This episode covers an often overlooked in discussions about gut health: eating patterns.

I'll explore how abnormal eating might be exacerbating your digestive issues, affecting everything from bloating to constipation or diarrhoea.

I'll cover five common eating patterns I see with my IBS clients:

1. under eating,
2. overeating for muscle gain,
3. chaotic eating,
4. fear of food, and
5. orthorexia.

Each has unique implications for gut health. For instance, under eating can slow digestion, while overeating disrupts appetite signals and contributes to bloating.

We'll discuss practical tips for each pattern, emphasizing appetite sensitivity training and the crucial gut-brain connection. It's not just about what you eat, but how you eat.

Links

• Ep 2 - How to eat
• Ep 3 - When to eat

Website - www.goodnessme-nutrition.com

Upbeat

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music Could your eating patterns

be affecting your digestive issues?

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Or even causing them in the first place?

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The way you eat can have a

huge impact on your gut health.

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not just about the food that you eat.

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Sometimes how you're eating

can be the thing that is

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causing you to have worse IBS.

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Today, I'll share some ways

that disordered eating practices

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can be affecting your gut.

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I'm not talking about

having an eating disorder.

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That requires specialist management.

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But in this episode of The Inside

Knowledge, I'll share how abnormal eating

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might be making things worse for your

bloating, constipation, or diarrhea.

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And when I say abnormal eating patterns,

what does normal eating even mean?

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Let's find out.

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Welcome to episode 24 of the Inside

Knowledge with me Anna Matson.

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Today I want to talk about

something a little bit different.

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It's not specifically about IBS and how

to treat it, but it's more a reflection of

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some of the Ways I see my clients eating

that are affecting their digestive health.

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But are either based on borderline

eating disorder patterns or habits,

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but maybe they aren't as significant.

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It's not affecting their health,

their weight, their mental health

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to such a severity, but it could

be impacting on their digestion.

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The first pattern that I commonly see is

under eating, so not eating enough food.

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The second one is over eating, but

eating in order to gain muscle, so

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this is more in men who are eating

to hit their protein macros often,

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and calories, to make sure that they

are in a position to gain muscle.

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The third pattern is chaotic eating or

erratic eating, like with no regular

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routine, sometimes doing fasting,

sometimes not, skipping meals.

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Then the fourth pattern is fear of food.

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Um, this is.

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bordering on an eating disorder, but

maybe you're very worried about food

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and what it can do to you because of

negative prior experience, and that

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means you've got a very restrictive diet.

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This can sometimes be associated

with sensory processing disorders.

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And then the fifth area

is orthorexia, which is.

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Not always recognized

as an eating disorder.

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in the same way that something

like anorexia or bulimia is.

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However, it is commonly seen, and this is

associated with people who are very into

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clean eating, like a preoccupation with

being healthy, which foods are safe, and

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cutting foods out on the basis of health.

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But it's not just about being healthy

because it's escalated into such strict

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rules and a lot of rule bound eating.

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I'm just going to go through each one of

those five and then talk about what is the

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issue with this type of eating, and then

very briefly what you can do about it.

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I'm not going to be delving

into how to work with people who

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have a defined eating disorder.

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That really requires specialist management

and a fully multidisciplinary team,

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including doctors, psychiatrists,

psychologists, and dietitians,

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and a lot of people who are really

supporting somebody who has got very...

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However, um, the way that they are

defined is there's something called

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the DSM 5, which is a Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

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And there's really strict criteria

for each type of eating disorder.

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But there's also a category called

Feeding and Eating Disorders Not

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Elsewhere Classified, where people

may present with some of the Behaviors

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around eating disorders, but they

might not meet all the criteria.

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For example, they might have Some

of the symptoms of being anorexic

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but might not be in a very small

body or they might do Binging, but

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they don't do it Enough to meet the

criteria for binge eating disorder.

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There's a real two way

relationship Between gut

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disorders and eating disorders.

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It's quite common among people

who have eating disorders to also

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have And some gut issues stem from

disordered practices of eating.

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So that's what I'm going

to talk a little bit today.

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When I mention abnormal eating, like,

what does it even mean to eat normally?

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What would you describe normal eating as?

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And this is something that

you might like to think about.

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I would suggest it's something around

that you're eating, a balanced,

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varied diet without, a lot of

emotional attachment to the food.

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It's proportional to

the needs of your body.

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And you feel healthy, you

feel good when you eat.

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You're in, your body's in a healthy state.

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Also that you can stop

when you've had enough.

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And you eat enough that you're

not always really, really hungry.

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But all of these things

are really subjective.

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So it's important to think

about your experience of food.

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And...

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Your health conditions and what

works for somebody won't work

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necessarily for somebody else.

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You might eat a lot more or less

than the partner that you live with.

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And to have some flexibility I think

is also really, really important.

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I'm just going to delve specifically

into how these affect your IBS.

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And I'll start with the under eating.

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If you aren't eating enough food,

you can sometimes get constipation.

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This is due to not enough

food coming through your gut,

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causing the need to want to go.

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This can lead to slow

and sluggish digestion.

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If you're not eating enough food,

you might not have enough content in

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there to kickstart your digestion.

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So we have something called

gastrocolic reflex, which is where

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when you start eating, it normally

kickstarts your body to make room,

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so it moves food through your gut.

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If you're not eating enough food,

it can slow down the process.

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You might also feel very full.

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full when you do eat and feel very

bloated because you're not used to

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having enough food in your system.

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So when your intestines are often empty,

that means you could feel more bloated

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when they have got food in them, which

doesn't necessarily mean you are bloated.

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It's just that you're noticing Your body

is a little bit fuller than it was before.

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And the other thing about not eating

enough food is that you might be

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lacking in nutrients in order to get

better, to support your immune system.

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So not only to fuel your day, to make

sure you can concentrate at work,

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make sure you can sleep properly,

that your skin is in good condition.

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All of these things require a good

variety of nutrients, including minerals,

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vitamins, fiber, all of these things.

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So when we're not eating enough.

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food.

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It's not only that we're feeling hungry,

we're just literally not providing our

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body with enough content and enough.

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nutrients to keep going.

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So some of the key things I would work on

with somebody in that kind of situation is

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to start increasing your calorie intake,

I try to start with low FODMAP fibers.

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So these are foods that are less

likely to cause more bloating.

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If you are constipated, we

do need to get that moving.

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And maybe depending on your History with

laxatives it might be appropriate to use

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laxatives not appropriate for everybody.

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But there might be other things

you can do to try and encourage

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a regular bowel movement.

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One of the things that can be helpful

is to reduce down the methanogens,

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that's methane producing microbes,

because this also slows down your gut.

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So we might use some things like fiber

supplements or PHGG, that's partially

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hydrolyzed guar gum to feed the

good bacteria try and crowd out any

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Methane producing bugs really slowly

starting increasing low FODMAP fibers.

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And also I like to do some work

on appetite sensitivity training,

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and that is just helping you to

feel the hunger, understanding

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where do you feel the hunger?

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What does it feel like?

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How hungry do you get?

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Do you let yourself get completely

starving before you eat?

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So appetite sensitivity

training can be really helpful.

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And that is just.

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Thinking about how hungry and full

you are after and before each meal,

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which gives you a bit of a sense

of whether you're eating enough.

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So, There's lots we could say about this,

but under eating is definitely a cause of

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IBS and don't think that it's just about

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what you're eating, just about

the food, because it's not always.

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Now the opposite of this is over eating.

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I'm not talking here about binge

eating, but One of the most common

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presentations I see of people eating

in a abnormal way is people who

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are trying to bulk up for the gym.

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So over eating in order to meet

macronutrient Requirements set either

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by a personal trainer at the gym or

set by an algorithm on an app like

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MyFitnessPal or something similar.

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This is where people will be

eating beyond their appetite

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to get into a calorie excess in

order to stimulate muscle growth.

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This could be eating more than 2500

calories a day or something like

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aiming for 150 grams of protein a day.

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You're eating when you're not hungry.

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This can lead people to feeling

very bloated, getting a lot

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of heartburn, reflux, and also

struggling to eat vegetables.

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Another common aspect of this is people

who are doing meal preps, following

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meal plans online, and literally just

eating the same foods every day because

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they're safe foods, they're quick, and

they get into meal prep containers,

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and then they won't go off or go funny.

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So people tend to eat just like broccoli,

sweet potato, Turkey, on repeat,

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because these are low fat foods that

can help you meet your calorie targets.

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To an extreme, there is a mental

health condition called muscle

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dysmorphia, where you are completely

obsessed with muscle growth.

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The people I've worked with have not

had that level of disordered eating

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or preoccupation with their body size.

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However, they have.

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definitely been eating to the

macros and not listening to

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their body's own sensations.

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So again, the appetite sensitivity

training is really important here

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and can be very, very helpful.

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So in a very similar way to the

people who are under eating, this

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is about getting up your sensitivity

to when are you full and actually.

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How hungry do you get before a meal?

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Do you ever get hungry?

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Are you always completely stuffed

because you're eating way more

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than you actually need to?

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What I would do is stop tracking.

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That is my first bit of advice and try

to eat three good solid meals a day.

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By all means, take protein supplement.

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If you want to, you can take

things like creatine, which also

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helps to stimulate muscle growth.

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But if you are taking supplements that

are, You know, gym supplements, then

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check the ingredients because some of

the things in there can also add to gut

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symptoms like diarrhoea and bloating and

just feeling very, very uncomfortable.

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That could be things like artificial

sweeteners, which for most people

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are completely fine, by the way,

but it's just for people who get

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IBS can be really, really sensitive.

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Often added to muscle building

products to make them taste nice.

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So check the ingredients of any

products that you're taking and

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really scale back your overeating so

that you are honoring your appetite.

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Eat when you're hungry, sure, but don't

force yourself to eat a lot of food

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when your body is not receptive to it.

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The thing that might be helpful is to get

your body in the state to eat by really

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Concentrating on how to eat and if you go

back to episode Two, and episode three,

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which cover how to eat, including mindful

eating practices, and also when to eat.

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There's some great tips in there

about how to help your gut brain

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connection, and really thinking about

how to support your digestion, and get

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yourself in that rest and digest state,

which can help you digest more food.

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The third type of eating

that I was talking about is

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that erratic eating pattern.

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So, you never really

know when you're hungry.

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Sometimes you go for days

just having one meal a day.

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Maybe you do intermittent

fasting, but not consistently.

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Sometimes you just nibble on

things all throughout the day.

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This is a problem because you may

find that you're eating too many

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FODMAPs in one go, like a large meal

with a lot of fermentable fibers, or

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you're having a lot of fats in one

meal, which can trigger diarrhea.

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You also won't Be giving your body

a chance to regulate its digestion.

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So, our body works best when we do the

same things at the same time each day,

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which might sound boring, but it really

helps your body to process food, to be

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able to switch off from food overnight.

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So, some of the things that you can

do, if that's you, if you feel like

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you've got a really erratic eating

pattern, is first of all just have

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three regular meals a day, and try and

get them at the same time every day.

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For some people, an overnight

fast will be helpful and that can

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just start with 12 hours of not

eating from dinner to breakfast.

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It doesn't have to be a long fast.

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I'd also suggest like working on your

sleep quality, making sure you get a

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regular bedtime as well, and just thinking

that actually routine isn't boring.

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It allows you to feel better and

feel good so that you can get on

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and do more interesting things.

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I know I've worked with people in the

past who felt like going to bed early

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was just Making them feel really boring,

but actually if they wake up the next

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day with lots more energy, then you've

got more time to enjoy your life.

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And the other question for these

people, if this is you who has got a

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very chaotic eating pattern is how do

you look after your body in other ways?

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Like, are you doing any regular exercise?

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A question for you?

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Is there an issue with allowing

yourself to take care of your own body?

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Do you need some time

to, Invest in self-care.

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And I don't mean self-care,

just like taking a bubble

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bath and that sort of thing.

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I just mean really thinking about what

your body needs and allowing yourself

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to give your body what it needs.

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The fourth type I wanted to talk

about was severe food anxiety.

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The issue with this is

that you have a really low.

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level of diversity in your diet, you have

very restricted safe foods and often this

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can lead to low appetite as well because

you're eating the same foods all the

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time, it's really boring and just really

not enjoyable to eat repetitive foods.

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Now this might have stemmed from

severe IBS, might have been a problem

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with choking on a food or a bad

experience of something you ate and

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gave you bad diarrhea or bloating

or pain and Obviously, you want to

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avoid that experience again, so you

just restrict more and more foods and

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you end up with a very limited diet.

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To address this is to very

gradually bring foods back in

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again, starting with tiny nibbles.

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Um, depending on the extent to which

this is affecting your mental health

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as well, we may need to do some

work on the gut brain connection.

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And I like to start with my

clients really understanding how...

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So, foods can affect

you and how they won't.

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So some foods people say, oh I

ate, I used to eat, I don't know,

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chicken and now I don't eat chicken

because I had a bad experience.

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Well, is that really going to be any

different to another food that eating?

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In the last year, I've worked with

three clients who were literally

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eating a handful of foods.

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Such restrictive foods, for everybody

they were different, but they

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probably were not eating more than

five things on repeat each week.

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And the way we worked was different,

again, with each person, but talking

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to them about what foods they could

try and doing it in such small doses

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that I was reassuring them it wouldn't

give them a gut issue and then

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gradually building their confidence up.

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So depending on what symptoms

you're getting, depending on what

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your fear is and what foods you're

currently eating, and that's how

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we work out how to increase them.

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But this is something that can be

ARFID, which is what I mentioned

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when it goes into a severe mental

health disorder, which is Avoidant

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Restrictive Feeding Intake Disorder.

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That is a condition that requires

psychological support and

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isn't just a nutrition issue.

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ARFID is classed as an eating

disorder, but it's different from

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things like anorexia or bulimia,

binge eating disorder, because

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it's not affected by preoccupation

with your body size and the weight.

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Um, so it's not restricting your food

with the purpose of losing weight.

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It's fear of food and the behaviors might

be quite similar in terms of fear and

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avoiding eating and suppressing hunger.

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However, It's based on, like, this

fear of food and what it can do to you

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because of prior negative experiences.

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More common for children or

people with autism spectrum

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conditions to develop ARFID.

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It's much more common when you have

a real fear of certain textures

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to want to exclude those foods

from your diet, so there is an

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overlap with, some people who...

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Have autism the final common

way that I see in your obsession

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or beliefs about food Affecting

your digestion is orthorexia.

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So this isn't a formally

recognized eating disorder.

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It's more about people who are conscious

of being healthy to the extent that it

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becomes unhealthy So you may find that

you are increasingly concerned about

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The ingredients in food and cutting out

carbs, maybe all sugar or dairy or gluten.

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Often people who have this are spending

a lot of time online like researching

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Instagram accounts dedicated to clean

eating or thinking about which foods are

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good for you, following a lot of blogs

on social media and TikTok and then

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really losing a lot of joy in eating.

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So One of the ways to get back

to this is to try and work out

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what foods you enjoy eating.

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Taking a step back and really

thinking about the bigger picture.

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Health is much more than just

what you put in your body.

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It's also about how you

feel about the food.

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How your gut brain connection works.

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Again, so like thinking about your own...

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levels of stress around managing these

very tight rules about what is okay

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and what is safe and what is not.

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One of the ways to treat this, is to

try to reduce down your social media

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consumption so that you're really

focusing in on yourself again and

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less on other voices around food.

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Trying to expose yourself to Enjoyable

small portions of sugar containing cakes

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and a yoghurt, a normal yoghurt with

dairy in it and actually just noticing

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whether that does anything to your body.

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So, all of these are different types

but quite common ways that I see

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what I would call disordered eating

practices affecting gut function.

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They're not at the level that you

would class as an eating disorder, but

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still have got an impact on quality

of life, your enjoyment of food, and

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your connection with your body and

That's why I keep coming back to a

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couple of things in this episode.

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It's been about trying to

train your appetite sensitivity.

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So really trying to get back in touch

with your hunger levels think about

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when you're hungry where you feel it

in your body when you are hungry and

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How full do you let yourself get?

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Do you ever eat to the point of overeating

and what would that mean to you?

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These are all interesting questions

that I like to explore with my

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clients if these are some of the

things they're talking about.

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And then the other thing is

the gut brain connection.

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So you're really spending time

outside of eating moving away from

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food and trying to make sure you're

getting good sleep and good exercise.

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So you're able to exercise

and get some movement in.

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Really trying to work on that whole

lifestyle element that can also

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impact on your relationship with your

body, your relationship with your

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gut and it's one part of you working

to manage your IBS symptoms so that

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you feel better for the long term.

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So I hope this episode has given

you something to think about.

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I wonder if you see yourself in any

of those five types that I mentioned.

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If this is something you want to work

with me on, then please get in touch.

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I am...

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taking on people into my three month gut

reset and we have lots of time together

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to explore these kind of things if this

is something that you would find helpful.

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Okay, I'll leave it there for this week.

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Thank you.

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Bye bye.