NTA Therapeutic Diets & Protocols 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is starting a low-FODMAP diet. Which food should they AVOID during the elimination phase?
- Blueberries
- Garlic (Correct answer)
- Zucchini
- Chicken breast
Correct answer: Garlic
Garlic is high in fructans, a type of FODMAP that feeds bacterial overgrowth and must be eliminated during the SIBO protocol.
Question 2: In the NTA's Nutritional Therapy approach, what is the PRIMARY goal of an elimination diet?
- Achieve rapid weight loss
- Identify and remove food sensitivities driving inflammation (Correct answer)
- Reduce caloric intake permanently
- Increase fiber consumption
Correct answer: Identify and remove food sensitivities driving inflammation
The elimination diet aims to remove common antigenic foods to reduce inflammation and then systematically reintroduce them to identify individual sensitivities.
Question 3: Which reintroduction schedule is recommended after a strict elimination diet to identify food sensitivities accurately?
- Add all foods back simultaneously over one week
- Reintroduce one food every 3 days and monitor symptoms (Correct answer)
- Reintroduce foods daily in any order
- Skip reintroduction if symptoms resolved
Correct answer: Reintroduce one food every 3 days and monitor symptoms
Reintroducing one food every 3 days allows enough time to observe delayed hypersensitivity reactions before adding another food.
Question 4: A therapeutic ketogenic diet differs from a standard low-carbohydrate diet primarily in that it:
- Restricts protein more severely to maintain ketosis (Correct answer)
- Allows higher fruit consumption
- Focuses solely on calorie restriction
- Eliminates all fats
Correct answer: Restricts protein more severely to maintain ketosis
A true ketogenic diet restricts not only carbohydrates but also moderates protein to prevent gluconeogenesis from interfering with ketone production.
Question 5: When implementing an anti-inflammatory protocol, which cooking oil would be MOST appropriate to recommend?
- Corn oil
- Soybean oil
- Extra virgin olive oil (Correct answer)
- Canola oil
Correct answer: Extra virgin olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil is rich in oleocanthal and oleic acid, which have documented anti-inflammatory properties, making it ideal for an anti-inflammatory diet.
Question 6: A specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) is MOST commonly used as a therapeutic protocol for which condition?
- Type 2 diabetes
- Inflammatory bowel disease (Correct answer)
- Hypothyroidism
- Adrenal fatigue
Correct answer: Inflammatory bowel disease
The SCD was developed by Elaine Gottschall to manage inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis by starving pathogenic gut bacteria.
Question 7: During a therapeutic fasting protocol, which physiological shift indicates the transition to fat-burning metabolism?
- Elevated blood glucose
- Increased insulin secretion
- Rising serum ketone bodies (Correct answer)
- Decreased glucagon levels
Correct answer: Rising serum ketone bodies
Rising ketone bodies (beta-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate) in serum confirm that the liver is breaking down fat and producing ketones as an alternative fuel source.
NTA Therapeutic Diets & Protocols 2
A client with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is starting a low-FODMAP diet.
Which food should they AVOID during the elimination phase?