The Hidden Cost of Elimination Diets
We’ve all been there. You scroll through Instagram, see an influencer with glowing skin promoting a diet that bans gluten, dairy, nightshades, and seemingly everything except air and bone broth. You think, “Maybe that’s the answer. Maybe I just need to cut more stuff out.”
It’s an easy trap to fall into. For decades, wellness culture has taught us that health is defined by subtraction. We define ourselves by what we don't eat. But here is the complication: While you are busy restricting your food intake to a narrow list of "safe" ingredients, the trillions of microbes living in your gut are essentially starving to death.
The Inner Ecosystem
Think of your gut microbiome less like a sterile chemistry lab and more like a bustling, messy garden or a dense rainforest. In a rainforest, diversity is the key to survival. You need different plants, bugs, and soil nutrients to keep the ecosystem from collapsing. Your gut is exactly the same. You host trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses (the good kind!) that act as your body’s control center. They manage your immunity, produce vitamins, and even produce about 90% of your serotonin.
Here is the kicker: Different bacteria need different foods. Some microbes thrive on the fiber in oats. Others love the skins of apples. Others go wild for lentils. When you eat a wide variety of plants, you keep all these different bacterial "families" alive and working for you.
The Danger of "Clean Eating"
This is where restrictive diets backfire. When you go on a mono-diet—eating the same "clean" chicken, rice, and broccoli every day, or when you eliminate entire food groups like grains or legumes, you aren't just cutting calories. You are causing an extinction event in your gut.
If you stop eating the fiber that specific bacteria rely on, those bacteria die off. And it gets a little darker. When your gut bacteria get hungry because you aren't feeding them fiber, they don't just sit there quietly. They start looking for other fuel sources. Often, they will start eating the mucus lining of your intestinal wall. This thins the barrier between your gut and your bloodstream, which can lead to inflammation, food sensitivities, and that sluggish "brain fog" feeling.By trying to be "healthy" through restriction, you might actually be making your system more fragile.
Flip the Script: Abundance Over Restriction
So, if restriction is out, what’s the move? The most robust science we have suggests a simple shift in mindset: Don't ask what to remove. Ask what you can add. The "American Gut Project," a massive study on the microbiome, found that the single biggest predictor of a healthy gut wasn't being vegan, paleo, or keto. It was how many different plants people ate per week.
The magic number seems to be 30. If that sounds impossible, remember that "plants" includes everything:
Spices and herbs? Count them.
Tri colored quinoa? Counts as three.
A handful of mixed nuts? That could be three or four points right there.
Your body doesn't want a famine; it wants a feast. It craves variety, color, and divesity of foods. Next time you're meal planning, try to ignore the voice that says "cut this out." Instead, look at your plate and ask: “How can I add one more color and variety to this?” Your gut bacteria will thank you—usually by giving you better energy, better digestion, and a better mood.
