Reset Your Gut Health After The Silly Season

17 Jan Reset Your Gut Health After The Silly Season

I don’t know about you but I have thoroughly enjoyed the silly season… maybe a little too much.

If you are anything like me, there have been plenty of excuses to indulge, enjoy a little extra alcohol and a few to many bowls of chips.

Are you feeling a little sluggish and like your gut might need a bit of TLC?

Nourishing your gut doesn’t have to be hard or stressful, there are some really simple gut nourishing foods you could be consuming daily to give your gut the boost it needs but that will take time. To be completely honest it’s really about avoiding some select foods for a short space of time (I suggest 1 week) to give your gut a chance to heal is a much better approach to quickly repair all the assaults it has copped over the xmas silly season. These foods work for literally everyone, whether you have had gut issues or not. Your gut lining is constantly repairing itself so it needs consistent care but a 1 week intensive repair session could boost your mood, lift the brain fog and restore a better belly. If you are struggling with gut health and leaky gut this could be the kick up the wazoo you need to get back on track.

First of all let’s see what signs to look out for.

1. Are you constipated? Charming topic I know… but it’s a telltale sign your gut needs some lovin.
2. Are you bloated? Bloating is a really obvious sign that you are inflamed or have some digestive upset or some bacterial imbalances.
3. Symptoms flaring up? Have you noticed any old symptoms popping up? Anxiety? Acne? Brain fog? Weight creeping on? Loose stools? Hormonal swings? Try paying close attention to see if you have any specific symptoms that need to be nipped in the bud. For me it’s my skin… I always show up symptoms on my skin (dry skin, pimples or rashes).

Take a few days to asses and see if your body is struggling and not firing on all cylinders… my guess is it’s a no. So if that’s the case for you there are a few things you can do to give your guts a break and a chance to heal and repair from all the silly season snacks and booze. Give yourself the gift of ONE WEEK to repair all the damage you might have done. It’s so simple and so easy.

Here goes…

1. Gluten: Avoid gluten like the plague during this week. Gluten is not your gut’s friend… while you might not have any immediate symptoms it is still damaging to your gut lining and the proteins in gluten trigger the production of zonulin which opens up the gut lining which can cause a leaky gut, food intolerances and an overactive immune system. Most gluten foods are also carb heavy (bread, pasta, pizza, whole grains included) feed the undesirable bacteria because of their sugar content. These undesirable bacteria can throw off the balance you need and the undesirable bacteria groups feed gut inflammation which can cause further gut lining damage. Just try and go FULL GF for at least 1 week to let your gut lining repair and stop any overgrowth of undesirable bacteria.
2. Sugar: Avoid sugar like the plague. Sugar is such a silent killer, but we all know that, that is why i have included it as a gentle reminder. It switches a light on in your brain to want more. Eating sugary foods feeds the undesirable bacteria to thrive and cause gut inflammation and we want to dile down on that inflammation. When your gut lining is inflamed you can’t repair the mucosal lining. All the beneficial bacteria live in and maintain this mucosal lining of the gut so we want to give it a good chance to heal properly. Combined with your GF week try and cut out ALL sugar including fruit, just for one week to get you back on track. Prepare some healthy savory snacks (like hummus and cucumber sticks) for when you are feeling the sugar cravings. This also includes alcohol… beer, wine and mixers contain a lot of sugar, its only 1 week.
3. Unhealthy fats (vegetable oil, canola oil, margarine, hydrogenated oil): When you eat out these unhealthy oils they are so compatible for us humans we should never eat them however they can be hard to avoid if you eat packaged, pre made food or eat out a lot. The reason i have mentioned these fats are because they wreak havoc on your digestion by upsetting your digestive enzymes and also cause huge internal inflammation. So for one week try to avoid eating out and try not to have any packaged foods because vegetable oil is literally in every packaged product.

Your gut lining repairs quickly when it is not constantly bombarded with inflammation and food that are damaging. All you need for a quick post xmas reset is to avoid a few of the main culprits for just one week. I know you can do it. Lift that brain fog. Don’t let the holiday weight creep on. Stop those old feelings of anxiety and stop the pimples from ruining your post festive feelings.

You know you will feel better for it and you can get back on track with your healthy lifestyle and kick start some serious gut healing to occur.

Once you have enjoyed a week of light fresh healthy healing food you can re-introduce fermented foods to add in all those healthy health promoting bacteria.

All it take is a little commitment from you.