Insights that triggered real change
I took Unseen Bio’s test to gain insights into my gut microbiome after having had a tough year recovering from Epstein Barr virus, and feeling generally down and fatigued and under the weather. I was struggling with constipation, hormonal acne breakouts, and had difficulties maintaining my weight. I had no diagnosed illness and my bloodwork and thyroid had been declared healthy. I had been following a protein heavy diet, avoiding complex carbs, and doing intermittent fasting to help my body recover. I thought I was living quite healthily compared to many of my peers.
The Unseen Bio test results showed I had very reduced diversity in my gut (about 50% the diversity of a healthy European). Somewhat alarmed, I scheduled a follow-up with their nutritionist, Cecilia, who took me through the results and convinced me to focus on adding much more fibre to my diet and to add in fermented foods when possible. Her approach was balanced and professional and assuaged my worry.
After having read a couple of books on healing the gut, I started making a lot of changes to my diet and started exercising more. In addition to completely overhauling my diet I started taking probiotics.
After a while I started feeling great—more energized, and in a better mood. I was no longer suffering with frequent constipation and noticed that my quality of sleep had improved because I started waking up before my alarm went off. I also started slowly losing weight (5 kg over 5 months). As a bonus, my skin was clearer and I had less PMS, so the lifestyle change had done something good for my hormone balance.
Five months later I took the test again. I was expecting a big shift since I had made so many changes and felt great! However, my diversity score had not really changed, but I had 2 new beneficial strains, and one was the most dominant one in the gut. I reached out to Cecilia again to discuss these results as I felt a bit disappointed—I guess I wanted my score to reflect my effort and how great I felt. The conclusion is that I may be an “outlier” whose microbiome actually works best when less diverse. It’s possible that by feeding my microbiome more fibre the bacteria were able to function more optimally and have a better output of metabolites that then has a knock-on effect on how you feel and how your body behaves.
I’m so happy I took the tests, and followed Cecilia’s advice. I know I went “all in” on both diet and exercise, which is very difficult for a lot of people to do, but I strongly advice taking the test and scheduling a session with Cecilia so you can learn what your body needs and how you can support it better.
6 March 2024
Unprompted review