AI Can't Fix Your Gut: Why Algorithmic Meal Plans Miss the Mark
When Perfect Protocols Meet Real Life
I ran a little experiment this week. I asked an AI chatbot the following:
"I'm a human struggling with digestive issues (gas, bloating, undigested food in stools, struggling to poop every day, a little indigestion after eating) and my energy levels are low. I feel a bit stressed out often and my sleep isn't the best (I wake up tired). What is an ideal meal plan for one day for someone like me?"
What came back was technically impressive: a perfectly structured day of eating with all the wellness buzzwords you'd expect:
Warm lemon water with sea salt
Pasture-raised eggs with ghee
Wild-caught salmon
Bone broth
Magnesium glycinate supplements
Chamomile tea
Sound familiar? It's the kind of picture-perfect wellness plan that makes great Instagram content. It's also completely disconnected from your actual life.
The Problem With Algorithmic Nutrition
Here's what AI-generated nutrition advice consistently gets wrong:
1. It Knows Nothing About YOU
The AI has no idea:
If you hate salmon (or if the smell makes you gag)
If you're allergic to eggs
If you have time to make three home-cooked meals daily
If you can afford "pasture-raised" everything
If you're the one cooking for your entire family
If you're working shifts or travelling
If your gut actually rebels against "healthy" foods
2. It Can't Assess Your Body's Unique Signals
No algorithm can:
Feel what happens in your body after you eat certain foods
Notice patterns between your stress and digestive symptoms
Understand your personal history with food
Adapt recommendations based on how your body responds
Recognize when "healthy" foods are making your symptoms worse
3. It Promotes Protocol Perfectionism
The AI meal plan subtly reinforces:
The myth that perfect eating exists
The idea that more restrictions equal better health
The notion that you should be able to follow complex food rules amid real life chaos
The belief that your digestive issues are your fault for not following the "perfect" plan
4. It's Often Nutritionally Inadequate
Looking closer at this AI-generated plan:
It provides only about 1400 calories — too low for most adults
It lacks flavour and culinary enjoyment — where are the herbs, spices, and cultural food traditions?
It prioritizes "clean eating" over adequate nourishment
It treats food as medicine only, forgetting that food is also pleasure, culture, and connection
What Actually Works Instead
Real gut healing doesn't come from following someone else's perfect protocol. It comes from:
1. Working WITH your body, not against it
Learning to understand your own hunger, fullness, and digestion signals rather than outsourcing your eating decisions to an algorithm.
2. Finding YOUR personal triggers
Not the generic list of "inflammatory" foods, but the specific foods and eating patterns that YOUR body struggles with.
3. Making sustainable changes that fit YOUR life
Because a perfect protocol that you can't maintain is worse than imperfect changes you can actually stick with.
4. Getting personalized support
From someone who understands that you have a job, family demands, budget constraints, food preferences, and a life that doesn't revolve around meal prep.
The Gut Rebel Approach
Instead of handing you a perfect meal plan that ignores your real life, regardless of your gender or life circumstances, we work together to:
Find the minimum effective changes that give you maximum relief
Create strategies that work even on your most chaotic days
Build flexible approaches that adapt to your changing needs
Develop a relationship with your body where YOU become the expert
Because gut health shouldn't require a complete life overhaul or algorithm-approved perfection.
Want to ditch the AI meal plans and find real solutions that work in real life?
Check out my 1:1 services designed for anyone tired of generic advice that doesn't address YOUR specific digestive issues.
Rebelling against wellness culture, one realistic meal at a time.
