Which Foods Should Be Avoided With SIBO?

Key Points: Eating the right diet can help you manage unpleasant SIBO symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation. Research has shown that three diets are helpful for SIBO: the low FODMAP diet, the Elemental diet, and the Specific Carbohydrate diet. All of these elimination-style diets are temporary and meant to help you find a longer-term, less restrictive diet that you can easily maintain.

The goal of any SIBO diet is to figure out which foods trigger your symptoms, as every gut is different, and develop a dietary approach that works for you specifically. Since SIBO is a bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine, dietary changes are meant to reduce bacterial populations in the digestive system. This is done by reducing the foods that feed gut bacteria.

Some SIBO patients believe they must follow restrictive diet guidelines forever and live in fear of eating the wrong foods. This is a big mistake. Instead, use the guidelines for what to eat and not to eat as a starting point only.

Be strict about eliminating foods for the first two to four weeks and monitor your symptoms. Once your symptoms have improved, you can try some reintroductions. Low-FODMAP diet [5] Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) [6] Elemental diet [7] Each of these diets is an elimination diet designed to remove fermentable foods that may trigger symptoms.

The low-FODMAP diet is the least restrictive. The most restrictive is the Elemental diet, which replaces all normal foods with a liqui.