Special Diets for Specific Symptoms_Final

>> Hello again. In the last lecture we talked about how to balance macronutrient ratios for hormonal balance. In this lecture, we'll go over five special diets that were designed to address specific symptoms. This will help you understand why an ideal diet may look like for client with a specific hormonal issue. Now remember, everyone is different, but these are healing diets that many people with various imbalances and sensitivities have experienced success with in finding relief from their symptoms. So if anything, they are good place to start. Remember, when you work with your clients that your role is to educate them on different ways of eating that may help them improve their health and wellbeing. You shouldn't prescribe any one diet as the right way a client should be eating or describe it as a treatment. Coaches aren't doctors, so we're not in the business of handing out treatments, even if our dietary recommendations do alternately end up healing our client's problems. What you want to do is work like a detective with your clients to match their symptoms with the types of foods that may be helpful or harmful to their condition. Then either create a custom eating plan or find the diet that most closely aligns with their needs. You'll then want to take some time to walk your clients through the reasons, why a certain type of diet may be helpful in improving the issue that they're experiencing. From there, you want to explore how they feel about it, and take time to listen to any concerns or reluctance they may have, it can be intimidating, frustrating, scary, or downright upsetting for someone to learn that they may have to eliminate foods that they love in order to feel better. This is where your compassion, empathy, and great listening skills as a coach come into play. Sit with your clients supportively through this process as you weigh the pros and cons of adopting a new way of eating in the pursuit of their wellbeing. So, what might some of these new approaches to eating look like? Let's start off with the Paleo diet, which has been trendy in recent years, but is a recommended diet for balancing hormones. The Paleo diet is a clean diet, meaning that refined and processed foods are out. This is as you know good for everyone. The macronutrient profile of this diet is moderate carbohydrate, high-fat, and normal protein. It was originally proposed as a way to get back to how our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate, and a way to get away from refined carbohydrates and processed proteins. There are many slightly different versions of the diet which vary the types of vegetables, fruits, and grains that are allowed. The staples of the diet are lean meat, fish, whole fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and nuts and seeds. Foods to avoid on the Paleo diet include dairy, grains, processed foods and sugars, legumes, and alcohol. In popular culture, Paleo has the reputation of being all about CrossFit workouts and big steak dinners, but to balance hormones, it's actually better to eat a moderate amount of protein, as we've previously discussed. Also, caution clients interested in this diet not to let the carbohydrate level get too low. The choices are decreased on this diet when it comes to carbs, but there are still plenty that are okay. Starchy vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, and beets are totally fine on this diet. Fiber can be an issue with the Paleo Diet because grains are out of the picture. And many clients have a tendency to focus on the protein rather than ensuring that they're eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Encourage your clients to shoot for at least 25 grams of fiber per day. If they're complaining of constipation, too little fiber may be the problem. Fermented foods are an important component of the Paleo Diet. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate a variety of fermented foods because they didn't have refrigerators or preservatives. Fermented foods when treated properly are excellent for maintaining the bacterial balance in the GI tract, sinuses, and reproductive tract. Recommended foods include sauerkraut, kimchi, coconut kefir, and pickles. To the general public, it's a hot trend, but the Paleo Diet has actually been studied for over 25 years and it can really benefit individuals dealing with underlying hormonal imbalances. It appears to improve the flora of the GI tract which in turn decreases inflammation throughout the body, improving insulin sensitivity, decreasing abdominal fat, and improving blood pressure. In one study, after as little as two weeks on the Paleo Diet, improvements were seen in participant's blood sugar between meals, abdominal circumference, and blood pressure. Now let's look at the ketogenic diet, which was first introduced in the 1920s as a treatment for epilepsy, and then later, Alzheimer's. The ketogenic diet has some similarities to the Paleo Diet but is more strict regarding carbohydrates, with 50 grams of carbohydrates typically considered the daily maximum threshold for someone to enter what's referred to as a ketogenic state, it's easy to see that this is a very low carbohydrate diet. The basis of the diet is that the production of ketones is beneficial to the brain and GI tract. Ketones are produced by the liver from fatty acids during periods of low food intake, particularly low carbohydrate intake. When the body is producing large amounts of ketones, this is known as a ketogenic state. The body shifts from using carbohydrates in the blood for energy to breaking down fat and to produce ketones for fuel. Basically, your body becomes a fat burning machine on the ketogenic diet. The foods that are recommended on the ketogenic diet include meat, poultry and fish, eggs, vegetables, nuts, full-fat dairy, and berries in moderation. Foods to be avoided on the ketogenic diet include fruit, processed carbohydrates and sugar, grains, starches, and alcohol. Studies have shown that this diet can be effective for weight loss and improves symptoms of metabolic syndrome, including high blood pressure and abdominal obesity. But because of its very low carbohydrate status, this diet has shown to have a negative effect on the thyroid causing Reverse T3 to increase and T3 to decrease. This negative effect can be decreased by adjusting carbohydrate intake slowly, over the course of several weeks so the body can adapt. If a client suddenly goes from high carb or moderate carb to a very low carbohydrate diet, they can experience flu like symptoms. These are normal but can be totally discouraging for clients working to establish a new way of eating. This diet is generally intended for weight loss and is not meant to be followed forever. Once the client has reached their ideal weight, a good maintenance plan is to transition them to the Paleo diet described earlier. The next few diets we'll discuss are designed to help heal the GI tract and rebalance levels of bacteria and yeast in the body. They are all low carbohydrate diets with specific carbohydrates that are allowed. These are good diets for clients who have difficulties with gas, bloating, or indigestion to experiment with. The following are balancing diets. They are only meant to be followed for a short period of time to allow the GI tract to heal from inflammation. Having your clients, keep in mind that these diets are not permanent lifestyle changes may make it easier for them to accept the challenge of eliminating or reducing certain food, since this may not be a permanent commitment they'll have to make. I'd like to pause quickly here to remind you that, as a Health Coach you can't diagnose or claim to treat any medical conditions, even if a client presents with glaringly obvious condition and you feel 99% sure that you know what it is. Diagnosing is always outside of your scope of practice. Instead, refer your client to a trained medical professional for proper testing and diagnosis of any gut related conditions. You can suggest to a client to eat foods that are known to help alleviate the symptoms they may experience, but you can't say something like, "So from what you're telling me it sounds like, you have metabolic syndrome. I can heal you with the ketogenic diet." But you can't say something like, I recommend visiting your primary doctor or specialist to look into those symptoms more, but one thing we can try is adjusting your carbohydrate intake. Many people have found positive results with this kind of a diet, would you like to hear more? All right, let's move on. The low-FODMAP diet was originally proposed for irritable bowel syndrome. The hallmark of this diet is limiting consumptions of certain types of carbohydrates. These include the simple and complex sugars, sugar alcohols, and a group of carbohydrates called fermentable oligosaccharides. These are found in wheat, rye, garlic, onion, artichokes, and legumes. These short chain carbohydrates are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and are rapidly fermented by bacteria in the gut. The production of gas by these bacteria is a major contributor to GI symptoms. We talked briefly about these carbohydrates earlier on in the course, but let's review. We have oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols or sugar alcohols. Basically, the only carbohydrates recommended on this diet are low sugar fruits like blueberries and raspberries, certain vegetables like spinach and bok choy, certain grains like rice and quinoa, and most unprocessed meats. The list of allowable and non-allowable foods is quite extensive which can be frustrating to implement. There's no need to memorize these. There are many books and websites that have the full list of acceptable foods on the low-FODMAP diet. It can be a challenging and confusing diet to follow, but for the client who hasn't been able to resolve his or her GI symptoms and are starting to feel like nothing will ever help, it can be a saving grace. Now let's talk about this Specific Carbohydrate Diet. This plan eliminates all carbohydrates except this simple single chain sugars. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet or SCD for short was originally created for people with GI issues, such as Crohn's disease, diverticulitis, and chronic constipation. While it's called the specific carbohydrate diet, it's actually a low carbohydrate, moderate protein, and high fat diet, and has similar benefits to the Paleo diet. The theory behind this one is that complex carbohydrates are not easily digested and so they feed the harmful bacteria in our intestines. The diet works by starving out the bad bacteria and restoring the balance of good bacteria in the gut. Foods allowed on the SCD include simple carbohydrates which are most non-starchy vegetables and low sugar fruits, nuts, meat, fish, and eggs. Foods not allowed on the SCD are starches, grains, legumes, breads and baked goods. Lastly, the GAPS diet is similar to the SCD. In fact, it was actually derived from the SCD diet by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. We highly recommend consulting her book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" in order to follow the diet properly. It was originally proposed for children with learning disabilities but is known for being able to heal leaky gut. It starts with an introduction diet that's completed in six stages, all of the most sensitive foods are removed and then they're slowly added reckon. With the GAPS diet, the majority of the client's diet should consist of meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, and fermented foods. Fermented dairy also is allowed if tolerated. Natural fats such as ghee, coconut oil, or animal fats like tallow and lard are permitted. These are some of the rules that are helpful for following the GAPS diet. Fruits should be eaten separately from meals except for avocado. Vegetables, fermented foods, and meats should be eating together to balance the PH. Temporarily, eliminating fruit, honey, and nuts may be beneficial for clients suffering from yeast overgrowth. Symptoms of that include bloating, fatigue, memory issues, and autoimmune disease. Supplements are highly recommended with the GAPS diet. Consider including a high grade probiotic, digestive enzymes, essential fatty acids, vitamin A, and multivitamin and mineral supplement. To recap, there are five specific diets that we went over that can help clients find relief from symptoms related to hormone imbalance. These are the Paleo diet, ketogenic diet, low-FODMAP diet, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and the GAPS diet. At first, it might be hard to remember the differences between the various diets, so we suggest working backwards and starting with the client. What are his or her primary symptoms? What if they tried before? What's worked in the past and what hasn't? It's a process of elimination and trial and error. Just remember, you're ready to get out there now and help your clients who so desperately need you. You don't need to wait until you have every detail of every diet memorized. Just listen, support, and play detective. The more clients you work with, the easier it will become to suggest a diet based on their symptoms. And again, if a client is experiencing digestive issues, please refer him or her to a gastroenterologist or a functionally trained medical doctor for proper gut and digestive testing before making your recommendations. The future of health coaching involves us coaches working alongside medical practitioners, not in their absence or in competition with them. Have you or anyone you know ever tried one of these diets? How did it go? Be sure to start by the Facebook group to share your experiences. It's so powerful when we can learn from one another. Thank you for joining me and I look forward to seeing you soon.