Therapeutic Diets

When a holistic practitioner begins working with a new patient, the first dietary step is to determine the ideal therapeutic diet. All therapeutic diets prioritize eating whole foods that are nutrient-dense and do not cause additional inflammation, but each one focuses on a different presentation:

  • If you know that you are dealing with autoimmunity, you would follow the Autoimmune Diet which removes the most common foods that stimulate the immune system, such as eggs, nightshades, nuts and seeds.

  • If your total cholesterol is above 250, you would want to utilize the Mediterranean Paleo therapeutic diet since it is low in saturated fats.

If you are not sure which therapeutic diet to utilize, The Paleo Diet is the base diet. To clarify, when I say Paleo, it means nutrient-dense and anti-inflammatory. This diet prioritizes real-food carbohydrates over protein. In fact, protein is, on average, only 20% of your total calories.

Diets Used to Improve Digestive Function

  • The Paleo Diet

    The Paleo Diet is a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory diet used as a baseline reset. It can be modified as needed. Note: If you have an elevated total cholesterol (>250), you would want to use the Mediterranean Paleo Diet as your base. 

    • If you have remarkable gas and/or bloating, you would want to eat a low-carbohydrate versus of the Paleo Diet. This means eating no more than 15% of your total calories as real food carbohydrates. If you are still dealing with a lot of gas and/or bloating, you should follow the Low-FODMAP diet.
    • If you are very deficient/weak, you would want to follow the GAPS diet for a few days, until you are strong enough to handle denser foods.

  • GAPs Diet

    With this diet you are restricting complex, longer-chain carbohydrates which are difficult to absorb and may become food for pathogenic microbes in the gut. It is often used for recovery and to resolve chronic diarrhea.

  • Mediterranean Paleo Diet

    The Mediterranean Paleo Diet is for people with an elevated LDL particle number and/or an elevated apoB who were unsuccessful improving these markers after following the Paleo low-carbohydrate diet for at least six months. It utilizes monounsaturated fats, versus saturated fats.

  • Ketogenic Diet

    A ketogenic diet trains a person’s metabolism to run off of fatty acids or ketone bodies. This is what we call being fat adapted, when the body has adapted to run off fatty acids or ketones at rest. We use these diets therapeutically in our practice for many reasons, such as neurological and cognitive problems (dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression, etc.), metabolic disorders, and blood sugar dysregulation.