If you have been following me for a while then you know that I am a biohacker at heart. I am ALWAYS tinkering with something to advance my health goals. These days I feel pretty great most days, which I can assure you is HUGE progress, but there is always room for a little more. I attribute much of my healing to improvements in gut health. I have used gut health testing in the past as a barometer of my progress, originally with Ubiome, which went belly up in 2019 (pun intended) and then later with Viome. After having used both of those platforms I recall wishing there was a test that combined the bacterial diversity data of Ubiome along with the food recommendation/avoidance lists of Viome and voila, along came Thryve Inside.

What to expect?
The Thryve Inside gut health test currently costs $99 and you can use my coupon code PALEOGIRL99 to save 10%. In my experience with prior gut testing this is pretty affordable. The stool test kit is very easy to use and comes with a pre-paid return label which saves you a little more too.
Results are back within a few weeks.

Data, data, data!
Once your kit has been evaluated you will get a link to your dashboard with the results. The “Essential” report comes included with the cost of your test kit and includes an overall Gut Score comprised of your Gut Wellness and your Gut Diversity scores. You will be given data points on which bacteria to improve and which need to be reduced. You will receive a personalized food plan with foods that are recommended to improve your gut health as well as foods to avoid, in my case 287 to enjoy and 25 to avoid. In each case there is data about which specific bacteria are in play with those recommendations.

Then what?
You can focus on the foods that are recommended to improve your microbial community, within what works for you. There is an option for ordering Personalized Probiotics, blended to help you reach optimal gut levels. My blend focused on specific strains of lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. There was one strain I was concerned about as it related to histamine, but I reached out to the company and they were able to reassure me that the particular strain they used was not associated with elevating histamine. That was a positive customer service experience. Similarly when my probiotics arrived I was concerned about the disclaimer that they were fermented on soy and dairy and again reached out. They explained that the amounts remaining after fermentation are below detection, but this disclaimer is required for complete allergen disclosure, like the made in a facility with dairy and soy disclaimers you see on so many products. You of course need to factor in your own specific sensitivity level.

There is an option to upgrade to PREMIUM for and additional one time fee of $49.99 which gives you a LOT more data about health conditions and tendencies you may be prone to. Once you upgrade to PREMIUM this will apply to all future testing. For the record I am happy to report that my weight is normal for my height, but it looks like my microbiome predisposes me to weight gain. Good thing I eat right! I also have very healthy skin, but again, I am super careful with my diet and with what I choose to put on my body, but that is another blog post that I have already done!

I plan to retest in a few months to see how I am doing. Then my data points can be mapped to hopefully show my progress. I found the vitamin production report especially interesting. My gut doesn’t produce Vit B12 well, which makes me happy that I always supplement with a high quality B complex.

The UPS:
I like that the test is affordable and easy to use. It provided me with easy to view scores and concrete suggestions in the form of specific foods to include or avoid, and custom probiotics designed to improved my personal gut health. When you are all about data and progress, that is exactly what you are after!

The DOWNS:
So far the only down side I can comment on is that I wish that all of the data was included in the basic test price. The upgrade to Premium content costs an additional $49.99, but who doesn’t want more data? That said it is a one time fee that applies to all future testing.
Would also give them future bonus points if all of the top allergens were avoided in the Probiotic formulations.

Regular to give it a go? Use my link here and at checkout COUPON CODE PALEOGIRL99 saves you 10%.

Disclosures:
I did receive the Gut DNA test, the premium content and one month of probiotics for free. Companies often generously share with me so that I can try things out to share about my experience with you all. I was only asked to share my HONEST review of the product.