The First Ever Low Carb Elemental Diet - Dr. Michael Ruscio, BCDNM, DC

Does your gut need a reset?

Yes, I'm Ready

Do you want to start feeling better?

Yes, Where Do I Start?

Do you want to start feeling better?

Yes, Where Do I Start?

The First Ever Low Carb Elemental Diet

One of the most effective therapies for gut healing.

Dr. Michael Ruscio, DNM, DC: Hi. This is Dr. Ruscio, and I’m very happy to announce the first-ever low-carb elemental diet.

Elemental diets are a powerful tool for gut healing, including IBS and SIBO, gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and altered bowel function. Some evidence also suggests they’re helpful for joint pain and inflammatory bowel disease. These elemental diets, these liquid meal replacements, are actually one of the most effective therapies for those who have not optimally responded to preliminary interventions like diets and probiotics.

I’m very happy to announce that while most elemental diets available to date have had about 60 grams of carbs per serving, we have now released a low carb version with only 20 grams of carbs per serving.

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What is special and unique about elemental diets?

  1. They are hypoallergenic, meaning they are devoid of common irritants that can inflame and potentially damage your gut.
  2. As a result, they are anti-inflammatory.
  3. The contents are pre-digested. Meaning the proteins are broken down, the carbohydrates are broken down, and there is little to no fiber.

This is helpful because it can starve bacteria and fungal overgrowths in the gut. This can actually be a very helpful and healing thing for those who have intestinal inflammation and imbalances in intestinal bacteria and fungus.

Key Takeaways

Elemental diets are…

  • Hypoallergenic
  • Anti-Inflammatory
  • Pre-digested

Why are elemental diets helpful?

  1. Elemental diets reduce your exposure to foodstuffs that could be irritating the gut and therefore causing inflammation.
  2. Because the ingredients are pre-digested, this is like giving your gut a break or a chance to rest. Now your gut doesn’t have to work so hard to break down all the food. It can actually focus on repair and regeneration. Think of it as if you had sprained your ankle. Your ankle can heal, but it’d be very hard for your ankle to heal if you were running three miles every day. So, the same parallel here holds where your gut oftentimes can heal if we can allow it a chance to rest.
  3. Elemental diets have been documented in the published literature to reduce SIBO or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. I actually suspect the same thing is true for fungus. The way these elemental diets work is the nutrients in them are absorbed within the first few feet of your small intestine. The remainder or majority of the small intestine and the large intestine, don’t have to work to process and digest these foods, and it also deprives the bacteria and fungus in the intestinal tract of the foods they need to survive.
  4. There is a robust amount of documentation showing that elemental diets can actually reduce inflammation.

Key Takeaways

  • Reduces exposure to irritating foods
  • Gives your gut a chance to rest and regenerate
  • Reduces bacterial (and most likely fungal) overgrowth

What does the evidence show?

In brief, what does the evidence here show? What is the science-based recommendation? Well, if you scroll down on this page, you’ll be able to see a synopsis of the data, but thankfully there are a handful of trials that have shown in:

  1. One remarkable study to decrease gastrointestinal symptoms as well as decrease SIBO
  2. One study finding that the elemental diet can actually be as effective as prednisone for reducing the joint pain in rheumatoid arthritis
  3. A number of studies in inflammatory bowel disease showing that the digestive tract inflammation and autoimmunity, that’s a part of that disease, can actually be very, very nicely attenuated by the use of an elemental diet

How do you use an elemental diet?

Elemental diets, thankfully, can be used in a variety of applications.

  1. The simplest way may be to use these as a meal replacement. So, on some mornings or on most mornings, especially if you’re on the go, you can sip on one of these shakes during breakfast, and that can give your gut a chance to rest, heal, and to starve some of these overgrowths.
  2. Now, you could also do this as a mini gut reset, where you use these liquid diets exclusively for anywhere from two to four days, and
  3. All the way at the other end of the spectrum, and this is what’s been published in some of the peer-reviewed literature, you could be exclusively on elemental diet nutrition for anywhere up to two weeks.

So, there are a lot of options at your disposal. It depends on you, where you are on your journey, how severe your symptoms are, and how motivated you are. But the good news here is if this is used, at minimal, as a meal replacement or all the way up as a maximal approach for two weeks exclusively, there are options. You should be able to find an option along this array that fits for your motivation level and for your level of severity.

Key Takeaways

  • It doesn’t have to be all or nothing – you can use elemental heal by itself or as a meal replacement for one or two meals per day
  • Use exclusively for 2-4 days for a gut reset
  • Can use it exclusively for up to two weeks

Episode Wrap Up

So, if you have not yet trialed an elemental diet, I would highly recommend it. Thankfully, we have an assortment of various elemental diet formulas to help you find the exact one that fits best for you. Low carb, whey-free, traditional, which would be with the use of whey protein, and in an assortment of different flavors.

If you have not yet given this a trial, it’s something that is certainly worth a shot. It can be quite helpful, especially if you feel like you haven’t been able to get your gut fully healed. This can, for some cases, be what gets you over the hump.

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Discussion

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