For a while, I thought that the key to gut health was drinking bone broth and taking probiotic supplements. Everywhere you looked seemed to promise these things were all you needed.
Though certain foods can definitely have a profound effect on your gut microbiome they are not the only thing your GI tract needs to be healthy and thrive.
Healing your gut and keeping it robust is more than just about eating the right foods. It’s about taking care of your nervous system, mindset, and body’s system too. Many of these strategies do not require expensive biohacking tools, and are often underrated for their powerful effects!
Here are some of my favorite ways to support optimal gut health without the use of food:
Belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing: Slow, deep breathing helps to turn on your parasympathetic nervous system which helps with digestion and absorption. When you are in a parasympathetic state, your body is able to rest, digest, heal and repair.1
Cold water immersion: Immersing your face in some cold water has been shown to help turn on your relaxation response.2
Sleep: Lack of sleep can throw off your hormones, and the stress hormone, cortisol, can rise. When your body frequently produces increased levels of cortisol, “leaky gut”, or gut permeability often results.
Vagus nerve stimulation: This is the main path of communication between the brain and gut. The vagus nerve helps regulate your digestion. Some easy ways to support your vagus nerve: gargle some water, hum, sing your heart out, and laugh.
Morning sunlight: Regularly getting morning sunlight helps balance circadian rhythms which helps to decrease stress levels and improve sleep.3
Prayer and meditation: Helps to decrease stress levels and encourage a positive mindset. Personally, this is my favorite. I feel so much comfort and hope from prayer and meditation on scripture.
Support your liver with a castor oil pack: The liver is one of the biggest supporters of your body – it’s responsible for over 500 functions! One of those supports is with our digestion, especially of fats. It helps to create bile, uses bile to remove toxins, and sends the bile to the gallbladder. When you eat fat, a signal is sent to the gallbladder to release bile into the GI tract, and then it gets removed through elimination.
Castor oil packs help to gently detoxify the liver, helping it to function more fully and support your body.
Move your body each day: Walking and gentle exercises, like yoga or pilates, can be super helpful for lowering stress levels. Getting your body moving is a great way to support digestion, decrease the time that food spends in your colon, and help with constipation.
Get outside: Spending time outdoors helps alleviate stress and promote overall health.4
Limit screen time: Excessive screen time is linked to sleep disruption and chronic stress.5
Daily elimination: Pooping 1 to 3 times daily is optimal. Pooping helps remove toxins, excess hormones, and other waste material.
Figuring out how to support your gut health can be overwhelming. If you would like someone to walk alongside you, help you find the root causes of your gut dysfunction, and create a personalized gut health protocol that will get you back on track, I’ve got your back! Set up a free discovery call to see if nutritional therapy is right for you.
References:
- Hamasaki H. (2020). Effects of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Health: A Narrative Review. Medicines (Basel, Switzerland), 7(10), 65.
- Jungmann, M., Vencatachellum, S., Van Ryckeghem, D., & Vögele, C. (2018). Effects of Cold Stimulation on Cardiac-Vagal Activation in Healthy Participants: Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR formative research, 2(2), e10257.
- Boubekri, M., Cheung, I. N., Reid, K. J., Wang, C. H., & Zee, P. C. (2014). Impact of windows and daylight exposure on overall health and sleep quality of office workers: a case-control pilot study. Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 10(6), 603–611.
- Kondo, M. C., Jacoby, S. F., & South, E. C. (2018). Does spending time outdoors reduce stress? A review of real-time stress response to outdoor environments. Health & place, 51, 136–150.
- Lissak G. (2018). Adverse physiological and psychological effects of screen time on children and adolescents: Literature review and case study. Environmental research, 164, 149–157.
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