How A Cowes Nutritionist Helped Me Rethink My Gut Health After Years Of Stomach Problems

For years, I suffered with recurring bloating and bouts of severe abdominal pain.

The symptoms would come and go - sometimes I'd be fine for weeks, then suddenly find myself doubled over in discomfort, struggling to work out what had triggered it.

Like many people, I assumed I was eating relatively healthily: oats for breakfast, nuts as snacks, seeds added to meals and dairy-free alternatives all seemed like sensible choices to my pescatarian diet.

That's why I was so surprised when a food sensitivity test at Healthy Indulgence in Cowes suggested some of those very foods could be contributing to my problems.

Healthy Indulgence was founded in 2011 by qualified Advanced Nutritionist Sarah Hagen and has become a familiar name to many Islanders looking for nutritional advice, supplements and specialist testing services.

The process

Using a simple finger-prick blood test, Sarah arranged for my sample to be analysed.

The results highlighted a number of foods that showed elevated IgG antibody responses.

At the top of the list was flax seed, which scored 154. Almonds, cashews, pistachios, egg whites, sunflower seeds, oats and peanuts also appeared among the highest results.

What made the findings particularly interesting was that many of those foods were staples in what I considered a healthy diet.

Then something clicked.

Just before one particularly unpleasant episode of abdominal pain, I had eaten a dairy-free yoghurt covered in flax seeds because I believed it would help digestion. Within hours, I felt terrible and remained unwell for several days.

At the time, I hadn't connected the dots.

Following the results, Sarah recommended eliminating the foods in the highest category from my diet for three months.

It wasn't easy - I had recently stocked up on foods including eggs, peanut butter and rice cakes, and I was also preparing for a holiday abroad.

There were social occasions to navigate too, including family meals where ingredients weren't always obvious (I was already considered the fussy one for not eating meat other than fish).

Sarah remained on hand throughout the process, helping me make practical adjustments and reassuring me that perfection wasn't always realistic when first making major dietary changes.

Over the following months, I gradually removed the foods identified by the test and monitored how my body responded.

After the elimination phase came what Sarah described as a 'gut healing programme'.

The first stage involved L-glutamine, an amino acid supplement often used in nutritional protocols relating to digestive health. This was followed by the use of a herbal supplement named milk thistle, and a programme of probiotics and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), a prebiotic fibre derived from chicory root that helps feed beneficial gut bacteria.

The process was gradual and took several months, with some foods on the list able to be added back in as part of a balanced, varied diet (just don't mention the flax seeds!)

Setbacks handled with reassuring comfort

After becoming ill following a rare ready meal I had eaten when tapped for time, I experienced another period of abdominal pain that disrupted my sleep and left me relying on sleeping tablets to get through the night.

Sarah suggested introducing milk thistle, a herbal supplement commonly used to support liver health. Within a few days, the discomfort had eased and I was sleeping normally again.

While everyone's experience is different, what struck me most throughout the process was how interconnected diet, digestion and overall wellbeing appeared to be.

The biggest surprise of all was discovering that foods I had actively sought out because of their perceived health benefits were among the items highlighted by the test.

Today, I am far more aware of what I eat and how my body responds to different foods than I was before walking into Healthy Indulgence.

Whether you're struggling with digestive issues yourself or simply curious about nutrition, my experience certainly challenged the idea that one person's "healthy food" is necessarily right for everyone.

The process steered me away from processed foods and towards fresh ingredients, taking more time over the process of creating meals and at times - both literally and figuratively - trusting my gut!

For me, what began as a simple finger-prick test turned into a much broader journey of understanding how my body reacts to the foods I eat, and I would urge anyone trying to mask similar issues with painkillers or sleeping aids to delve a little deeper.

For me the results have been life-changing, and I'm grateful to Sarah - who was named UK Practitioner of the Year in 2024 by CNSLab - for her patience in solving a puzzle, and breathing new life into a space which once saw depressing, desperate and debilitating pain.