So many people…sooo many diets….Gluten-free, Vegetarian, Vegan, Paleo, Keto, The SVT Prevention Diet, the list goes on and on…

It can be overwhelming and confusing to know which one to choose. Here are a few tips to help you elevate your diet, no matter what one you are currently on…

1. Consider performing a proper Food Allergy/Sensitivity Test.  I personally opted for a STOOL sample using www.enterolab.com. This will tell you the foods that you are sensitive to that are unique to your body and digestive tract. This test will clearly show you the foods that you are producing an elevated response to (for up to the last 2-3 years) and therefore could be causing inflammation and/or leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut can prevent you from being able digest properly and may be limiting your ability to absorb vital minerals and nutrients. Mineral imbalance and deficiency can manifest as heart palpitations and irregular heartbeats. Our Health starts in our gut and its so important to look there for clues into our state of overall health FIRST before opting for invasive treatments. When you learn what foods are contributing to trouble (symptoms), you can then tackle the DIET changes with whatever support you need. It might be an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Dietician or just reading through all of the free information available on-line these days. I chose to work with a Health Coach when I was starting out on my healing journey and she was very helpful in guiding me to understand what food sensitivities were and how they could be effecting me. I personally had a hard time accepting that GLUTEN was a culprit for me as my health coach suspected.  BUT when I got my results from my Stool sample test and saw the report, I was finally able to commit to real and lasting dietary changes.  (Gluten Sensitivity is one of the underlying issue for many people with SVT). A stool sample, was the reason that I became serious about my personal healing journey and committed to a gluten free diet (along with eliminating other food allergens that i tested positive for). I attribute food allergy testing as the jumping off point for me to have clear direction on how to actually help myself with my SVT. Changing my Diet based on my unique results helped to reduce my symptoms, increase my energy, improve my bowel movements, loose weight and of course reduce my SVT and all of my related co-symptoms including adrenal fatigue and POTS.  For more information on Food Sensitivity Testing check out my other articles HERE and HERE and check out the SVT & Gluten FREE e-guide HERE

2. Crowd it OUT. Don’t stress about all the foods you “need” to cut out,  shift your mindset and instead focus on WHAT to ADD in.  It can be stressful and overwhelming to approach dietary changes with restriction and having to “give up” foods that you love. Instead, try the “crowd it out” approach, and start by adding in better foods choices and filling up on those first. This strategy allows you to increase nutrition, and that alone may help to decrease cravings, hunger, overeating, etc and therefore sets you up for success. Example. lets say you are constantly craving sugar. Instead of worrying about cutting out sugar, start by committing to eating 3 fruits per day (1 banana and 2 low glycemic ones are good choices like blueberries). Adding in 3 fruits everyday will naturally decrease sugar cravings without any other effort. CROWD it OUT first. Then, if that doesn’t work, you can make other adjustments, but all the while you are making strong improvements which will only serve to elevate your Diet in every way. Another example is to layer in green juice or a smoothie daily. By adding this super food in, you will naturally begin to feed your nutrition needs which results in craving more healthy foods naturally. After drinking green juice for just a few days you will be amazed that your body actually begins to like it and CRAVE it.  Juices and smoothies Increase vitamins and minerals and fiber which are all ALL GREAT improvements!  The more healthy foods you layer in to your DIET, the faster the less nutritious filler foods will slowly be “crowded out”.

3. Choose WHOLE foods. This one is simple. Try to eat FRESH food. Shop the fruit and Veggie aisle and get creative with your recipes. Stop eating foods that are processed or from packages or boxes. Just use that one rule of thumb…nothing boxed, packaged, sitting on a shelf, or what is known as “dead” foods. This alone will be a tremendous improvement. Example: switch from chips or boxed snacks to apple with a smear of almond butter or actual almonds. You can even drizzle a little quality honey on it which is loaded with potassium.

4. Base your meal around a veggie. Pick a veggie you are in the mood for. Example….Sweet Potatoes…Then plan your meal around it. What goes well with sweet potatoes? Turkey meatloaf? or maybe just some steamed broccoli and a little almond butter on top of the sweet potato.  Plan a fresh meal around the veggie as the star of the meal. Sometimes we over complicate recipes, keep it basic, and lead with a vegetable.

5.  Re-think your meat sources...If you consume meat, think about if there is a way to upgrade your meat source. Are you eating meat that is organic, grass-fed, antibiotic free or raised/killed compassionately? Do you have any stores near you (or even farms) that make it easy to upgrade your meat choices? Trader Joe’s (in the USA) has nice organic chicken breasts that are half the price from the supermarket. Whole foods has a 5 point system to rate their meats and to help you choose ones that have the qualities that are important to you. This upgrade will help both you and our animal friends.

6. Address emotional eating. No matter what you are eating…if you are eating too fast, too much, and mixing too many foods at once, it can cause an inflammatory response, weight gain, and other issues. OVEREATING is an SVT TRIGGER for many people! My favorite way to self-care for emotional eating is to journal. A page a day, or a page before eating…Letting out your emotions before you eat is one small step to help you soothe this issue. If your interested in journaling in general get my FREE Journaling with your Intuition e-guide HERE.  Increasing your connection to your intuition can only serve to help your healing journey in every way, especially with learning to listen to your heart and increasing your intuitive connection to your own inner knowing!

7. Upgrade your condiments- Adding in flax seeds, local honey, turmeric, pink Himalayan salt, dulse flakes, fresh herbs, chia seeds, green vibrance, etc. are great ways to kick start extra minerals into your system in a delicious & creative way. Just by changing my salt to a better quality one has helped me balance my minerals which really helps with SVT prevention.

8. Rotate your foods-No matter what diet you choose..meat/no meat, dairy/no dairy, etc. Try not to eat the same things every day, day after day. Ideally you want to be on a 4 day rotation. So if you want eggs and have them Monday, then don’t have them again until Thursday. Same goes for anything you eat. This method will help you prevent developing food sensitivities in the first place. So even if you think you have chosen the perfect diet, but are eating the same thing every day, it can be increasing your body burden which is exactly what you want to avoid. Try to mix it up. It helps to write out 4-5 breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks that you like and tape them inside your kitchen cabinet. When you are un-inspired, you can just check there for fast ideas. Example for breakfasts are: Smoothies, millet or GF toast with almond butter and honey, Scrambled eggs with veggies and/or cheese, and then qunioa or yogurt with fresh berries, almonds, chia and honey. To get more recipes, and to learn about the DIET that I recommend for SVT prevention and management check out The SVT Prevention Diet HERE

I hope these tips help you upgrade your diet, no matter what one you are on!

Thank you for reading!

xo Laura

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originally published on Aug 18 2015. Re-written on Jan 23, 2020