Eating “Healthier” and Not Feeling Better?

Have you had this experience? You’ve started to eat “healthier”, maybe you’ve gone vegan, maybe you’ve started eating more plants, maybe you’ve taken out gluten and dairy, and you actually start feeling worse? This happens a lot more than you think! I often see this, in particular, with patients who decide to adopt a Vegan diet.

This is so frustrating and confusing and can be really discouraging.

However, it doesn’t necessarily mean the diet you’ve decided to adopt is bad or wrong for you (although you may also want to be open to the idea that it may not be ideal for you), it just may mean there are a few kinks you need to be aware of and sort out.

Here are some of the most common reasons why eating “healthier” may make you feel worse:

1) You’re feeding bacteria. Eating “healthier” often involves adding more plant material, aka fibre, into the diet. Fibre has many health benefits including helping to keep you satiated, bulking stool to help with constipation and regulating blood sugar. In particular, soluble fibre acts a source of fuel for bacteria in the large intestine, who then ferment it to produce health-promoting Short-Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA). Going from low to high fibre can initially produce discomfort and increased gassiness as you suddenly start feeding the bacteria. In other cases, this may be because you have an imbalanced bacterial population in the large intestine AND/OR you have an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine (not where you want large numbers of bacteria).

Solution: start slow with upping your fibre intake. And if you’re still having problems, talk to a license health professional about the possibility of a bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine (SIBO).

2) You’ve started eating more packaged/processed “green washed” foods. I’ve talked about this in earlier posts, but this often happens when individuals adopt a vegan diet and rely on packaged alternative “meat” products. These foods appear to healthy but often contain many undesirable ingredients such as added sugars, oils, emulsifiers/thickeners, flavouring and other filler materials. This is called a “green-washed” label as it has catchy/trendy words such as organic, vegan, natural, etc, but in reality contains many “unhealthy” ingredients. In my opinion, this is a deceptive and tricky marketing tactic that does a huge disservice to individuals who are striving to make healthier choices.

Solution: Read your labels and try to avoid added sugars, oils, emulsifiers/thickeners, flavouring and colouring agents. Even better, if you’re adopting a vegan diet try to soak and cook your own legumes to make a variety of high protein dishes. If you check out my 7-Day Reset Guide I have some great vegan recipes.

3) You’ve accidentally reduced your protein and/or iron intake. Again, this mostly happens when going vegan and/or vegetarian. Insufficient protein at meals can lead to blood sugar regulation problems and general fatigue. Not getting enough iron can also be a problem, especially for menstruating women.

Solution: Aim for 30 g of protein/meal. If you’re relying on plant-sources of iron be sure to soak your legumes & grains before cooking to help make the iron more accessible for absorption. Other good sources of protein include: nuts, seeds, organic soy products and fermented/sprouted plant protein powders (hemp protein is great).

4) You’ve eliminated or cut back too far on carbs. To all my lady friends, carbs are your friends!! Taking them out entirely or going too low can cause all kinds of hormone, energy and mood problems, to name a few. Also, carb containing foods are often a major source of fibre for your good gut bacteria. Going too low starves your good gut bacteria from their food source and over long periods of time can actually create/worsen digestive issues.

Solution: If you’ve eliminated/reduced carbs for a weight or blood sugar issue, it’s important to not throw the baby out with the bath water. Not all carbs are “bad”. The above health issues most often come from either eating too many refined/simple carbs or from over-fueling (ie. eating more calories than your body needs). You don’t need to completely eliminate carbs, instead I’d suggest focusing on eating complex carbs (such as yams, sweet potatoes, potatoes, whole oats, rice, quinoa, squash, etc) and pairing them with protein and healthy fats.

5) You’ve created stress around food. Being overly restrictive and/or obsessed with your food intake can cause significant distress and emotional fatigue. Even in your best attempts to be healthy, having a balanced and healthy relationship with food is key to feeling your best long term.

Solution: If you’re on a short-term elimination-type of diet, try to reframe it and know that you are working on the underlying health issues so you can work towards the broadest diet possible. You should NOT be on an elimination or restrictive diet forever. If you’ve gotten yourself backed into a corner eating a small amount or variety of foods, then it’s time to seek help in understanding why you’re not able to thrive on a broader diet. Try to be mindful when you eat and make peace with food, it is meant to be a source of pleasure and fulfillment.

There are many other reasons, but these are some of the most common issues I see with my patients. Striving for a healthier diet is fantastic!….it’s just important that you question and are open to making adjustments if you’re not feeling your best. And I can honestly say that there is no best way of eating, except the one that makes your thrive. If you’re not feeling well, it’s time to re-evaluate.

Focus on whole foods, lots of plants and as much variety as you can. The rest is really an “n” of 1 experiment.