Improving your gut health with 10 easy steps

10 tips for improving your gut health:

One of the main complains I see in my nutrition and counselling clinic is poor gut health.  This is often presented as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and food intolerances. IBS symptoms generally include bloating, excess gas, diarrhoea and/or constipation, pain and cramping.

Common causes for IBS and food intolerance can include visceral hypersensitivity, having a dysbiotic gut (imbalance between the good and bad bacteria) and/or leaky gut or intestinal permeability. To understand more about these causes, keep an eye on my next blog as I will be addressing these in a lot of detail.
​<Essentially, you can start helping Gut Health problems by thinking about how your Gut Health relates to your diet…. ie. your Gut Health Diet is critical to managing your symptoms.>

So, what are some practical things you can do today to start managing some of the symptoms:

1. Think about how you eat – that’s right…how you eat is just as important as to what you eat! As such ensure you eat sitting down in a relaxed state and you are chewing your food minimum 15-20 times before swallowing. It should take you at least 15-20 minutes to finish that meal…. So please take your time.

2. Ensure you don’t skip meals and eat every 3-5 hours to balance your hormones, neurotransmitters, energy and concentration levels.

3. Avoid snacking as you really should allow a gap of minimum 90 min – 120 min between your meals so that the“cleaning wave” can do it’s job and clean your intestines. When you constantly eat you inhibit this reflex and can exacerbate your symptoms, especially bloating and cramping.

4. If feeling stressed avoid eating at all costs during this time, as all blood rushes away from your gut to your extremities and you are more likely to end up with indigestion, bloating and diarrhoea. Try doing deep belly breathing for 2 minutes before you start eating. This will bring the blood back to you gut and enhance digestion.

5. Avoid drinking large amounts of fluids with your meals. Small sips during a meal are ok, but if you are struggling with digestive issues try to skip having large cups of fluids 20-30 min before or after a meal.

6. Think about food quality and transition to organic foods. If you have a sensitive gut, you are more likely to react to the pesticides and organo-phosphates that cover our foods. I had a client once who was “intolerant” to blueberries. We changed her to organic blueberries and the “intolerance” went away. Unfortunately, berries in Australia are one of the heaviest sprayed fruit on the market and knowing how your food is grown and delivered is important.

7. Avoid the chemicals, preservatives, additives, emulsifiers, sweeteners found in many packaged products on the market. If you haven’t already considered reading labels this is a skill you simply must develop. These chemicals can have a significant negative impact on your bacteria and digestion and unfortunately are found in most products including the supposedly healthier FODMAP options (by the way they are not healthier for you).

8. Avoid all vegetable oils including canola, sunflower, grapeseed, corn, soybean. These contain toxic by-products which are damaging to your gut and metabolism. Unfortunately, these again are found in most products including soft butter, dips, cereal, baked products, nut milks. As mentioned, you simply must be vigilant and read the labels… always…..

9. Avoid nitrates and processed meats like salami, bacon and the like. They contain known carcinogens and can cause bloating and abdominal discomfort alongside colon cancer.

10. Consider an elimination diet under supervision from a specialist dietitian. I don’t recommend doing your own elimination diet as it too complex and you absolutely need to ensure you get this right. While I don’t recommend the FODMAP protocol since it is only a band aid approach and doesn’t deal with the root cause, above recommendations are a great starting point for anyone struggling with gut problems. Over the years I have developed a very effective and easy to follow protocol that gets results very fast without the torture that some of these conventional methods bring. If you have tried different approaches without success, I encourage you to book me for an initial assessment to identify the cause for you problems and develop nutrition recommendations that suit your body and circumstances. For more details please visit me at www.vereenhealth.com.au