Why Your Restrictive Diet Might Be Making You Sicker

Why Your Restrictive Diet Might Be Making You Sicker

If you've ever Googled a food reaction and ended up convinced you need to cut out half your diet, you're not alone — and you might be doing yourself more harm than good.

On this episode of The Immune Edit, Dr. Doug Jones sits down with Raquel Durban, a registered dietitian with over a decade of experience in the food allergy space, to unpack one of the most common problems they both see in patients: unnecessarily restrictive diets driven by misinformation.

The Self-Diagnosis Trap

Social media has made it incredibly easy to self-diagnose a food allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity. But as Dr. Jones points out, there's a meaningful clinical difference between a true food allergy (an immune-mediated response), a food intolerance, and a food sensitivity — and lumping them together can lead patients down a dangerous path.

Raquel sees this every day: patients who've whittled their diets down to just a handful of foods based on unvalidated home test kits or social media advice. "They're really having a reaction," she explains, "but unfortunately they've whittled down their diets. It's hyper restrictive. Their quality of life is at risk. Their nutrition's at risk. And there's no physician diagnosis."

The problem gets even more complicated for patients with conditions like mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), where the body can seemingly react to everything. Raquel describes patients who come in eating only chicken and rice — and then start reacting to those foods too. Her approach? Start with what the patient can eat, even if it's just three to five foods, and build from there.

When Cutting Foods Does More Harm Than Good

Overly restrictive diets don't just put your nutrition at risk — they shrink your entire world. "Being social, going out to eat... it limits your ability to enjoy foods," Raquel says. "If you're the parent and you're making foods for your children, it might even end up affecting your children's diets."

There's also the mental health toll. Food trauma and anxiety around eating are real, especially for patients with a history of severe reactions or conditions like eosinophilic esophagitis (EOE). Raquel works with these patients on what she calls "feeding skills" — gentle, step-by-step reintroduction that starts as small as cutting a grape in half.

The key distinction both Raquel and Dr. Jones emphasize: some patients absolutely need medically necessary dietary restrictions, and those should be respected. But many others are restricting far more than they need to, often without guidance from a specialist. That's where working with a board-certified allergist and a registered dietitian becomes essential.

The Supplement and Detox Myth Machine

A big chunk of the conversation tackles the booming supplement industry — and why it's not the shortcut to health that social media makes it seem. Raquel points out that over-the-counter supplements aren't regulated the same way medications are. They can interact with prescription drugs, contain unreliable amounts of their listed ingredients, and sometimes cause the very symptoms patients are trying to treat.

"A lot of women are taking these hormonal perimenopause supplements and they'll say, my stomach hurts or I'm so fatigued," Raquel shares. "And I'm like, one, that's probably perimenopause and now you've exacerbated it because the side effects of this particular over-the-counter have just made it worse."

Dr. Jones adds that the marketing playbook is predictable: promote a specific diet as the answer, then sell supplements to fill in the gaps that diet creates.

Probiotics: When They Help and When They Don't

Probiotics get their own segment because of how widely they're misunderstood. Raquel's take is nuanced: probiotics can be fantastic — when you need them and when you have the right strain. The problem is that most people are buying multi-strain, expensive, refrigerated options based on the assumption that pricier equals better.

"The data that we have is very disease specific," she explains. "If you're buying one with multiple strains, it doesn't mean it's going to be more effective." Her advice: work with your healthcare provider to match the right strain to your actual needs.

The Most Underrated Nutrition Habit: Fiber

When asked for the single most underrated nutrition habit, Raquel doesn't hesitate: fiber. It supports your microbiome, promotes heart health, helps with weight management, and — as she puts it — "one cannot poop without adequate fiber."

Her practical tips for getting more fiber affordably: buy frozen fruits and vegetables (they're flash-frozen at harvest and often fresher than what's in the produce section), try kiwis in smoothies (fuzz and all for extra fiber and vitamin C), and look for whole grain breads where the first ingredient is a whole grain.

Raw Milk: Trendy but Risky

Both Raquel and Dr. Jones express concern about the resurgence of raw milk, particularly for children. Despite marketing that positions it as a superior, probiotic-rich superfood, pasteurization simply kills harmful bacteria — it doesn't strip away nutrients. Combined with declining immunization rates, raw milk introduces unnecessary risk, especially for young children.

How to Find a Credible Dietitian

Not all nutrition advice is created equal, and Raquel is refreshingly transparent about that — even within her own profession. She recommends looking for dietitians who put citations in their notes, participate in professional organizations like the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and lead patients to nutrition rather than products.

Red flags to watch for: practitioners who focus on connecting patients with specific brands, who don't disclose financial relationships, or who call themselves "nutrition coaches" without the RD or RDN credential. "It's okay to ask, are you actually a registered dietitian?" Raquel says. "Most of us are proud, so we'll put RD or RDN in our name."

The Immune Edit: Raquel's Top Edits for Your Life

Raquel leaves listeners with two simple takeaways. First, prioritize fiber — for your gut health, your microbiome diversity, your heart, and yes, your bowel regularity. Second, trust the gut-brain connection. "We've almost been programmed to not listen to ourselves," she says. "So listen to yourself. You're really chatty in there."

Listen to the full episode:

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts

Connect with Raquel Durban:
Email: RDyourRD@gmail.com
Phone: 704-287-4832

Become a patient at GAIN: myimmunenetwork.com
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