11 Jul Lunchtime Wellness Hacks To Improve Your Gut Health
I don’t know about you but I have phones ringing in my ears all day, I’m constantly being interrupted by clients and I get, um, a little grumpy sometimes… which can interfere with my work.
Sound familiar??
HEAD OVER TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO WATCH THE VLOG I DID ABOUT THIS YESTERDAY…
Something I am super guilty of doing in the past is inhaling my lunch at my desk and suffering from indigestion. Believe it or not I didn’t even realise it was so uncomfortable and happening so regularly until I started to practice better “lunchtime rituals”. Now we all need a lunch break and I am sure you have sat there counting down until lunch time, but do you actually make time to eat in peace and quiet or do you just inhale your lunch in between phone calls and emails, like i used too? I used to always eat lunch at my desk for what I thought was optimal time management skills….
I can now see how this just made me grumpy not having a proper lunch break.
So I migrated to the lunchroom but that just pissed me off even more because people kept constantly interrupting me.
Sound familiar?? Then let me let you in on a secret that will change your working life 🙂
I never truly valued my lunch break until I started physically leaving the office and going to the park (literally across the road) to have my lunch.
Yes a little more effort, but oh so worth it!! This little change in scenery has changed my mood, productivity AND improved my gut health and digestion issues i was having.
I started to notice a few changes.
- My digestion improved.
- I was calmer, refreshed and energized.
- More productive.
If you are guilty of not stopping to eat, suffer from anxiety, gut issues, indigestion… then you have to start a lunchtime ritual.
Why?? Because no one is here to look out for your health, it’s all on you baby. Implementing small rituals or wellness hacks all add up. It might sound silly or over the top but if you instill these healthy habits now, you are on the right track to welcoming wellness.
Let me explain.
When we live in a state of “work mode” aka stress, cortisol pumping and fight or flight mode, we literally cannot digest our food. We are either in a state of fight or flight or rest and digest.
When we are in a state of work mode (aka fight or flight) our digestion shuts off because our bodies need to focus on pumping the adrenaline, cortisol, pumping blood around your body ready to attack… or answer a stressful phone call. You are not going to be able to digest your food properly in this state. You need to switch to a rest and digest mode. Digestion is one of the hardest and most energy consuming things your body needs to do and it needs all the energy it can get, but when your body is to busy being stressed it can’t produce the gastric juices it needs to digest and extract your foods goodness… your body can’t move your food through you and you can end up with large undigested particles of food that damage your gut lining. Switching to this rest and digest mode can take some practice but it is quite simple to do. Simple allow yourself to be alone, take 10 long and deep breaths. This calming and slowing down will help switch you to that rest and digest mode. Especially if you are someone that suffers from indigestion… it is because you literally have not been able to produce enough stomach acid to properly break down your food. Switching to that rest and digest mode will help your body recognize you are eating and start producing the necessary stomach acid.
Recently the weather has been pretty average here in perth and according to Australian’s us ‘Perth people’ are renowned for bragging about our amazing winters of sunshine… but not this week!
Oh no… it’s been raining and cold and it sucks! So I have made the most of what I have, its all about flexibility and consistency.
I have not been able to go for my usual walk and picnic in the park at lunchtime to enjoy some fresh air and soak up some sunshine so i have moved my lunch time picnic to the car, which is different but I rather like it.
Sitting inside the car is quite nice, it feels safe and I feel in control of my mood (be it stressed or calm). I can sit in silence or I can enjoy some music or a podcast. However because it has been raining I have been sitting listening to the rain. It’s bliss.
Now you don’t have to be in your car to achieve this level of chill just to switch into a better state for eating… you just need to find a place you can go to chill-the-F-out.
As I mentioned allowing yourself this time will leave you calmer, less anxious, refreshed and energized ready for whatever is waiting for you back at the office. This is one wellness hack that has made a huge impact to my overall daily enjoyment of life and my productivity at my current 9-5.
I want to know how you are going to take your lunch break from now on… What are you going to do that will help you you switch off.
This was a really important piece to my gut healing puzzle because learning to heal my gut really involves a lot more than the food that you stuff into your mouth. Our bodies are very complicated and this is one hack that made a big difference for me and hopefully you too.
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