How to Personalize Your SIBO Diet Plan

Have you been diagnosed with SIBO and wondering how to create a SIBO diet plan that could help you get relief from your unrelenting symptoms such as gas, bloating and constipation or diarrhea?

In this article, you’ll learn about the different SIBO diets and how to create the best SIBO diet plan to help you feel better.  Forget about cookie-cutter, highly restrictive diets! Because a personalized approach to diet is the best diet for SIBO. 

But before we get started, here is the good news: the right SIBO diet may help you to feel better. And the diet plans we help our clients with can improve digestive function, help reduce symptoms and can address nutrient deficiencies.  All of which can help you resolve SIBO!

Now for the not so good news: a SIBO diet is not a cure for SIBO.

I want to make it clear that food did NOT cause SIBO, and food can NOT make your SIBO worse.  The wrong foods can make you FEEL worse but it they not going to worsen SIBO.

This may make more sense when we understand what just what SIBO is.

What is SIBO?

SIBO is short for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. SIBO is a frustrating condition where the bacteria and other microorganisms that should be hanging out in your large intestine are actually setting up camp in your small intestine.

These rogue microorganisms are hungry and causing trouble. They are fermenting specific carbohydrates (but not all carbohydrates), and this can lead to those dreadful symptoms.  

SIBO is not an infection but rather, it’s caused by slow motility of the small intestine.  The key to resolving SIBO is understanding what caused it in the first place.  Addressing the root cause will help you resolve SIBO for good.

You can read more about SIBO here.

Symptoms of SIBO

SIBO symptoms can vary from one person to another but the most common is bloating, especially within two hours after eating meals. Your SIBO symptoms might also include:

• Bloating
• Gas
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Mixed – Constipation & Diarrhea
• Abdominal pain
• Fatigue
• Nutrient deficiencies, such as anemia

You can feel icky with SIBO because the microbes are digesting your food before you get a chance to! They produce a lot of gas each time you eat: they’re excitedly snacking on your food and exhaling gases as part of their normal digestion. 

On top of that, the microbes can cause inflammation to the lining of your gut, which limits your ability to digest food normally.

Can dietary changes help you to feel better?

What is the SIBO Diet?

Here is what might surprise you: there is not just one SIBO diet. There are several approaches to the SIBO diet, some of which are more supported by research than others.

What they have in common is limiting food for the bacteria to eat in the small intestine. These diets limit certain carbohydrates that can be fermented by microbes.   By limiting the bacteria’s favorite foods for a short time, you can improve symptoms of SIBO. 

We have worked with hundreds of clients with SIBO and have found that most clients feel best when they limit only the foods that cause symptoms, as opposed to all the foods limited on these diets.

There is NO benefit to limiting foods unnecessarily.  In fact, being on a restrictive diet for more than a few weeks, can negatively impact your gut microbiome and end up causing more harm than good.

When we use diet (and perhaps some select supplements) to improve digestive function, our clients can tolerate more and more food.  This means they don’t need to be on such restrictive diet. 

Here are the most common SIBO diets (and most supported by research). With pros and cons of each.

The Low-FODMAP Diet

Of all of the SIBO diets, the Low FODMAP diet is the least restrictive and the diet with the most scientific research support for IBS.

The purpose is to limit certain carbohydrates that the gut microbes can ferment. Fermentation makes gas, which makes you feel bloated and in pain.  The Low-FODMAP Diet has been extensively studied for IBS and we know that up to 78% of those with IBS may have SIBO.

Can you use a low-FODMAP diet for SIBO?  Yes, we use variations of this diet for our SIBO clients frequently because they tend to feel worse when eating large amounts of high-FODMAP foods.

Pros:

• While the low-FODMAP diet is complex, it doesn’t restrict entire food groups. It’s one of the most liberal of the gut-healing diets.
• The Monash University, which designed this diet, regularly tests new foods and they update their app.  There are hundreds and hundreds of tested foods on the app.
• There is a lot of support for this diet with foods you can buy online or at the grocery store, as well as meal delivery.  All of which make this a lot easier to implement.
• We find that you don’t need to eliminate everything or adhere to the diet strictly to see improvement in symptoms.

Cons:

• It can be complex and overwhelming to figure out which foods to include or eliminate.
• It’s hard to eat out at restaurants or to socialize because this diet eliminates garlic, onions and many wheat products.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)

This dietary intervention has been researched for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and removes most legumes, starchy grains, honey and more. The SCD diet includes an elimination phase and reintroduction to identify personal tolerances for each potential dietary trigger.

Pros:

• Variations of this diet are being used by University of Massachusetts to help those with IBD, so it has potential to help those with severe diarrhea.

Cons:

• It’s unnecessarily strict and limiting for most people who have SIBO.
• It eliminates grains and starchy carbohydrates (that means no bread, pasta, rice, quinoa, potatoes, or baked goods).
• It eliminates processed foods (even canned vegetables) and most food needs to be prepared at home.

SIBO-Specific Diet

This diet was designed by Dr. Alison Siebecker to help provide relief for the most severe SIBO cases. 

If you eliminate everything on the Low FODMAP diet no-no list as well as the SCD protocol, you have the SIBO-Specific diet.

Pros:

• It was designed to help the most symptomatic SIBO cases by reducing the amount of food that can be fermented by microbes in the small intestine.
• The list of foods is organized by low fermentation to high fermentation so you can determine which foods may be well tolerated as you heal.

Cons:

• Like the SCD diet, it’s unnecessarily strict and limiting for most people who have SIBO.

The SIBO Bi-Phasic Diet

This diet was designed by Dr. Nirala Jacobi to provide relief when her patients found the Low-FODMAP diet was not helpful.

Pros:

• It’s designed to be done in phases; before treatment to help get symptom relief and liberalizes as symptoms improve.

Cons:

• For most clients, it’s not necessary to be on such a restrictive diet. 

The Elemental Diet

This isn’t a diet but rather a medical food used to treat SIBO instead of using antibiotics.  It MUST be done under guidance of your health care provider because it has the potential to cause major side effects.

The Elemental Diet is liquid diet that includes quick digesting nutrients that are already broken down so that it can effectively “starve” the SIBO microbes.  All foods are replaced by The Elemental Diet for 14 – 21 days.

We consider this the “nuclear option”, and we never recommend using it. Why?

There has only been one small study from 2004 on using The Elemental Diet for treating SIBO.

The way in which the study was conducted, it’s not clear how many people really had SIBO in the first place, since the criteria for diagnosing SIBO has changed.

It doesn’t discuss why so many people dropped out of the study, the side effects, or which symptoms improved after using it. It also doesn’t discuss the mechanism (meaning HOW does it work). Is it because it’s easier to digest, is it because it limits FODMAPs or foods high in histamine?

There is a new elemental diet becoming available in the marketplace that is supposed to be more palatable and effective for treating SIBO and IMO.  The manufacturers conducted their own study proving it’s efficacy.  Until it is more widely used clinically (meaning used in the real world and not in a study), I will hold off on recommending this approach.

Pros:

• It could possibly treat SIBO but comes with major risks.

Cons:

• It tastes horrendous!
• It needs to be sipped slowly all day long or otherwise it can cause blood sugar imbalance.
• It’s hard to meet your calorie needs because it tastes so bad.  You can experience fatigue and unintentional weight loss.
• Because you aren’t eating solid food, it can cause liquid stool.

The Best SIBO Diet Plan

All SIBO diets are intended to be a short-term elimination diet to help you feel better, as quickly as possible.

With that being said, I want to emphasize that the goal of the diet is to get relief from bloating, gas, abdominal pain and normalize bowel movements as much as possible.  We also use the diet to create an environment that promotes gut healing.

When we customize the diet for our clients, we want them to be on the broadest diet possible with the fewest symptoms. 

Here are our top five tips for personalizing a SIBO Diet Plan:

• 1. Think of lowering the load of fermentable carbohydrates or FODMAPs.  For most clients, we want to reduce the most problematic FODMAPs but not limit them entirely.  Think about reducing your intake of high lactose dairy, beans, onions, garlic and cruciferous veggies.

• 2. Have balanced meals with protein, carbohydrates and healthy fat.  We see clients skipping meals or undereating, both of which can cause more GI symptoms.

• 3. Focus on making food easier to digest by eating more cooked vegetables, soups, and smoothies.  This gives your digestive system a break and enables you to tolerate more food.

• 4. Limit foods and ingredients that can cause digestive upset – think caffeine, spicy foods, artificial sweeteners, added fiber (like inulin, chicory root fiber, etc), ultra processed and fast food.

• 5. Slow down and chew your food at least 20 times.  I know this sounds simple and too good to be true but clients who do this are shocked at how effective it can be.  It helps your body better digest food, which means don’t have to cut out foods unnecessarily.

SIBO Diet Plan Meal Template

To get started with a SIBO diet, use this template to plan all your meals.  Make sure each meal includes:

• 25 – 35 grams of protein.  Check out this article to learn how much protein you need based on your height, weight and activity level.

• 1 – 2 servings of cooked non-starchy low-FODMAP vegetables (steamed, roasted, sauteed, or in a soup).  You can have 1 serving of low-FODMAP fruit for breakfast, if you prefer.

• 1 serving of a low-FODMAP starchy carbohydrate such as rice, brown rice, oats, quinoa or sweet potato.

• 1 – 2 servings of healthy fat such as olive oil, avocado oil, nuts, seeds, etc.

Sample SIBO Diet Meals

What does this look like?  Here are some examples of meals appropriate for SIBO:

Breakfast – 3 eggs, oatmeal drizzled with almond butter, berries

Lunch – Grilled chicken, vegetable soup, sweet potato

Dinner – Roasted salmon, sauteed kale and red bell peppers, quinoa

Vegetarians will be happy to know that tofu, tempeh and edamame are typically well-tolerated protein options. 

Meals don’t have to be complicated, but you may need to further customize your meal plan for symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation and acid reflux.

Personalize your SIBO diet for symptom relief

Everyone is different, but a SIBO diet may offer you relief from your symptoms, especially bloating, after a few weeks.  We find that all SIBO diets need to be customized to address specific symptoms, preferences, food sensitivities, food allergies and more.

For example, those with diarrhea may feel better with lower fiber foods like white rice, well-cooked vegetables whereas those with constipation may feel better with higher fiber foods like kiwi, berries and flax seeds.

And those with acid reflux may need to limit foods that can trigger reflux like coffee, chocolate, garlic/onions and citrus. 

If you are ready to get even more help customizing your SIBO diet plan, check out  The Solving SIBO program helps you heal from SIBO once and for all.  The program offers a step-by-step approach to getting relief from your symptoms, customizing the SIBO diet, and determining your root cause so you get long-term results.   

Note: This blog post was originally published December 2020. It was updated and reposted in November 2024.