I Got a Leaner Body By Quitting These Gut-Irritant Foods

And introducing wholesome nutrition

I’m not new to the world of fitness because I’ve been working out and eating healthy food for the past 10.5 years. It started as a journey to lose 55lbs because I was tired of being overweight all my life and it has become a lifestyle now.

However, I still struggled with

• adult acne

• craving sugar after food

• even after all this work, I had a wobbly tummy

All this when I’ve been lifting weights and eating mindfully for years, yet it’s been demotivating to have abdominal fat that I see when I look at myself without clothes.

The game changed when I hired a nutritionist who a friend told me about because she wanted to lose weight before her wedding. I hired her for a month and we ended up working together for 1.5 years.

After our first month together, I looked and felt so much better. Which is when I realised I was eating so-called ‘healthy’ foods that were causing inflammation and hence giving me acne and bloating.

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The Foods I Quit

Now, I have been eating healthy for over a decade so that means I anyway eat junk only 20% the time and don’t consume large desserts or touch sodas. I’ve done calorie tracking for so long that I have an idea of what to eat and what not.

1. Bread: yes, even the ‘healthy’ kind.

2. Chocolate: I have now resumed it after a year but I could see a direct correlation between my chocolate consumption and acne. I’ll tell you soon about how I overcame the craving to consume it after every meal.

3. Processed foods: no dipping 2 biscuits in my Indian chai no matter how ‘healthy’ they were, even if they claimed to be multigrain. It’s just high-calorie stuff packed in something that doesn’t even fill you so you have it in higher quantity.

4. Outside food: I didn’t completely quit it, but I reduced this a lot. Junk food at home is healthier than healthy food outside, which has too much oil in it and we don’t even know what kind of oil.

5. Refined flour: I used to think that as long as I’m in a calorie deficit, I’m okay. Wrong — this was amplifying my acne and quitting it completely helped my skin a lot.

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The Drinks I Introduced

1/ Morning water

While I used to anyway start my morning with hydration, I now drink combinations like

• honey water

• honey and lemon water

• overnight soaked fenugreek seeds

• overnight soaked carom seeds, cumin and fennel

• overnight soaked apple and cinnamon water

• a glass of water with a tablespoon of aloe vera or Indian gooseberry (amla) juice

I have 3 glasses of these combinations. They’re all healthy for your gut and help in digestion.

2/ Cold-pressed juices

I enjoy them because I live in India which is hot most of the time and drinking these juices is so refreshing. Two of my favourites that I drink throughout summer are:

• Green juice: bottleguard (lauki), cucumber, mint, coriander

• Red juice: apple, beetroot, carrot, lemon, ginger

I have one glass 45 minutes after the morning water.

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New Habits I Started

I was already eating healthy and working out 5–6 times a week, but what was new to me was:

• Eating dinner before 7 pm instead of my usual 8:30 pm.

• Having a teaspoon of fennel and sugar after lunch if craving sugar.

• If I want dessert, then I consume it before 4 pm.

• Eating Indian breads that are a mix of grains so instead of just wheat flour, I had flours like ragi, jowar, bajra, rajgira, etc.

• Taking a 45-minute break between water and food.

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How I Felt in a Month

Loved that I could wear this crop top!

I was obviously annoyed that I’ve spent $$$ on my acne treatments yet it took a nutritionist to fix it in only a month!

However, I was

• Feeling more energetic.

• Didn’t crave outside food or sugar.

• Happy about looking much leaner.

• Feel more connected to my food.

• Chewed slower and enjoyed more.

• Got a flat stomach which I couldn’t believe happened.

• Realised I don’t need to eat so much and ate only till 80% full.

• Didn’t even want outside food as a reward because eating so clean made me feel greasy when I ate junk.

I went on with the nutritionist for 1.5 years. Starting 2025, I continued my own thing because I felt I’d been conditioned anyway to make the right choice. And unless I don’t get my acne back, I know I’m on the right path because my gut is healthy.

A lot of times with the nutritionist my mind’s calorie calculator would go bonkers thinking;

• Why am I eating rice at night?

• Isn’t this food high-calorie?

• Aren’t dates so high in sugar?

• Why are we not counting calories?

Because this is how I functioned when I was on a journey to drop 25kgs.

But she told me to trust the process and enjoy nature’s food instead of overthinking it.

And it worked. I now have a closer and healthier relationship with food thanks to her and hold nature in a higher power. Nature doesn’t harm you if you’re connected with yourself and with it.

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See you soon!

Love,

N