From Bloated to Balanced: How We Fixed Her Gut Without Cutting Out More Foods

If you’ve ever ended the day feeling like your stomach doubled in size (even when you’re eating “healthy”), you’re not alone.

Maybe you start your morning feeling fine, but by afternoon your jeans feel tight, you’re uncomfortable sitting at your desk, and you can’t tell if it’s something you ate or something deeper.

It’s one of the most common complaints I hear from women who feel like they’re doing everything right to be healthy. They’re eating clean, taking probiotics, and following all the gut-friendly advice… yet the bloating never really goes away.

Here’s the thing: chronic bloating isn’t always about food.

Sometimes it’s a sign your digestion, minerals, or thyroid need support — not that your body can’t handle the foods you love.

That was exactly the case for one of my clients, and I want to share more about her story and what we did to fix it.

Her Story: When Every Meal Felt Like a Trigger

By 3 p.m. every day, she looked six months pregnant. She was exhausted, frustrated, and starting to fear food.

Every practitioner she saw told her it must be a food sensitivity — to try low FODMAP, cut out dairy, avoid gluten, and try a probiotic.

But the more foods she cut out, the worse she felt. Her energy tanked, her digestion slowed down even more, and she still couldn’t figure out why she was bloated no matter what she ate.

When she came to me, she didn’t need another elimination diet. She needed to know why her digestion wasn’t working.

The Real Reason Behind Her Bloat

Here’s what most women don’t realize:
If you get more bloated as the day goes on — especially if you wake up feeling fine but look five months pregnant by dinner — it’s rarely about one “bad” food.

That kind of pattern usually points to sluggish digestion and depleted minerals, which throw off how well your body breaks down and moves food through your system.

When we looked deeper, here’s what her labs revealed — and why each piece mattered:

• Low stomach acid and sluggish motility: Her stomach wasn’t producing enough acid to properly break down protein, which meant food sat longer in her stomach and fermented in her gut. That slow movement (a.k.a. poor motility) was the reason she felt more bloated as the day went on.
• Poor bile flow and enzyme output: Without enough bile and digestive enzymes, fats and proteins can’t be fully digested — leading to that heavy, “brick in your stomach” feeling after meals. Bile is also crucial for detoxing estrogen, so this sluggishness can impact hormones too.
• Low sodium, potassium, and zinc on her HTMA test: These minerals are foundational for stomach acid production, enzyme activity, and muscle contractions in the gut. When they’re depleted, digestion literally slows down. Think of them as the electrical charge that keeps your digestive system running smoothly.
• Suboptimal thyroid function: Her thyroid wasn’t converting T4 to active T3 efficiently, which slows metabolism and gut motility. That explained not only her bloat but also her low energy, shorter cycles, and dry skin — classic signs of a sluggish thyroid.

Once we connected the dots, it was clear: her “bloating” wasn’t about the food itself — it was about her body’s ability to digest and use that food.

Instead of removing more foods, our focus shifted to rebuilding the systems that make digestion possible in the first place.

It wasn’t about avoiding foods — it was about rebuilding her body’s ability to digest them.

The Root-Cause Fix

Instead of restricting more, we focused on restoring function:

✅ Supporting digestion and motility with simple mealtime habits and targeted digestive support
✅ Rebalancing minerals like sodium, potassium, and zinc to restore hydration and enzyme activity
✅ Supporting thyroid and gut function to strengthen metabolism and energy

Within a few months, she noticed a huge difference: her afternoon bloat disappeared, her energy was stable, and she finally felt like herself again.

Here’s what this looked like in real life:

1) Supporting Digestion and Motility
We started by helping her digest the food she was already eating, rather than removing more of it.

• She began slowing down at meals, sitting to eat, and chewing thoroughly to trigger stomach acid and enzyme release. Instead of multitasking and eating distracted, she focused on getting into a rest and digest state.
• We added a few foundational tools like digestive bitters before meals and apple cider vinegar to help her body break down fats and proteins more efficiently.
• To improve motility, we worked on consistent and predictable meal timing. Some days, she was going too long between meals, and others she would snack and graze instead of sitting down to have a meal. Both of these are going to stress digestion further.

Within 2 weeks, she noticed she wasn’t as bloated or “heavy” after eating — her meals felt easier to digest and she didn’t feel full for hours afterward.

2) Rebalancing Minerals for Optimal Digestion
Her HTMA results showed very low sodium, potassium, and zinc, which are essential for producing stomach acid, regulating motility, and supporting enzymes.

• We added a mineral mocktail to restore sodium and potassium levels.
• She began adding a pinch of mineral-rich sea salt to water and meals throughout the day.
• We increased zinc-rich foods like beef, shrimp, oysters, and pumpkin seeds, plus a short-term supplement to close the gap.

As her minerals improved, her digestion, energy, and hydration all improved too — she could actually feel her body absorbing nutrients again.

3) Supporting Thyroid and Gut Function Together
Low thyroid activity had been slowing everything down — from digestion to mood to metabolism.

• We focused on balanced meals with enough protein, carbs, and fat to keep blood sugar stable and give her thyroid the fuel it needs.
• She increased her total calorie intake from 1600 per day to 2200 per day, which was actually how much her body required based on her energy expenditure.
• We also used gentle liver support (with a combo of foods, herbs, and detox tools) to help her body clear out excess hormones and toxins that can build up when bile flow is sluggish.

Over time, her metabolism started to pick up — she had steady energy again, regular bowel movements, and even noticed her skin and cycle improving.

Why My Approach Is Different

Most “gut protocols” focus on cutting out foods or taking a long list of supplements.
But your gut doesn’t exist in isolation — it’s connected to your thyroid, hormones, liver, and mineral balance.

When we support the whole body, digestion naturally improves. It’s not about chasing symptoms — it’s about building resilience from the ground up.

What Happens When Your Gut Works With You

When digestion, minerals, and metabolism are working well, you don’t just eat without bloating. You:

👉 Have steady energy to be active and social
👉 Travel or eat out without stress
👉 Feel confident trying new foods
👉 Notice clearer skin, balanced moods, and better periods

That’s true gut freedom — and it’s possible for you, too.

Ready to Fix the Root Cause of Your Bloat?

You don’t have to keep guessing, cutting out foods, or trying random supplements hoping something will work.

If your digestion feels unpredictable, your energy crashes by mid-day, or you’re constantly bloated no matter what you eat — that’s your body asking for deeper support.

To help you start connecting the dots, I created a free resource called the Gut Audit — it walks you through the key systems that influence digestion (like your minerals, thyroid, and stress response) so you can pinpoint what’s really driving your symptoms.

And if you’re ready to go deeper — to stop guessing and actually fix the root cause — that’s exactly what we do inside my Comprehensive 1:1 Program.

We use functional labs like blood work, HTMA, and the GI-MAP stool test to uncover what’s really going on beneath the surface, then build a personalized plan to get your digestion, energy, and hormones back on track.

You’ll finally understand what your body’s been trying to tell you — and have the clarity, support, and strategy to feel better for good (without another restrictive diet).

👉 Start with my free Gut Audit if you want to explore what’s happening in your gut. It’ll help you connect the dots between your symptoms and the systems driving them — so you can finally see what your gut needs to function at its best.
👉Apply to work together 1:1 if you’re ready for a personalized plan and real results.