Rohan had been to four gastroenterologists. He had a list of foods he could not eat that was longer than the list of foods he could. Eating, which had once been one of his favourite things, had become an interrogation.
He came to us tired of being at war with his own dinner table.
Less rules, more listening
We did not give him a new diet. We gave him a different relationship to what he already knew. We taught him to chew slowly, to eat in a state of calm, to notice without judgment.
In the first month, we removed only three things. In the second, we added one back. We were in no hurry.
The body remembers softness
By month eight, Rohan had reintroduced fourteen of the twenty foods he had been avoiding. His symptoms - once daily - had become occasional. He still has flare-ups. They no longer frighten him.
Food is delicious again, he tells us. That is the small, large thing.
"I had been at war with my own gut. They taught me how to make peace with it."
Rohan Mehta continues to work with us, in lighter and lighter rhythms. Their story, like all stories worth telling, is still unfolding.