As a GI nurse, and I don’t mean military, for the past 30 years I have studied gut health and even been a bit of a sufferer myself.  It’s not been until recently that I have come into a more natural way to take care of my gut and I wanted to share it here.

I have been following Dr Axe for a while and some of these tips I have learned from him. I’ll go over the top 10 tips that I think work well for Gut health.

1.  Chew your food!!!  How often are we running through the door still chewing our food and not even stopping to let it digest.  I know as a nurse and only getting a 30 minute meal break this is a huge problem.  I have been trained to eat fast and I’ve learned that if I slow down, then the food actually allows me to be full and satiated.
2. Try Mono or One pot meals.  If you eat one type of food at your meal your digestive juices and intestines wont have to try so hard to shift gears to decide what it needs to do.  Especially if you are not feeling well, one pot meals are great like a big pot of vegetable soup.
3. Bone Broth is amazing.  It’s very soothing and restorative at the same time.  

4.  Fermented food is another good alternative for healthy gut.  The probiotics and prebiotics are fantastic. Things like Kimchi, pickles, olives and sauerkraut are great for a healthy flora.  Even just a tablespoon or 2 of fresh sauerkraut every day keeps your gut happy.

5.  Blueberries are one of my favorite daily foods that I add to my shake and the antioxidents and pectin Resveratrol benefits are fantastic.  Not to mention they are great for the gut brain.

6.  Peppermint oil whether you ingest it or inhale it have great benefits for nausea and upset stomachs from morning sickness or the flu.  Even adding some peppermint oil to your Chocolate Bone broth in the morning is how I like to do it when I’m under the weather.

7.  Ginger is a spice of 100 uses.  Not only for cooking but for nausea and morning sickness as well.  I use it for motion sickness too and had great results on the last cruise we went on.  I will be taking some on my next flight to see if it helps.  

8.  Did you know that jumping around is good for your intestines too.  Get “moving” in the morning by doing a few jumping jacks or get yourself an inexpensive Rebounder and spend about 10 minutes.  There is also a weird new yoga move that I find quite interesting. Check out this weird move.  https://youtu.be/czvz67563no

9.  And the most important or Core 4 are:

Hydration- at least 1/2 your body weight in ounces every day.

Lipids/Fats or long chain fatty acids like olives, avocado and flax seed.

Fiber, about 30 to 38 grams day for men and 25 grams a day for women between 18 and 50 years old, and 21 grams a day if a woman is 51 and older. Another general guideline is to get 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories in your diet.

Probiotics and one of my favorites is Align.

10. Last but least is emotional health.  How often do we get a stomach ache when we are stressed or upset.  If we can find other ways of coping with stress then we can alleviate those irritable bowel issues.

I hope this has been helpful.  I will be doing more blogs on stress relief and healthy sleep.

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