Hola,
I want to tell you about a patient I saw a few months ago.
She'd been dealing with bloating and unpredictable bathroom trips for almost three years. She'd already cut out gluten. Then dairy. Then onions and garlic (because someone on TikTok said so). She was eating plain chicken, white rice, and steamed broccoli, and she was still miserable.
When she got to me, she'd basically eliminated half her pantry. She'd stopped eating Beans and her traditional dishes at family dinners. She'd turned down her mom's arroz con pollo at her nephew's birthday because she was scared.
"I thought I just had a broken stomach," she told me.
She didn't have a broken stomach. She had six very fixable habits; habits that are so common I see them almost every single week. And when we addressed them, one by one, she started feeling better within a few weeks. No elimination diet. No supplements. No magic tea.
Here's what was actually going on.
The 6 Mistakes That Keep Showing Up in My Clinic
1. Ignoring your body's best window in the morning
Every morning, within about 30 minutes of eating, your gut triggers something called the gastrocolic reflex — a natural signal that tells your colon it's time to move things along. Your body is literally handing you an opportunity on a plate.
Most people skip breakfast (or grab just coffee), miss the window, and then wonder why they're bloated and backed up by noon.
The fix: Eat an actual breakfast with fiber. It doesn't have to be complicated — oatmeal with fruit, a couple of eggs with whole grain toast, or even last night's habichuelas warmed up. You're not a different person at 7 AM. Your gut just needs a signal that the day has started.
2. Taking probiotics indefinitely "just in case"
I know this one is going to be controversial. But I need to be real with you: most probiotic supplements have thin clinical evidence for general gut symptoms. The research that does exist is mostly strain-specific, condition-specific, and short-term.
What I see in the clinic: patients who've been spending $40–$60/month on a probiotic for two, three, sometimes four years. No clear reason. No improvement. Just... habit.
If you want to try a probiotic, 30 days with a clear goal is reasonable. But the more sustainable move? Fermented foods. A daily splash of kefir in your smoothie, a small serving of yogurt with live cultures, some kimchi on the side. Your gut gets real, diverse bacterial exposure — not a marketing claim in a capsule.
(This is exactly why I don't sell supplements. Just so we're clear.)
3. Treating the bathroom like a living room
Okay, we're going there.
Your phone has made this so much worse. People are spending 15, 20, sometimes 30 minutes on the toilet — scrolling, reading, watching videos — and they don't realize that extended sitting on the toilet increases rectal pressure and straining, which over time can contribute to hemorrhoids and pelvic floor issues.
Your colon does not need entertainment. It needs a quick, low-pressure exit.
The fix: In and out. Think F1 pit stop, not Netflix break. If it's not happening within a few minutes, get up, walk around, and try again later. Your gut will tell you when it's actually ready.
4. Pushing through foods that consistently hurt you
Here's something the wellness industry gets completely backwards: eating a "healthy" food that reliably bloats you isn't virtuous. It's just uncomfortable for no reason.
Whole grains, legumes, raw vegetables, high-fiber fruits — these are genuinely great for most people. But your gut is yours. If black beans make you miserable every single time, swapping to lentils or tofu isn't "giving up." It's listening.
The keyword here is consistently. One bad day after a stressful week doesn't count. But if a specific food predictably causes the same reaction, that's information — and we can work with that information instead of white-knuckling through it.
Health should not feel like a punishment.
5. Grazing (Picando) all day instead of eating actual meals
I hear this one constantly: "I eat small amounts throughout the day to keep my metabolism going."
Here's what's actually happening: between your meals, your gut runs a cleaning cycle called the migrating motor complex (MMC). It's basically a housekeeping wave that sweeps undigested food and bacteria through your small intestine. It only kicks in when you haven't eaten for about 90 minutes to 2 hours.
When you're snacking constantly, you never give it a chance to run. You're essentially leaving dirty dishes in the sink all day and wondering why the kitchen smells off.
The fix: Aim for 3 structured meals with real gaps between them. This isn't about restriction — it's about giving your gut the space to do what it was designed to do.
6. Eating right before bed
This one affects your gut and your sleep — and most people don't connect the two.
When you eat a big meal and lie down within an hour or two, you're giving reflux the exact conditions it needs: a full stomach, gravity not on your side, and a lower esophageal sphincter that's already been working hard all day.
But it's also a sleep issue. Your gut does a significant amount of repair work during deep sleep. When you go to bed with active digestion still happening, it competes with that repair cycle — and both suffer.
The fix: Try to finish eating 2–3 hours before you go to sleep. You don't need to eat dinner at 5 PM. But if you're consistently eating at 10 PM and wondering why your reflux is worse and your sleep is lighter, this is very likely part of it.
The Bigger Pattern Here
What I want you to notice is that none of these are about eating less or restricting more. They're all about working with your gut's natural rhythms instead of against them.
Your body isn't broken. It's just not getting the conditions it needs to do its job.
That patient I mentioned at the start? She's back to eating her mom's cooking. She brought sofrito back into her weekly rotation. She's not cured of everything — GI health is never that simple — but she understands what's happening in her body, and that changes everything.
That's what I want for you too.
Hasta la próxima,
Mayra G. Gutsy Bites
Free 15 min Gut Roadmap Call
If you read all six and thought "wait — that's me," that's not bad luck. It's a pattern. And patterns are fixable.
You don't need another elimination diet or a $60 tea. You need someone to look at your gut, your symptoms, and your real life — arroz, habichuelas, café and all — and help you find what's underneath.
That's what the free 15-minute Gut Roadmap call is for. Nothing to buy. Nothing to give up before we even talk. Just 15 minutes to figure out what your gut needs.
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