Skip to content
IBS SIBO Dietitian
  • About
  • Services
    • Bloating Breakthrough Coaching Program
    • Bloating Breakthrough Academy
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Free Masterclass
  • About
  • Services
    • Bloating Breakthrough Coaching Program
    • Bloating Breakthrough Academy
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Free Masterclass
Book a consultation

Day: September 2, 2026

Best Cortisol Reducing Supplements: A Dietitian’s Guide and How it Relates to Your Gut

Cortisol Lowering Supplements

Cortisol is a major buzz word nowadays and many times the discussion of high cortisol is followed up with what cortisol reducing supplements should be taken. But before you reach for the next supplement, it is important that you are looking at the full picture. Chronic stress and elevated cortisol are frequently part of what […]

If you’ve been cutting out more and more foods for If you’ve been cutting out more and more foods for months or years and you’re still not better, restriction was probably never going to be the long-term fix.

I understand why it feels like the answer. When you pull out trigger foods, you usually get some relief, and that relief feels like proof. But the pattern I see in my practice over and over is temporary relief, then a relapse, then more restriction and more supplements, until someone is down to five or six safe foods and still has symptoms every week.

Restriction is a useful diagnostic tool. Short term, it helps us identify your actual triggers. It was never designed to be a permanent way of eating, because it doesn’t touch the reason your gut is reacting in the first place, whether that’s slow motility, bacterial overgrowth, or a nervous system stuck on high alert.

Staying restricted too long can also slow down healing:

🦠 Less diversity in your microbiome: your gut bacteria rely on fiber from the foods you’ve removed, and without it, beneficial strains like bifidobacteria drop.

🔥 Less butyrate: those bacteria produce butyrate, the main fuel for the cells lining your colon and a key support for a strong gut lining.

🧱 A thinner protective barrier: when fiber stays low, some bacteria start breaking down the mucus layer that protects your gut lining.

📉 A shrinking safe food list: a more reactive gut tolerates less, which pushes you toward even more restriction.

What helps instead:

⏳ Keep elimination short, usually weeks, with a clear plan to reintroduce foods.

🥄 Reintroduce one food at a time so you learn your real tolerance level rather than avoiding foods forever.

🔍 When symptoms flare, look at what’s driving them before cutting another food.

The goal is to get you eating more foods, not fewer.

If you’re stuck in this cycle, comment MASTERCLASS and I’ll send you my free training on mistakes that keep you stuck from healing SIBO.

#IBS #SIBO #guthealth #bloating #eliminationdiet lowFODMAP guthealing dietitian
Your SIBO keeps coming back, and you're only focus Your SIBO keeps coming back, and you're only focusing on killing bacteria? 👀 Let's talk about BILE FLOW.

Bile does so much more than help you digest fats. It also plays a role in your small intestine's natural antimicrobial defenses and helps regulate your gut microbiome.

When bile production, release, or bile acid metabolism is impaired, it may be one piece of a bigger digestive puzzle.

So what should you be looking at beyond antimicrobials? 👇🏼

🌿 Supporting bile flow through functional nutrition:

✨ Incorporating bitter foods like arugula, dandelion greens, and radicchio

✨ Eating enough healthy fats to support normal gallbladder contraction

✨ Getting adequate choline from foods like eggs and salmon to support normal liver function

✨ Supporting your gut microbiome with dietary diversity and fiber you tolerate

✨ Prioritizing regular bowel movements, hydration, movement, and quality sleep

✨ Investigating underlying issues affecting bile production, gallbladder function, or bile acid metabolism

Here's the thing: SIBO recurrence isn't always about bacteria coming back. It's about understanding WHY your gut environment may be allowing overgrowth to recur.

Motility, stomach acid, digestive function, underlying conditions, and other factors can all play a role.

We don't want to keep chasing symptoms without addressing the factors contributing to them.

Want to learn how to approach SIBO from a root-cause perspective? Comment ROADMAP to schedule a Root Cause Roadmap call!

#SIBO #SIBOHealing #GutHealth #FunctionalNutrition #BileFlow #DigestiveHealth #RootCauseHealing #GutMicrobiome
Low iron has more than one cause. Heavy periods, Low iron has more than one cause. 

Heavy periods, low dietary intake, pregnancy, frequent blood donation, endurance training, and bleeding in the GI tract can all drain your stores, and your doctor should be part of ruling those out. Absorption is the piece I see get missed when those have been covered and ferritin still won’t move.

These are the signs that tell me it’s time to look at absorption:

🩸 Blood loss has been checked and addressed. If heavy periods or another source of bleeding is driving your low iron, that comes first. When it’s been addressed and you’re still low, absorption moves up the list.
💊 Months of iron with little change in ferritin. When your body absorbs iron well, ferritin should be climbing by your 8–12 week recheck, so a flat number tells me absorption needs a closer look.
🦠 Your iron dropped after your gut issues started. Inflammation in the gut raises hepcidin, the hormone that limits iron absorption, and damage to the small intestine lining reduces how much iron gets through.
🥩 An iron-rich diet and still low. Red meat, poultry, and seafood provide the most absorbable form of iron, so staying low on a diet built around them points to absorption or ongoing losses.
🧪 Other nutrients are low too. When B12, vitamin D, or zinc are also low, I look at absorption as a whole instead of treating each deficiency on its own.
🔥 Years on an acid blocker. Stomach acid converts iron into the form your small intestine absorbs, so long-term acid suppression can lower how much gets in.

I see this pattern all the time with clients who developed iron deficiency alongside SIBO, H. pylori, celiac, or chronic gut inflammation. For them, supporting the gut is what lets iron stores come back up and stay there.

Comment FERRITIN and I’ll send you my free low ferritin guide with the first steps I take with clients. 👇

#lowferritin #irondeficiency #ironabsorption #guthealth #sibo guthealthdietitian
Treating your SIBO but the bloating, constipation, Treating your SIBO but the bloating, constipation, and digestive symptoms keep coming back? 👀

You might be focusing on the overgrowth without addressing why it keeps happening in the first place.

As a SIBO dietitian, these are some of the root causes I look at when working with clients with recurring SIBO:

✨ Poor gut motility
✨ Impaired bile flow
✨ Underlying thyroid dysfunction
✨ Chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation

SIBO isn't the root cause. It's often a sign that something else may be going on.

Until you understand what's contributing to the overgrowth, you may find yourself stuck in the frustrating cycle of treating SIBO, feeling better temporarily, and watching your symptoms return.

The goal isn't to keep chasing the overgrowth. It's to understand your unique root causes and create a plan that supports long-term gut health. 🤍

Want to learn more about why your SIBO keeps coming back and what you can do about it?

👇 Comment MASTERCLASS and I'll send you a link to join my FREE training on why your SIBO keeps coming back! 

#SIBO #bile #constipation #SIBOdietitian
Most of the SIBO relapses I see trace back to some Most of the SIBO relapses I see trace back to something that was missed before treatment ever started.

Many of the women who come to me have already done one, two, sometimes three rounds of antimicrobials. They followed the protocol, cut out half their food list, and still ended up bloated again a few months later. When we look back at what happened, the gaps usually show up in the same places.

🥩 Antimicrobials work best on a nourished body. If you’ve cut your diet down to a handful of safe foods, your gut doesn’t have the protein and energy it needs to repair itself during and after treatment.

🥗 Diet alone won’t clear SIBO. Food changes can reduce gas and bloating, but antimicrobials or antibiotics are what lower the bacterial load in the small intestine.

🔄 No motility plan after treatment = SIBO relapse. The migrating motor complex sweeps bacteria out of the small intestine between meals, and when it’s sluggish, bacteria build back up.

🔍 The root cause matters more than your breath test numbers. Low stomach acid, slow bile flow, constipation, or a past case of food poisoning are what allowed the overgrowth, and those stay in place after the numbers drop.

⚡ You may feel worse before you feel better. As bacteria die off, they release byproducts that can temporarily increase bloating, fatigue, or headaches in the first week or so. This is common but preventable!

I see this all the time: the women who stay SIBO-free long term are the ones who prepared their body before treatment and had a plan for after it. Treatment is one step in the process, and the steps around it decide whether the results last.

If you’re about to start treatment, or you’ve already been through a round or two and the bloating came back, comment ROADMAP and I’ll send you the link to book a Root Cause Roadmap Session. We’ll look at what’s driving your SIBO and build a plan that is specific to you!

#sibo #ibsdietitian #ibs #ibsdiet #sibodiet
Fall gives your nervous system a lot of what it ne Fall gives your nervous system a lot of what it needs to shift out of fight-or-flight. In practice, nervous system regulation is one of the pieces I see missed most often in gut healing, and this season makes it easier to build in.

Your vagus nerve connects your brain and gut and drives your rest-and-digest state. When vagal tone is low, motility slows, stomach acid and enzyme output drop, and digestion struggles. Here’s how fall supports it:

❄️ Cooler temps: cold exposure on your skin, especially your face, activates the vagus nerve and slows your heart rate. A brisk morning walk counts.

🫶 Time with loved ones: social connection and laughter engage the same vagal pathways that regulate your heart rate and digestion.

🕯️ Nostalgic traditions: familiar scents, seasonal recipes, and rituals cue your brain that you’re safe, which lets your body move into a relaxed state.

🛋️ Slower routines: after a busy summer, more rest, earlier evenings, and consistent rhythms reduce the constant stress load that keeps vagal activity suppressed.

🍲 Warm, cozy meals: soups, stews, and cooked seasonal produce are easier to digest, and the fiber and magnesium in squash, root veggies, and greens support both your microbiome and a calmer nervous system. Eating slowly at the table, away from screens, adds to the effect.

Your gut can only digest well when your body feels safe enough to prioritize it. Small, consistent cues of safety add up.

If you want to learn how your nervous system, motility, and gut symptoms connect, comment MASTERCLASS and I’ll send you the link to register.

#ibsdietitian #sibo #ibsdiet #guthealing #nervousystemregulation

Explore

  • Bloating Breakthrough Coaching Program
  • Bloating Breakthrough Course
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Masterclass
  • Bloating Breakthrough Coaching Program
  • Bloating Breakthrough Course
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Masterclass

Connect

  • About
  • Book a Consult
  • About
  • Book a Consult
Facebook Instagram Pinterest

© copyright 2024 katrina cox nutrition llc. all rights reserved. privacy policy. disclaimer. brand & web design.