I want to share a quick story from a recent counseling session.
It was a good reminder for me, and maybe it’ll be one for you too…
Over the years, I’ve gotten really good at interviewing my patients, gently probing for information, and reading between the lines.
But even after doing this work for so long, sometimes a tiny detail slips through. And when it does, it reminds me why the work we do matters so much.
Recently, I was working with a woman with Crohn’s disease. She was in remission, and feeling well, until she suddenly developed frequent diarrhea with no obvious cause.
We’d done a thorough diet recall in our first session, so this time I double-checked for anything new: changes to diet, supplements, meds, stress, environment—all the usual suspects. She said nothing major had changed.
Then, 40 minutes in (forty!), she casually mentioned that her functional MD had recommended sugar-free mints to curb sugar cravings and help with weight loss.
Sugar alcohols strike again!
She stopped the mints, and her GI symptoms resolved.
Simple fix, huge relief.
Personalizing nutrition care for GI patients can get tricky, especially with IBD—but this was a good reminder that even in complicated cases, it’s often the small things that make the biggest difference (and that even experienced RDNs can overlook a tiny but crucial detail).
