make the mashed potatoes yourself you can make them with buttermilk or kefir, they taste great this way. Sour cream is also better than milk, but may still have a little lactose in it (still, you do what you can). Stuffing is safe from the sugar issue, but, of course, is still high in carbs, so if you have SIBO you should be careful. Of course, most stuffing is made from bread and some of you are gluten intolerant.  If you are, you know you need to be careful with it. Commercial bread may also have both lactose and HFCS.  My primary issue with bread now is commercial bread with lactose and HFCS, I can actually consume homemade bread without issues (though I still mostly avoid it for general health reasons).
• Alcohol – alcohol can certainly worsen gastritis and histamine intolerance. If you have to drink, dry white wines are better than sweet and red wines. Low carb beer is better than regular beer. Of course be careful with the mixers, they can be loaded with sugar and HFCS.
• Over consumption – I’m as guilty as anyone in this regard. We all know this can be problematic. All I can say is to try to load up on the foods you have the least problem with, at least then the pain may not last as long.
• If you take Phage Complete, do not stop. Take it with you if you are going out of town, and double up for a little while.

I also know a lot of people are putting off diet (and other measures to fix their gut) during the holidays. Book and Phage Complete sales numbers are always down before Christmas, and then take off after Christmas and shortly after New Years. A sure sign that no one wants to think about this topic  right now. I get that. But I’m hoping people can possibly minimize the damage a little. Nobody wants to suffer during the holidays or have to explain why they’re ill. So hopefully these tips can help you enjoy this time.

Happy Holidays!