“I assumed this was how life had to be, until I found FoodMarble”

For as long as I can remember, I have suffered from digestive discomfort which had severely limited my enjoyment of social occasions and travelling. Eating out and journeys on public transport were stressful experiences because of the prospect of rapid-onset symptoms and traditional medical evaluation had unfortunately not identified a root cause.

It was only when I discovered the FoodMarble AIRE 2 device and monitored my own health metrics that I was able to identify specific trigger foods, which when removed/limited in my diet massively improved and reduced the symptoms I had been experiencing for over 40 years.

Background

David had suffered with digestive disorders since childhood, and over the years had tried numerous approaches to manage his symptoms.  These included restricting his diet to plain foods, undergoing periods of fasting before public travel or social gatherings and self-medicating with anti-diarrheal medications.  Whilst these went some way to ease the symptoms slightly, these approaches were not foolproof and often the fear of having an episode of digestive discomfort was enough to act as a major trigger.

Having to abstain from food before public travel or social events and relying on medication to limit the impact of the symptoms was not an effective long term strategy. When he suffered symptoms it was incredibly frustrating and he felt like he was back to square one.  He  had extensive medical assessments and examinations in his early 30’s, but these were inconclusive – perhaps because of limited understanding of SIBO by the medical teams involved so he just assumed this was how life had to be.

The Turning Point

The turning point for David came when his wife booked a holiday to Iceland and the trip involved a day long coach excursion.  This caused David great concern, but desperate to not miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime experience he set about researching alternative approaches to managing SIBO to see if there was anything which would stabilise his condition.  As a qualified food scientist, he found the knowledge gained invaluable but needed a practical and affordable way of tracking his symptoms.

By a matter of chance (some would say, good fortune) he came across an article online that mentioned FoodMarble AIRE 2 and found the ability to track hydrogen and methane levels gave great quality information but the decision to undergo the Discovery Challenge itself was life changing.  By running a breath test on selected food sugars (available as part of a Food Intolerance Test kit from FoodMarble), David was able to identify that inulin and sorbitol were key triggers for him.  By eliminating these from his diet, his symptoms eased almost immediately.  Whilst it is not uncommon to see wheat / gluten (which commonly contain inulin) associated with digestive discomfort and bloating, sorbitol came as a complete surprise.

“The fact I triggered so heavily after consumption of sorbitol came as a complete shock.  I’d gotten into an habit of consuming sugar-free mints whenever I experienced bloating, but these contained sorbitol which were actually contributing towards my symptoms!  What I thought was helping me was making me much worse!”

“I always found the FoodMarble team knowledgeable and supportive.  It is clear that they gain huge satisfaction from seeing people achieve long-term relief and with my Chartered Scientist hat on, I feel confident that the device is based on sound and proven gut-health research”

The Change

It is now around two years since David completed the discovery challenge programme and made modifications to his diet on the back of findings from the FoodMarble AIRE 2 device.  The change in his health has been remarkable and he no longer finds himself having to maintain a strict, plain diet.

“The device also helped me understand the impact of stacking of certain foods, for example I couldn’t understand why I was sometimes fine with some foods and other times not.  Taking hydrogen and methane test scores showed me that there was a certain limit of these particular foods my body could tolerate at any given time so I was then able to regulate my diet accordingly”.

Whilst it was initially a challenge to cope with removing wheat from his diet, the benefits seen made all this worthwhile. Eating out has become a pleasure and spicy food is back on the menu, public travel is no longer the stressful experience it once was and most importantly the reliance on medication has been almost eliminated.

A Confident Future

Two years down the line, with improved gut health, Daivd no longer needs to test daily – his body is back under control. If he ever started experiencing issues again, he wouldn’t hesitate to start testing his breath levels to see if there were new triggers but for now he’s happy with the long-term relief that has been made possible through FoodMarble.

“Without the clear information derived from using the AIRE 2 device, I doubt I would ever have discovered that inulin and sorbitol were triggers for me. I can honestly say that discovering FoodMarble changed my life.  It gave me the clarity I needed to make changes to my diet and helped me understand my body more.  I would absolutely recommend the AIRE 2 to anyone suffering digestive discomfort, but of course always speak to your own doctor first to make sure there are no other underlying conditions”