The Gut Health Dialogues

Episoade

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  “I Already Had a Stool Test.” Why Functional Gut Testing Is Different From Conventional Testing 19.09.2026 48min

  Send us Fan Mail If you’ve been dealing with bloating, diarrhea, constipation, food reactions, or other ongoing digestive symptoms, you may have wondered whether functional gut testing can tell you something standard testing missed. In this episode, Alyssa breaks down the difference between conventional and functional gut testing, what each approach is designed to look for, and why two tests that appear to measure the same marker may not answer the same question. You’ll learn: Why conventiona...
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  Methane SIBO Diet in 2026 - What to Eat With IMO Without Over-Restricting 10.09.2026 42min

  Send us Fan Mail What if the diet that's helping you control your methane SIBO symptoms isn't actually addressing the reason you still need such a restrictive diet? In this episode, we break down what we know about the methane SIBO diet, IMO, low FODMAP diets, constipation, intestinal motility, fermentation, fiber, resistant starch, and food reintroduction, including newer research from 2025 and 2026. You’ll learn: Why methane SIBO/IMO can make eating feel so confusing Why low FODMAP can...
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  Spent Thousands on SIBO Treatment but Still Not Better? Here’s What’s Missing 03.09.2026 37min

  Send us Fan Mail If you've spent thousands of dollars on SIBO testing, antibiotics, herbal antimicrobials, supplements, restrictive diets, and practitioner visits but still aren't getting lasting relief, the problem may not be that you haven't tried hard enough. After more than a decade working with difficult SIBO cases, I've seen how easily digestive care can become fragmented: one test, one protocol, one diet, one supplement, without a larger strategy connecting them. In this ep...
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  Could Bile Acid Diarrhea Be Part of Your IBS-D? What to Eat and How to Manage It 27.08.2026 44min

  Send us Fan Mail If you're dealing with urgent, watery diarrhea after meals, you may have already started looking for the food responsible. But when eliminating dairy, gluten, FODMAPs, or other suspected triggers doesn't make much difference, it may be time to look beyond individual foods. In this episode, Alyssa explores a commonly overlooked reason for persistent diarrhea and explains why the timing of symptoms, meal composition, fat intake, medical history, and digestive patter...
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  Low FODMAP vs. Low Fermentation for SIBO Can Either Diet Prevent Relapse 20.08.2026 40min

  Send us Fan Mail If a SIBO diet makes your symptoms disappear, does that mean the SIBO is gone? In this episode, Alyssa breaks down the role of low FODMAP and low fermentation diets in SIBO care, and why symptom relief, bacterial eradication, and relapse prevention aren't necessarily the same thing. She also explores how motility, constipation, post-infectious changes, and other underlying contributors can influence recurrence, and why the goal isn't to stay as restricted as possible forever....
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  Digestive Enzymes Explained: IBS, SIBO & Food Intolerances | Erin Judge 13.08.2026 53min

  Send us Fan Mail Can digestive enzymes actually reduce bloating and food reactions, or does it depend on what's causing your symptoms in the first place? In this episode, Alyssa sits down with GI dietitian Erin Judge, who works with the clinical team at FODZYME, to answer one of the biggest questions people with IBS, SIBO, and food intolerances ask: when do digestive enzymes actually help? This conversation explores the bigger picture of why food intolerances develop, how differen...
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  Fat Malabsorption: Why Fat in Your Diet May Be Triggering Digestive Symptoms 06.08.2026 39min

  Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa explains why fat malabsorption is an often-overlooked cause of chronic digestive symptoms like diarrhea, greasy stools, bloating, weight loss, and nutrient deficiencies. Learn how your liver, pancreas, and small intestine work together to digest fat, what happens when that process breaks down, and why continuing to eliminate foods may not solve the real problem. You'll learn: What fat malabsorption is and how it affects digestionThe difference be...
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  Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: The Overlooked Root Cause of SIBO, Chronic Constipation, Bloating & Motility Disorders with Rebecca Patton 31.07.2026 46min

  Send us Fan Mail If you've been treating chronic constipation, bloating, and motility issues from the gut side alone, microbiome work, methane SIBO protocols, bile flow, motility agents, and progress keeps stalling, there may be a structural piece nobody has assessed. In this episode, pelvic floor physical therapist Rebecca Patton explains how the muscles of the abdomen and pelvis form a single pressure system, why pain drives that system into protective tension, and how that tension ma...
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  Is Your SIBO Diet Helping or Keeping You Stuck? 21.07.2026 31min

  Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa explains one of the biggest misconceptions in SIBO recovery: the belief that a therapeutic diet is the treatment. While Low FODMAP and SIBO diets can be incredibly effective for reducing symptoms, they were never designed to be the finish line. They're a tool to create stability, not a permanent way of eating. Alyssa walks through why long-term restriction can hold your gut back, the difference between symptom management and true healing, and what shou...
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  Pancreatic Insufficiency: What to Eat, How to Structure Your Meals, and Why Enzymes Aren't Enough on Their Own 23.06.2026 46min

  Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa breaks down one of the most overlooked aspects of pancreatic insufficiency management: nutrition. While pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) is essential, diet plays a major role in determining how well those enzymes work and how you feel day to day. We explore what a practical pancreatic insufficiency diet looks like, common mistakes that keep symptoms lingering, and why many people with EPI may also be dealing with overlapping conditions like...
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  A New IBS Study Just Validated What Functional Practitioners Have Been Saying for Years 11.06.2026 33min

  Send us Fan Mail Why do some people dramatically improve with a treatment that does absolutely nothing for someone else with the exact same IBS diagnosis? A new 2026 study may help answer that question. In this episode, Alyssa breaks down groundbreaking research that individualized IBS treatment based on microbiome findings rather than treating everyone with the same symptom-based approach. The results challenge one of the biggest assumptions in digestive health: that people with the same dia...
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  Why We Need to Get Things Moving Before SIBO Treatment 02.06.2026 28min

  Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa breaks down one of the overlooked pieces of successful SIBO recovery: making sure the digestive system is actually moving before starting SIBO treatment. Because when bowel movements are incomplete, sluggish, or backed up, the body has a much harder time clearing fermentation byproducts, gas, and bacterial die-off compounds, which can make treatment feel unbearable. Inside this episode, we discuss: Why constipation is about more than “not going enough”...
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  Root Causes of SIBO: Why It’s Usually a Gut Environment Problem, Not Just a Bacteria Problem 22.05.2026 55min

  Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever felt better temporarily after antibiotics, herbals, or restrictive diets only to have symptoms slowly return again, this episode explains why that happens and what’s often being missed underneath the surface. Rather than viewing SIBO as simply “bad bacteria coming back,” Alyssa walks through the larger gut environment that allows overgrowth to happen in the first place — including motility issues, digestion problems, nervous system dysregulation, constipation, ...
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  Why Your Constipation Diet May Be Making IBS-C Worse 15.05.2026 46min

  Send us Fan Mail Constipation is one of the most oversimplified digestive symptoms online. But what happens when you’re already doing all of the things - eating more fiber, drinking more water, taking magnesium citrate and probiotic supplements - and you still feel bloated, backed up, uncomfortable, reactive to foods, and worse the harder you try to “eat healthy”? In this episode, Alyssa unpacks why IBS-C is often much more complex than a simple fiber deficiency, and why certain healthy food...
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  When Your SIBO Test Is “Negative,” But Your Symptoms Say Otherwise 08.05.2026 44min

  Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa breaks down why SIBO breath tests can miss what’s actually happening, and how to look beyond the “positive vs negative” label to understand what your body is really telling you. You’ll learn how factors like test type, timing, gas patterns, and even transit time can completely change how results should be interpreted. You’ll learn: Why glucose vs lactulose testing can lead to false negativesHow methane overgrowth (IMO) is often missed entirelyThe probl...
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  Trying to Do Low FODMAP as a Vegetarian? Here’s How to Make It Actually Work 28.04.2026 37min

  Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever tried to follow a low FODMAP diet as a vegetarian, you’ve probably had this exact thought: “What am I even supposed to eat?” Because the foods you rely on most are suddenly the very things you're told to avoid. And that’s where the frustration starts. In this episode, Alyssa breaks down how to actually make a low FODMAP vegetarian diet work in real life, without over-restricting, under-eating protein, or getting stuck in the elimination phase forever. You’ll le...
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  SIBO Die-Off Explained: Why You Feel Worse Before You Feel Better (And What To Do About It) 21.04.2026 36min

  Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever started antibiotics, herbals, or an elemental diet, and suddenly felt more bloated, more fatigued, and completely off, this episode will explain exactly why. We’re breaking down one of the most misunderstood parts of SIBO recovery: die-off (Herxheimer reaction). You’ll learn: What endotoxins are and why they trigger symptomsWhy SIBO die-off affects your whole body (not just your gut)The 2 main types of die-off symptoms (digestive vs systemic)The typical timelin...
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  The Nervous System Root Cause Most People Miss (And Why Your Symptoms Don’t Make Sense) ft. Alex Mufson 14.04.2026 54min

  Send us Fan Mail Your symptoms aren’t just physical, and not just “in your head” either. In this episode, Alyssa sits down with nervous system expert Alex Mufson to unpack one of the most overlooked drivers of chronic symptoms: The nervous system as a full-body regulator, not just a stress response. If you’ve ever been told “everything looks normal” while dealing with real symptoms like bloating, fatigue, anxiety, or unexplained pain, this conversation will connect the dots. What You’ll Learn...
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  Diverticulitis Diet: What to Eat During a Flare and How to Safely Add Fiber Back 07.04.2026 29min

  Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Gut Health Dialogues, Alyssa breaks down exactly what to do during a diverticulitis flare, how to transition your diet safely, and how to prevent future episodes. Because one of the biggest mistakes people make is staying in the low-fiber phase for too long during a Diverticulitis flare. What You’ll Learn in This Episode The difference between diverticulosis vs diverticulitis (and why it matters)What’s actually happening in your body during a flar...
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  Why SIBO Comes Back After Rifaximin (3 Reasons Symptoms Return After Antibiotics) 31.03.2026 31min

  Send us Fan Mail If you’ve taken antibiotics like rifaximin for SIBO and found yourself right back where you started, you’re not alone. This is one of the most common patterns we see in practice, and it’s also one of the most frustrating. In this episode, Alyssa breaks down what’s actually happening beneath the surface when symptoms return, and why repeating the same approach often leads to the same outcome. You’ll learn how different SIBO patterns behave, why treatment sometimes only s...