Tania Lewis, BHSc (Naturopathy), BN, a naturopath for women whose energy, digestion and sleep have changed.
I see clients in Rutherglen and Yarrawonga, and online across Australia.
When your list of safe foods keeps getting shorter
You used to eat what you liked. Now the same meals leave you bloated by mid-afternoon, and your bowels have their own opinion about the day.
Gluten went first. Then dairy. Then onion and garlic went with low FODMAP, and never came back. Each cut helped for a few weeks. Then the bloating came back.
Now you’re planning lunch with friends around the menu, or whether to go at all.
“Bloating rarely means you need to cut out more foods. Repair the gut barrier first, then see what you actually react to.”
Why cutting foods works, for a while
Some foods ferment in the gut and make gas. Remove enough of them and there’s less gas. That relief is real.
But it answers the wrong question. It tells you what your gut is struggling with. It doesn’t tell you why.
Low FODMAP is a diagnostic tool, not a long-term diet. It was designed to run in three stages: restriction, reintroduction and personalisation. Research on the later stages is still limited (Lomer, 2024). The reintroduction stage is where you find out what really bothers you. Most people I see did stage one and stayed there.
There’s a cost. Your gut bacteria live on the fibre you eat, and different species prefer different fibres. A low FODMAP diet can ease symptoms but may also reduce beneficial bacteria (Zhang & Su, 2025).
What I look at instead
I start upstream of the food.
Do you have enough stomach acid to begin breaking protein down? Is bile flowing? Are you eating in a hurry, or under stress? Were there rounds of antibiotics along the way? Is your gut lining under strain? How many types of plant food are you actually eating in a week?
- Stomach acid. It tends to fall with age. Stomach acid helps break down protein and acts as one of the body’s first lines of defence against microbes arriving with food. When levels are lower, digestion further down the line may become less efficient (Welham et al., 2024).
- The gut barrier. Your gut lining is one cell thick. Those cells are sealed together at tight junctions, under a layer of mucus. When that seal is under strain, the gut can become more reactive to foods it would normally be ok with.
- Your gut bacteria. Quantity isn’t diversity. People who eat a wider variety of plant foods tend to carry more fibre-loving bacteria, including those that make butyrate (Maukonen et al., 2024). Butyrate helps nourish the cells lining the bowel and supports the barrier between the gut and the outside world.
It matches what I see: the same five foods on rotation make for a narrower crowd.
A client came in having removed gluten, dairy, onion and garlic over two years, with the bloating unchanged. Once we looked upstream, the focus shifted from restriction to rebuilding.
What I look at in your assessment
Before we meet, I read any blood results you already have. If you haven’t had tests for a while, we’ll work out which ones are worth doing. In the room, we go through:
- Your digestive history, and when things changed
- What you eat, how you eat and how many different plant foods
- Bloating, bowel habits, reflux and food reactions in detail
- Every food you’ve cut, and what happened when you did
- Antibiotics, medications that reduce stomach acid and supplements
- Stress, sleep and energy
You’ll receive a written plan: what we’re starting with, why each change is there and what I’m deliberately leaving until later.
What about a food intolerance test?
Most tests sold direct to the public measure IgG antibodies to foods. The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy lists IgG food testing as unproven (ASCIA, 2024).
A printout of twenty “intolerances” is a fast way to a very short shopping list.
Where it’s useful, I use Microba microbiome testing to see what’s actually growing in your gut. I’ll explain what it shows, and why it’s worth it for you, before you pay for it.
What about menopause?
It can be part of the picture, and the research on it is growing.
A 2022 review found that after menopause, women’s gut bacteria tended to become less diverse, and some of the bacteria involved in oestrogen metabolism also changed (Peters et al., 2022).
So digestive changes and hormonal changes often show up together. But a life stage tells you when something started. It doesn’t tell you why you’re bloated, reactive to foods, or uncomfortable.
How long does it take?
Care may take three to six months, sometimes longer. There’s no overnight fix or magic pill, and the changes are yours to make.
The lining of your gut renews every three to five days (Verma et al., 2025). So gut changes, if they come, usually show before blood changes.
The order matters: Reset, Rebuild, Restore. Bring the inflammatory load down before trying to rebuild. Driving repair too early tends to produce flares.
Along the way, I track energy, sleep and stress out of ten, and your bowel habits on the Bristol Stool Chart.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost?
An Initial Clinical Assessment is 60 to 75 minutes, $220. Follow-up Consultations are 30 to 45 minutes, $150. Microbiome testing, other pathology and supplements are billed separately, at your cost.
Are you going to take more foods off me?
Probably not. My aim is to work out why your gut is reacting, so you can find out what you actually react to. I can’t promise every food comes back. But I won’t hand you another list of rules.
Will a probiotic sort it out?
Not at first. Strain matters, and so does the environment. If your gut lining is irritated, new bacteria have a hard time settling in. That’s why Reset comes before Rebuild.
My bowel tests were clear. What does that mean?
It means serious disease has been ruled out, which is worth knowing. It doesn’t measure how well your gut is working day to day. That’s the part I look at.
Do you work alongside my GP?
Yes. I work alongside your GP, not instead of them. I never ask anyone to stop prescribed medication. If something needs medical investigation, I’ll tell you.
You can find me in person, and online across Australia
In person —
Rutherglen, VIC
74 Main Street,
Rutherglen VIC
Wednesday, Thursday
In person — Yarrawonga, VIC
31-33 Belmore Street, Yarrawonga VIC
Tuesday
Online
Available to clients anywhere in Australia.
All consultation types are available via telehealth during the Rutherglen hours.
All appointments are booked online. Full prepayment is required.
A 48-hour cancellation and rescheduling policy applies.
Your next step
If bloating is one of several things that have changed, and cutting foods hasn’t sorted it, that’s the pattern I look at in an Initial Clinical Assessment.
Related: Should I do an elimination diet for bloating? · Fatigue and low energy · Skin changes
References
Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. (2024). Evidence-based versus non evidence-based tests and treatments for allergic disorders. https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/allergy-testing/evidence-based-versus-non-evidence-based-tests-and-treatments
Lomer, M. C. E. (2024). The low FODMAP diet in clinical practice: Where are we and what are the long-term considerations? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 83(1), 17-27. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665123003579
Maukonen, J., et al. (2024). Associations of plant-based foods, red and processed meat, and dairy with gut microbiome in Finnish adults. European Journal of Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-024-03406-x
Peters, B. A., Santoro, N., Kaplan, R. C., & Qi, Q. (2022). Spotlight on the gut microbiome in menopause: Current insights. International Journal of Women’s Health, 14, 1059-1072. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S340491
Verma, M., Garg, M., Yadav, P., Khan, A. S., Rahman, S. S., Ali, A., & Kamthan, M. (2025). Modulation of intestinal signal transduction pathways: Implications on gut health and disease. European Journal of Pharmacology, 998, 177531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2025.177531
Welham, S., Rose, P., Kirk, C., Coneyworth, L., & Avery, A. (2024). Mineral supplements in ageing. Sub-Cellular Biochemistry, 107, 269-306. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66768-8_13
Zhang, H., & Su, Q. (2025). Low-FODMAP diet for irritable bowel syndrome: Insights from microbiome. Nutrients, 17(3), 544. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17030544
This page is general information, not personal medical advice.
It doesn’t replace individual assessment or care from your GP or treating practitioners.