Does Your Gut Need Some Loving?

If you're experiencing one or more of the following, it could be a sign your gut may need some loving:

• Reflux and/or indigestion

• Recurring bad breath

• Recurring bad taste in your mouth

• Recurring diarrhoea

• Recurring constipation or feeling your bowels aren't entering completely

• Intermittent bouts of diarrhoea and constipation

• Bloating

• Excessive wind

• Offensive odour to flatulence

• Pale, black, frothy or poorly formed stools

• Undigested food in stools

• Unpredictable bowel habits

• Gut pain

• Having travelled and experienced diarrhoea and haven’t felt the same since

• Your tummy makes noises and you can hear them, particularly at night

• Unexplained fatigue

• Feeling worse after eating

• Burping/belching a lot

• You feel like you are becoming sensitive to foods or more and more foods

• You feel stressed regularly

• You rarely feel hungry or feel full very quickly

• You feel ‘addicted’ to some foods

• You take medication regularly

• You have taken antibiotics many times

• You tend to experience low moods

• You have been diagnosed with depression (80% of serotonin is made in the gut)

• Your skin is congested, breaks out easily and unpredictably, or is red/inflammation

Sadly I'm seeing far too many of these signs on a regular basis with my clients. Our world simply isn't set up for healthy guts. We eat too many fake, processed foods rather than real, whole food. We barely get our 3 a day let alone our recommended 9 a day for healthy guts. We eat in a state of stress, meaning our digestive juices aren't flowing and our blood has been diverted away from our digestive systems to our arms and legs to run away from danger... so we're not going to optimally break down the foods we do ingest. And the list goes on.

Unfortunately, we aren't what we eat, but what we absorb, meaning you could be eating the best diet in the world, but if your gut isn't firing on all cylinders, you're not going to be extracting all the nutrients you need for healthy bodies, minds, hormones and eggs.

Here's 10 quick tips for optimising digestive health and getting your body back into alignment:

1. Make your food from scratch - the aromas help to stimulate your digestive juices so that they are ready to break food down as soon as you start eating

2. No water 30 minutes before, during or 30 minutes after eating as this dilutes our all important stomach acid, raising its pH and preventing it from doing its job optimally

3. Activate your parasympathetic nervous system ahead of eating - take 20 deep belly breathes to tell your body it is safe for your digestive system to do its job

4. Eat mindfully with no distractions - eat at the table not on the sofa in front of the TV

5. Chew each mouthful 20 times before swallowing

6. Eat 30g of fibre each day for healthy bowel movements - think plenty of fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and wholegrains

7. Avoid processed refined grains and foods rich in sugar as these feed the bad bugs in our guts, leading to an imbalance in good versus bad bacteria

8. Consume bone broth on an empty stomach* - a gut superfood which I'll explain more about in a future post

9. Eat probiotic rich foods such as unpasteurised sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kefir and kombucha*. These are full of the gut bacteria we need for healthy guts. Try to introduce 2-3 tablespoons each day

10. Plus plenty of prebiotic rich foods to feed the probiotic bacteria so they can thrive

Make sure you tag me on Instagram if you try any of these tips. I love hearing when they help people. Find me @lynda.stretton

Need some help getting your fertility back on track? Drop me an email to lynda@lshealth.co.uk with the subject 'Fertility' and I'll send you my free guide, '3 Steps to Fast-Track Your Fertility'.

Much Love

Lynda x

*Please note, if you suspect a histamine intolerance, avoid these foods.