The Bioactive Diet: How To Stay Nourished When You Have A Severely Restricted Diet

Far too many people have joined a previously small group of people that sustain themselves on just a few foods. This isn’t by choice of course! And it’s often because of conditions like CIRS, MCAS, MCS, IBS, SIBO, SIFO, or migraine or autoimmune conditions that is some cases can become triggered by almost anything.

And there’s a big downside to a limited diet. The very people who need an increase in critical nutrients are the very people who end up with the most restricted diets and severe nutrient insufficiencies.

It gets worse.

Doctors and medical professionals as a whole rarely test for nutrient sufficiency.

Deficiency vs Insufficiency

It’s not that Western medicine doesn’t test for nutrient levels at all. It’s that they often look at only the nutrient level in the blood and then compare that to the population at large.

This is bad for two reasons.

First, nutrient levels in the blood are simply just nutrient levels in the blood. They don’t show levels in the tissues and certainly not all tissues or all organs.

Second, those with illness have a completely different set of nutrient needs and amounts than those in good health.

So while the blood draw the doctor orders may show you’re in line with the average person, you might still be very insufficient. In other words, the doctor tests for deficiency but what you really need is a test for sufficiency.

A sufficiency test looks at metabolites that present themselves when you have enough of or lack of a key nutrient.

In short, far too often tests come back in the “normal” range because we are within a normal range YET when testing for sufficiency the tests can come back far below sufficient. It is critical to maintain sufficient nutrient levels, especially if healing is the objective.

Essential vs Conditionally Essential

People with restricted diets (for even a short period) lack the abundance of critical nutrients needed for healing. This is especially true if one has experienced an infection (which always produces biotoxins) or some type of toxic exposure (perhaps mold toxins from a water-damaged building or a malaligned or toxic-producing microbiome). In these cases, it is unlikely that the body can produce enough of the nutrients needed for healing and complete detoxification.

So while there are only about 50 nutrients that the body cannot produce on it’s own (which we call essential nutrients), there are easily 100 critical nutrients that the body cannot make enough of to heal and detoxify from chronic illnesses or infections (sometimes these nutrients are called conditionally essential).

And under the ‘conditions’ of the modern diet, polluted environment and stressful lifestyle – WE ALL NEED CONDITIONALLY ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS – ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS!

The Challenge: Get a SUFFICIENT Amount of All CRITICAL (Essential and Conditionally Essential) Nutrients for Healing and Recovery

I’ve personally been among the small crowd whose diet has remained at or below three foods for years. And this created the enormous challenge of getting adequate nutrients.

I wish I could have understood from the beginning the nutrients I needed and the foods that provided critical nutrients in their most absorbable and active forms. It would eventually take me 13 years of studying human nutrition and food science but eventually one small answer after another – the solution became clearer.

Bioavailable vs Bioactive

There is a lot of talk about bioavailable nutrients. The word ‘bioavailable’ is usually used to mean how easily cells can absorb a particular nutrient.

Many of the macronutrients we eat (protein, fats, and carbohydrates) are not bioavailable without at least some digestion.

But bioavailability isn’t the only trouble.

Sometimes the problem isn’t breaking down or digestion of food alone. It’s often the assimilation or building of nutrients that the body is struggling with.

And this can lead to the body having an insufficiency of an endogenous nutrient (an endogenous nutrient is one that is created or synthesized by the body). These endogenous nutrients are in the bioactive form or the form that is actually needed and used by the body.

So if the body is struggling with or has limited capacity for digestion and assimilation (which is often the case, especially in cases of chronic illness) – we can support the body by eating nutrients that are bioavailable but also bioactive.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you eat a serving of meat protein. This protein would need to be digested and broken down to be absorbed. And for those who are unable to digest meat much of the protein could pass through the system undigested and unabsorbed.

On the other extreme, one could consume individual amino acids (amino acids are the smallest pieces of protein). In this case, no digestion is needed because the proteins have already been broken down to amino acids before consumption. The amino acids would however need to be assimilated back into peptides (small chains of amino acids) or proteins (bigger chains of amino acids) in their bioactive forms to be used by the body.

But there is a third and better option.

If you choose to consume hydrolyzed collagen peptides you get the best of both worlds. The protein has been hydrolyzed (usually broken down via hydrochloric acid) into small peptides but not all the way to individual amino acids. These peptides are small enough to be highly absorbable but still remain in a bioactive form that requires no assimilation by the body to be used.

This relieves the body and the body’s enzymes the burden of breaking down the protein as well as the burden and use of enzymes needed to assimilate the amino acids into a bioactive form.

This reduction in taxing and burdening the body and its resources can be very helpful in cases of illness and especially in cases of impaired digestion and food intolerances.

The 5 Bioactive Foods That Provide Critical Macronutrients

We need to get both sufficient macronutrients (calories from protein, fats or carbohydrates) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that make critical healing actions possible).

Let’s first focus on macronutrients or how to get sufficient calories and energy.

There are 5 foods that are especially good at providing an abundance of bioactive macronutrients.

1. Hydrolyzed Collagen

Hydrolyzed collagen is a POWERFUL food. It provides absorbable peptides that have many uses and benefits in the human body. It is used to heal and maintain the health of every tissue including skin, hair, tendons, ligaments joints, bones, the gut, muscles, and the cardiovascular system.

There are over 20 types of collagen. Each type provides the body with a different profile of peptides that have different impacts on the body. While type 1 and type 3 collagen are currently the more popular types found in most hydrolyzed collagen peptide products – you should consider testing type 2 (for the gut), as well as all other types, and test bovine-sourced as well as marine-sourced collagen. It’s surprising the benefits that can come from providing the body with the peptides it needs in forms it can use without any further processing.

It’s worth noting that collagen is very easy to consume. Simply add a serving of collagen to your favorite beverage, yogurt, soup, recipe, or even water (if you must) and mix it in!

2. Hydrolyzed Gelatin

Hydrolyzed gelatin peptides are a subgroup of collagen peptides. They can have a powerful impact on gut motility, function, and healing.

Gelatin can be taken in two different ways – jello or raw. When gelatin is used to make jello it has a powerful impact on the gut motility and stimulates faster motility. When gelatin powder is used raw to add to a beverage it also impacts the gut although the peptides can have quite a different impact on the gut when taken raw. Test both methods. I like both methods because they benefit me more than either method alone.

3. Hydrolyzed Whey

Hydrolyzed whey is a third source of bioactive peptides but it has a pro and con compared with collagen and gelatin peptides. The reason I love including pure hydrolyzed whey isolate in the diet (although very hard to find) is that it is a fantastic source of cysteine (critical to glutathione production) and it is a good source of tryptophan (critical for serotonin production).

On the other hand, hydrolyzed whey is not an excellent source of glycine (another critical component of glutathione), which both collagen and gelatin are excellent sources of. For this reason, I like to get the best of both worlds and include all three hydrolyzed peptide foods.

4. Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs)

Medium-chain fatty acids are a fantastic source of bioavailable and bioactive calories and energy. They are also a superior source of calories as they do not cause the unhealthy rise in blood glucose that carbohydrates and sugars do AND they positively impact mitochondrial health (via mitochondrial uncoupling but more on that at another time).

The three relevant MCFAs are caprylic acid, capric acid and lauric acid. They are often marketed and sold as medium-chain triglyceride oils or MCT oils. And of the three caprylic acid is most easily absorbed, followed by capric acid.

Coconut oil is a great source of MCFAs but has about 10% of other fatty acids. Ghee is next best but a good step down from coconut oil when it comes to the percentage of MCFAs (although can be tolerated better than coconut oil for some). But some products are pure MCFAs and until one tolerates ghee or coconut oil – pure MCT oil may be the best option.

5. Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs) and Vinegars

Another potentially beneficial nutrient is short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Usually, we get most of our SCFAs from our microbiome feeding on the fibers we eat, but in the case of fiber intolerance or a severely restricted diet, you’ll likely not be getting enough SCFAs.

There are many benefits from SCFAs that we know and surely more we’re yet to learn. Top benefits include their immune modulation, anti-inflammatory, and gut health-boosting properties.

Where do you get them if you can’t eat fiber?

Two choices. In fermented foods or from vinegar (the byproducts of fermentation). Most pure vinegars are a good source for those who don’t yet tolerate fermented foods or fibers but beware that some vinegars may contain small amounts of sugar so be sure to check the labels.

Oh, I almost forgot! SCFAs also provide a source of energy for the cells of the gut!

3 Critical Bioactive Amino Acids

Individual amino acids are by themselves bioactive. The following can be particularly helpful in times of illness.

• Tryptophan (critical to and increases serotonin synthesis)
• Tyrosine (critical to and increases dopamine synthesis)
• D-phenylalanine (critical to and increases endorphin synthesis)
• Glycine (critical to and increases glutathione synthesis)

*It is important to carefully measure amino acid levels before and during supplementation of individual amino acids as they can have powerful impact on neurotransmitter levels.

List of Bioactive Foods

Okay, so let’s list out the bioactive foods. We’ll break this down into foods that are nearly 100% bioactive and foods that are the most bioactive for various food groups.

Nearly 100% Bioactive

• Hydrolyzed Collagen
• Hydrolyzed Gelatin
• Hydrolyzed Whey
• MCFAs / 100% MCT Oil (Caprylic Acid, Capric Acid, and/or Lauric Acid)
• SCFAs / Vinegar (Acetic Acid, Butyric Acid)
• Grape Juice (be careful in cases of fructose malabsorption)

Next Best Proteins

• Broths (any)
• Low and Slow Baked Fish
• Low and Slow Roast Beef

Next Best Fats

• Coconut Oil
• Cacao Butter
• Ghee
• Tallow
• Butter

Next Best Carbohydrates

• Honey
• Vegetable Broths, Teas, and Juices

Best Dairy

• Long Fermented Cheese
• Long Fermented Yogurt
• Kefir

But Wait! You’re Still Missing The Health and Healing Critical DHA, EPA and ALA!

If you’re eating the bioactive diet you’ll be far more nourished than if you were fasting or doing the elemental diet but in the long run you’ll be short of three important macronutrients. Each of these are polyunsaturated fats and each are critical to health and healing.

While these PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) are not as of yet available in a pure form there still ‘best ways’ or ‘best foods’ that give a higher ratio of these PUFAs and a lower ratio of difficult to digest and absorb foods.

Best DHA and EPA

• rTG (re-esterfied triglycerides) DHA and EPA
• Cod Liver Oil
• Algae Oil
• TG (Triglyceride) DHA and EPA
• Krill Oil (lowest ratio of DHA and EPA but highest ratio of phospholipids)

Best ALA

• Flaxseed Oil
• Chia Seed Oil

What About CRITICAL Micronutrients?

There are many micronutrients that the body cannot create that you need to ensure you’re consuming in some form or another. We’ll break these down into the essentials (what your body cannot create) and the conditionally essential (what it can create some of but not enough in times of illness and healing).

Essential Micronutrients

• Thiamine
• Riboflavin 5 Phosphate
• Niacin
• Pantothenic Acid
• Pyridoxine
• Biotin
• Folate
• Cobalamin
• Ascorbic Acid
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin K1
• Vitamin K2
• Zinc
• Magnesium
• Selenium
• Manganese
• Iodine
• Potassium
• Sodium
• Iron
• Copper
• Chromium
• Molybdenum
• Boron
• Vanadium

Conditionally Essential Nutrients

• Choline
• Creatine
• NAC (n acetylcysteine)
• NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide)
• AKG (alpha-ketoglutarate)
• PQQ (Pyrroloquinoline Quinone)
• TMG (trimethylglycine)
• CoQ10
• Alpha Lipoic Acid
• Acetyl L Carnitine
• Melatonin
• Hyaluronic Acid
• Inositol
• Carnosine
• GABA
• Glutathione
• Phospholipids

Bioactive Recipes

The Bioactive Diet is a big step down from a whole foods diet but it’s a big step up from the elemental diet or from getting your nutrients intravenously via IV or PICC line. Yes, every meal is almost entirely the same, if not exactly the same. But there are 3-4 different “recipes” or foods that can be prepared and consumed. Each have a different benefit so it’s nice to include them all as often as possible.

• Bear Blend: The Bear Blend is a protein drink that includes your macronutrients (peptides and MCTs) as well as most of your micronutrients – not too dissimilar to an infant formula.
• Bear Butter: Bear Butter is a ghee with fat-soluble antioxidants and nutrients infused into the ghee. This is a super powerful way to absorb the hard to absorb fat soluble vitamins and antioxidants that are critical to healing and cellular health.
• Bear Jello: A grape juice based jello that allows you to consume hydrolyzed gelatin flavored with grape juice.
• Bear Brew: Bear Brew is simply a cocktail of probiotics (yogurt or kefir etc) and/or postbiotics (apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar etc) flavored with grape juice (if desired). This allows for the consumption of pro and post-biotics that need support on a fiber-free diet.

The Bioactive Meal Plan

Here’s what the Bioactive Diet meal plan looks like. Please note that the volumes of micronutrients should be built to fit your individual needs.