Digestive symptoms can be surprisingly difficult to navigate. There is an enormous amount of advice online—restrictive diets, probiotics, cleanses, stool tests and protocols for conditions such as SIBO, Candida and “leaky gut.” Some of these approaches may be useful, but the same explanation does not fit everyone.

Similar digestive symptoms can arise from very different patterns. My approach is to understand your history, consider digestion in relation to the rest of your health, identify what appears most important and develop a focused place to begin.