The Gut Health Dialogues

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa breaks down one of the most overlooked aspects of pancreatic insufficiency management: nutrition. While pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) is essential, diet plays a major role in determining how well those enzymes work and how you feel day to day. We explore what a practical pancreatic insufficiency diet looks like, common mistakes that keep symp...

Send us Fan Mail Why do some people dramatically improve with a treatment that does absolutely nothing for someone else with the exact same IBS diagnosis? A new 2026 study may help answer that question. In this episode, Alyssa breaks down groundbreaking research that individualized IBS treatment based on microbiome findings rather than treating everyone with the same symptom-based approach. The re...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa breaks down one of the overlooked pieces of successful SIBO recovery: making sure the digestive system is actually moving before starting SIBO treatment. Because when bowel movements are incomplete, sluggish, or backed up, the body has a much harder time clearing fermentation byproducts, gas, and bacterial die-off compounds, which can make treatment feel un...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever felt better temporarily after antibiotics, herbals, or restrictive diets only to have symptoms slowly return again, this episode explains why that happens and what’s often being missed underneath the surface. Rather than viewing SIBO as simply “bad bacteria coming back,” Alyssa walks through the larger gut environment that allows overgrowth to happen in the first pl...

Send us Fan Mail Constipation is one of the most oversimplified digestive symptoms online. But what happens when you’re already doing all of the things - eating more fiber, drinking more water, taking magnesium citrate and probiotic supplements - and you still feel bloated, backed up, uncomfortable, reactive to foods, and worse the harder you try to “eat healthy”? In this episode, Alyssa unpacks w...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa breaks down why SIBO breath tests can miss what’s actually happening, and how to look beyond the “positive vs negative” label to understand what your body is really telling you. You’ll learn how factors like test type, timing, gas patterns, and even transit time can completely change how results should be interpreted. You’ll learn: Why glucose vs lactulose...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever tried to follow a low FODMAP diet as a vegetarian, you’ve probably had this exact thought: “What am I even supposed to eat?” Because the foods you rely on most are suddenly the very things you're told to avoid. And that’s where the frustration starts. In this episode, Alyssa breaks down how to actually make a low FODMAP vegetarian diet work in real life, withou...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever started antibiotics, herbals, or an elemental diet, and suddenly felt more bloated, more fatigued, and completely off, this episode will explain exactly why. We’re breaking down one of the most misunderstood parts of SIBO recovery: die-off (Herxheimer reaction). You’ll learn: What endotoxins are and why they trigger symptoms Why SIBO die-off affects your whole body...

Send us Fan Mail Your symptoms aren’t just physical, and not just “in your head” either. In this episode, Alyssa sits down with nervous system expert Alex Mufson to unpack one of the most overlooked drivers of chronic symptoms: The nervous system as a full-body regulator, not just a stress response. If you’ve ever been told “everything looks normal” while dealing with real symptoms like bloating,...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Gut Health Dialogues, Alyssa breaks down exactly what to do during a diverticulitis flare, how to transition your diet safely, and how to prevent future episodes. Because one of the biggest mistakes people make is staying in the low-fiber phase for too long during a Diverticulitis flare.  What You’ll Learn in This Episode The difference between diverticulosi...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve taken antibiotics like rifaximin for SIBO and found yourself right back where you started, you’re not alone. This is one of the most common patterns we see in practice, and it’s also one of the most frustrating.  In this episode, Alyssa breaks down what’s actually happening beneath the surface when symptoms return, and why repeating the same approach often leads to the s...

Send us Fan Mail What if your gut symptoms weren’t just about food, but about something much deeper? In this episode, Alyssa sits down with Dr. Debbie Silber, founder of the Post Betrayal Transformation Institute, to explore the powerful and often overlooked connection between betrayal, trauma, and gut health. After experiencing profound personal betrayal, Dr. Debbie went on to complete groundbrea...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever tried to do everything right for your gut - add more fiber, eat more vegetables, sprinkle chia seeds on everything, only to feel worse instead of better? There are times when pushing fiber can actually make symptoms more uncomfortable, more urgent, and more unpredictable.  In this episode, Alyssa talks about temporarily lowering fiber to help the gut calm down during...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa breaks down the most common misconceptions about the diverticulosis diet and explains what current research actually shows about fiber, seeds, nuts, and everyday eating patterns. Many people unintentionally mix up diverticulosis and diverticulitis, even though the dietary approaches for these two conditions are very different.  You’ll learn why much of the...

Send us Fan Mail Digestive issues don’t just affect the person experiencing symptoms. They affect relationships, routines, meals, plans, and emotional safety. In this episode, Alyssa talks to the partners, parents, and loved ones who are watching someone they care about struggle and want to help, but don’t want to push, pressure, or make things worse. In this episode, Alyssa explains: Why digestiv...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever stared at your elimination diet food list thinking, “What on earth am I supposed to eat?”, this episode is for you. Alyssa sits down with professional chef Laurie Gauguin, author of Heal Simply: 1-2-3 Ingredient Recipes for Elimination Diets, to talk about the part of healing no one prepares you for: Actually implementing the elimination diet. Together, Alyssa and L...

Send us Fan Mail Fiber is everywhere right now. It’s being praised as the answer for gut health, blood sugar, cholesterol, hormones, and weight regulation, often all at once. And yet, for many people, actually trying to eat more fiber leads to the opposite of what they expected: bloating, discomfort, gas, or pain. In this episode, Alyssa unpacks why the conversation around fiber has become so conf...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa takes the conversation around hydrogen sulfide SIBO one level deeper. She shares how hydrogen sulfide SIBO is actually approached in practice, and why jumping ahead, whether to antimicrobials, binders, or protocols, often makes symptoms worse instead of better. Rather than focusing on “what to take,” Alyssa breaks down the sequence that matters: Why clarity...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever looked at your plate and thought, “I’m eating less than ever… so why is my weight going up?” If you’ve tried low-FODMAP, cut sugar and carbs, cleaned up your diet, and somehow feel heavier, slower, and more inflamed, this episode is for you. In this episode, Alyssa dives into one of the most confusing and overlooked patterns in gut health: why some people with SIBO e...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Gut Health Dialogues Podcast, Alyssa Simpson sits down with her client Doug, who shares his powerful journey from being house-bound and limited to a “safe” diet of chicken and rice, to reclaiming his gut health, his confidence, and his life. What started as a frustrating case of “IBS with no answers” turned out to be Hydrogen Sulfide SIBO, a form of small in...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa Simpson unpacks a common yet widely misunderstood subtype of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO): hydrogen sulfide SIBO . Many people with this pattern have spent years chasing answers, trying diets like low FODMAP, gluten-free, or low-carb, cycling through symptom management, and being told tests are normal , only to feel worse, confused, or convi...

Send us Fan Mail Have you tried low FODMAP, gluten-free, dairy-free, or elimination diets and still feel sick after eating? In this episode, Alyssa Simpson breaks down one of the most confusing and misunderstood nutrition strategies in gut health: the low sulfur diet. This is not an episode about cutting out “bad foods” or following another restrictive diet forever. Instead, Alyssa explains why a...

Send us Fan Mail Eating out with food allergies, celiac disease, IBS, or food sensitivities can feel overwhelming — and sometimes unsafe. In this episode, Alyssa Simpson chats with Dylan McDonnell , founder of Foodini, about how technology and regulation are finally making restaurant dining safer and more transparent. Dylan shares his personal experience growing up with celiac disease and how it i...

Send us Fan Mail The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year. But for many people, they’re also a perfect storm of stress, irregular routines, rich meals, travel, and unpredictable digestion. In this holiday special episode, Alyssa Simpson teams up with Dr. Ali Navidi (clinical psychologist & gut–brain specialist) to unpack why stress shows up so strongly in the gut, especially for pe...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Alyssa explains what fatty liver actually means, why it’s more common than most people think, and why it’s fundamentally a metabolic problem tied to insulin resistance, sugar, and inflammation. Most importantly for her gut-sensitive audience, Alyssa explains how to begin reversing fatty liver with simple, sustainable real-food shifts and how to do it without makin...