Women's Health | Diet vs Disease

Prevent Diverticulitis Recurrence: 5 Things To Fix Before Your Next Flare

Joe Leech, Dietitian (MSc Nutrition & Dietetics) — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:46:21 +0000

As a gut health dietitian service, we see a lot of diverticulitis cases — and honestly, the pattern we see most often is this: someone has a flare, they recover, they change nothing, and a few months later they’re back in the ER. Not because they did anything wrong, but because nobody told them what to actually fix. I was on a call with a client last month who’d just come out of hospital with her second diverticulitis flare in two years. She said, “Joe, they gave me antibiotics, a leaflet about soft foods, and sent me home. Same as last time. Nobody told me why it keeps happening.” That’s a conversation I have constantly, and it’s exactly why I put this together. Here are the 5 things you should be doing after a flare, and why most people never[Discover More...]

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Top 5 IBS Red Flags Patients Ignore

Joe Leech, Dietitian (MSc Nutrition & Dietetics) — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 07:29:54 +0000

I want to preface this by saying a majority of people with IBS aren’t ignoring warning signs because they’re careless. They’re ignoring them because they’ve been told everything is fine. Normal colonoscopy. Normal bloods. Here’s a food list. Off you go. And then years pass, and they’re still planning their days around the nearest bathroom. Below, I walk through five red flags that IBS patients, and honestly a lot of GPs, commonly miss. Many of these are signs that your current plan isn’t good enough, and what you can do about it. Here’s a video we made; there is also a written version underneath. Red Flag 1: Your Symptoms Are Changing or Getting Worse IBS tends to be variable, but most people develop a sense of their pattern over time. If your symptoms have genuinely shifted — new kinds of[Discover More...]

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Low FODMAP Diet Basics: What I’d Do in the First 7 Days

Joe Leech, Dietitian (MSc Nutrition & Dietetics) — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:37:38 +0000

Most people start the low FODMAP diet the same way: they delete half their diet on day one. By day three, they’re eating plain chicken and rice, running out of ideas, and quietly wondering if there’s anything left they can actually eat. That’s not a failure of willpower. That’s a failure of having a plan. If you’ve Googled “low FODMAP diet” and felt instantly overwhelmed by giant food tables and fifty different serving sizes to memorize, you’re not alone. Most people quit before they ever really start properly — not because the diet doesn’t work, but because week one goes wrong in predictable ways. Below, I walk through exactly what I’d do in the first seven days: what to pull out, what to keep, what to eat, and the traps that catch most beginners before they ever get to reintroduction.[Discover More...]

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IBS-D: 5 Signs You Need More Than a Food List

Joe Leech, Dietitian (MSc Nutrition & Dietetics) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:14:25 +0000

If you’re still planning your life around bathrooms even while eating “safe” foods, your IBS-D probably needs more than another food list. Because food can matter. A lot. Lactose-containing dairy can matter. Coffee can matter. Fatty meals can matter. Other FODMAPs can matter. But if the list keeps getting longer and your confidence keeps getting smaller, food may only be one piece of the pattern. This is the question people keep asking in different ways: “I’ve found my trigger foods, so why do I still have urgency?” Or, “Why are there no fully safe foods?” Or, “Why do I eat the same meal twice, and only one time it sends me running?” In this article, I’ll show you five signs your diarrhea-predominant IBS needs a bigger framework than “avoid this, eat that.” And the last one is especially important because[Discover More...]

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The Diverticulitis Antibiotics Mistake

Joe Leech, Dietitian (MSc Nutrition & Dietetics) — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 08:39:40 +0000

Doctors used to treat diverticulitis almost automatically with antibiotics. You had the pain, you got the scan, and very often the next step was a prescription. But the advice has changed. Antibiotics aren’t for everyone and aren’t meant to be used in every situation. And please don’t hear this as “never take antibiotics.” That would be dangerous. But for selected cases of mild, uncomplicated diverticulitis, the newer guideline position is much more nuanced — antibiotics are no longer treated as automatic, because in those selected cases, they don’t appear to speed recovery or prevent recurrence the way we once assumed. And that matters, because a lot of people are still working from the old model: “I had a flare. I took antibiotics. Therefore, I’ve handled the diverticulitis.” That’s the real mistake. Not taking antibiotics when they’re needed — the mistake[Discover More...]

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Why You Look Pregnant By The End Of The Day

Joe Leech, Dietitian (MSc Nutrition & Dietetics) — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 08:06:37 +0000

If your stomach looks fairly normal in the morning but by dinnertime you look six months pregnant, you are not imagining it. This is one of the most common things people tell us: “I look pregnant by the end of the day,” or “I feel like I swallowed a watermelon,” or even “My bloating gets bigger as the day goes on.” And the usual advice is almost always food advice: “cut this food”, “avoid that food,” or “try another list.” But if your belly is visibly changing throughout the day, food may only be one part of the story. In this article, I explain the five reasons this can happen, what the timing may tell you, and why a stricter food list is not always the answer. Here’s a video we made; there is also a written version underneath. Difference[Discover More...]

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