Natural remedies to take extra care of your gut health is so worth it. Taking care of yourself *sounds* good, and we all want to believe we are taking care of our bodies, but there is SO MUCH information out there that just leaves us feeling overwhelmed….
Aldrin and I have been on a health journey since we have been married (over 7 years now!). When we first started dating I couldn’t believe how much sugar was in the things he ate, and he had no clue!
Added sugar was something I was becoming more and more aware of, but in terms of anything else health wise (apart from knowing lots of fruits and veggies are good) I was still very clueless and confused!
So we decided to teach ourselves. After moving to the US in 2016 we knew that we had to educate ourselves on what we felt was the right way for *us* to eat. (Did you know that in Australia high fructose corn syrup is illegal!? Just one reason why we felt we needed to educate ourselves more when we moved to the US.)
(I don’t believe in telling everyone to eat a certain way, so this is not one of those posts, because sometimes it’s a very personal journey that God needs to take you on and your conscience needs to feel right, I’m just here to show you what we did and what is working wonders for us!)
I believe God has told us to look after our body, I don’t believe His desire is for us to go crazy and start to become fearful about what we eat (fear is never from God) but we do need to be responsible.
I also believe ignorance is no longer an excuse because the world we live in unfortunately is ok with lying to us about what is healthy. We need to do the research ourselves and take responsibility for our own health, so here is some advice and helpful tips that I have put together over the years of experimenting, researching and discovering natural remedies to take extra care of your gut health. These are so easy to implement and you will just *feel* the goodness you are giving your body!
***This post may contain affiliate links, but only to products I genuinely love. It won’t cost you anything extra. You can read the full disclosure here.***
FACTS ABOUT OUR GUT AND IMMUNE SYSTEM
Firstly, let me begin by mentioning why I have decided to focus on gut health in this post.
These days we try to be healthier and lose weight by going on restrictive diets. Of course you will lose some weight on these diets, but there have been sooo many studies on the gut microbiome which has made it very clear that these diets are doing more harm than good.
The Food and Mood Centre in Australia defines gut microbiome as; “being made up of trillions of microorganisms and their genetic material that live in your intestinal tract. These microorganisms, mainly comprising bacteria, are involved in functions critical to your health and wellbeing.”
(Most of this info is from a book I read called ‘Fiber Fueled’ from all my research I have found that Dr. B is the BEST at giving science backed, easy to understand information all about our gut!)
So gut health really is the key to balancing our hormones, boosting our metabolism, supporting our immune system and taming inflammation – which leads to so many diseases!
The BEST way to fuel our gut is by adding to our diet an abundant array of coulourful plants!!
Do you want to transform and maintain your long term health, lose weight, hardly ever get sick, have smooth skin, increase brain function and even prevent cancer?! If the answer is yes read on 🙂
Dr. Rob Knight created the American gut project in 2012, the largest and most diverse study on microbiomes in the industrialised world. He is believed to be the highest quality source, and he believes that “The single greatest predictor of a healthy gut microbiome is the diversity of one’s plants in one’s diet.”
That means that it isn’t just becoming vegan or vegetarian, it’s about the VARIETY of plants that you need in your diet!!
I could give you more reasons why adding more plants into your diet is important for your gut health, but if you’re a practical girl like me we like to just know what to *do* (but I have to admit I read this book and it blew my mind and gave me *every* motivation and science backed research I will ever need).
MY LIST OF NATURAL REMEDIES TO TAKE EXTRA CARE OF YOUR GUT HEALTH
1. You guessed it! EAT MORE PLANTS!
It really is that simple, and we could just end this post there. However, let’s dive a little deeper because there is SO much we could cover here!
Here the goal is to ADD plants to your diet. If you think about adding, rather than restricting anything, it will naturally eliminate other foods because you just won’t have room for them. I would say to strive for 90 percent. Don’t feel burdened or overwhelmed because you might be surprised how many plants you already eat! PLUS when we talk about plants we aren’t just walking about salads only.
A plant based diet includes whole grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts. In everyday meals this could look like; soups, salads, smoothies, sandwiches (this sandwich press changed everything for Aldrin, it made him crave plant based sandwiches!) stews, noodles, tacos, pita wraps, delicious curries, rice bowls etc.
Progress is what’s important not perfection!
I am not suggesting for you to change your entire diet, and eliminate everything that isn’t a plant. However, in America Dr. B tells us that we get around 5-11% of our daily fiber from the normal American diet. This is absolutely rubbish and is contributing to not only physical illnesses but mental and emotional ones too!
If you could take just one thing away from this post, I would be to add a variety of more plants (which includes; nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits and vegetables) to the diet you are already eating and see how you feel after just a few weeks.
If you are feeling a strong conviction that now is the time to do a complete overhaul on your health, and learn the science behind eating for your gut and immune health, Dr. B’s book ‘Fiber Fueled’ is the best. It will teach you everything you need to know plus it gives you recipes to get you started on the right track.
2. Exercise
This may seem like a no brainer but let me give you a tip, one that changed everything for me. Don’t make the gym your only form of exercise. MAKE IT A LIFESTYLE. This is wayyyy easier to keep up, you don’t need as much motivation or discipline. It just becomes part of your life!
Benefits of Exercise:
-Helps weight loss
-Improves Heart health
-Boosts immunity
-Increases overall mood
-Helps prevent diseases
-Aids sleep
Some examples of how I incorporate exercise into my lifestyle is:
-I go for a walk first thing in the morning, I take my head phones and listen to a podcast, I have 2 dogs so this helps motivate me to do it but honestly if you do this everyday it will become a habit.
-When I want to meet up with a friend for a coffee, we order a coffee take away and go for a scenic walk together, it’s amazing how much more we have to talk about when we’re moving (I don’t know why but it’s true haha)
-I park further away from work, or the shops so you have to walk further. To be honest Aldrin has always done this and it used to annoy me but I realised we are sooo spoilt when it comes to things like this. We complain if the only parking spot is far away, so I told myself to get over it and on purpose we always park far away. Extra steps added up makes a huge difference!
-ALWAYS take the stairs. My friends at work know now that if I am going up stairs and they want to come with me that we do not use the lift. Stairs get the blood pumping like nothing else.
– On my lunch break I choose a friend and we go for a walk around our building a few times. If you’re sitting at a desk all day this is really good for you! If you don’t have a friend at work to do this with, I suggest bringing your phone and sending a voice-message to some friends. I do this and I love feeling connected to someone else while I’m on a little power walk.
-If you don’t have something to count your steps, consider this the encouragement that you need! If you don’t like to work out at the gym, or at home, then make sure you get your steps in for the day! Having something to count your steps is really motivating!
3. Hydrate
It’s crazy that when we wake up in the morning we are incredibly dehydrated. Usually the first thing we do is drink coffee which dehydrates us further. I suggest drinking at least 2 glasses of water BEFORE drinking your coffee. You won’t feel like it, but trust me your coffee will feel slightly more rewarding.
You can read this post I wrote about my favourite healthy morning drinks!
Benefits of staying hydrated:
-Boosts energy levels
-Flushes out toxins
-Stabilises weight
-Improves Digestion
-Boosts your Immune system
-Keeps your organs healthy
-Improves skin health
4. Sleep
Ah Sleep! Sleep is just so good for you! We need to be getting enough sleep, our gut KNOWS if we haven’t had enough and it does so much damage. For me I aim to get 8 and a half hours, so in case I have some difficulty falling asleep, I have a half an hour window to spare.
I am very passionate about the importance of sleep and you can read this post I wrote, which is 100% dedicated to sleep.
5. Minimize Stress
Stress is a response to a situation or circumstance that we perceive as overwhelming. We all have felt stress at some point, but stress is related to fear, and a sense of losing control. God tells us not to fear in 365 different ways in the bible, one for everyday of the year! He tells us that so many times because He knew we would need to hear it more than once. Therefore we know that minimising fear and stress is important.
Many times we can not eradicate the circumstances that are bringing us stress, but we can change how we RESPOND to the stress.
Ways we can respond well to stress:
-Journal. Journaling is a great way to write out what you’re feeling and to discover why (read this post, to learn more about the benefits of journaling).
-Meditating. This is a great way to calm your soul and spirit and to connect with Jesus by slowing down, emptying your mind of worry and filling it with God’s presence.
-Declarations. These are a fantastic way to shift your thought patterns and create different paths in your brain that bring you peace and hope.
6. Fasting
Wow I have been learning a lot about fasting lately and I have been really surprised at how good for us this ancient wellness technique actually is. We really do spoil our body. If you want to find out how spoilt it is and how much control comfort has over you try fasting (seriouslyyyy)
Benefits of fasting:
-Resets our gut microbiome
-Kills anything that is growing in our body that shouldn’t be
-Gives our organs a rest
I listened to this podcast (it’s not the best quality but it is the best teaching I’ve ever heard on fasting) where Dan Mohler teaches on how to fast, why we should fast and the benefits of fasting from a biblical perspective. It really helped me understand why fasting is something we should consider adding to our lifestyle.
7. Cold plunge
OK I hate this one lol, I wasn’t even going to mention it because why mention something I hate? BUT something I have been trying to challenge myself with is doing things that feel uncomfortable. Why? So that I can teach my body that it is not in charge. I have the responsibility to look after my body even if it feels uncomfortable. I saw a reel by Gary Brecka and it blew my mind!
Essentially what he explained was; cold shock proteins are reserved proteins that are in your liver, dumped into your blood stream in an effort to save your life when you are in cold water, they scour your body of free radical oxidation they increase the rate of protein synthesis (muscle repair), forces all the oxygen into the core and up to the brain.
Therefore, if a calorie is a measure of heat, then when heat is leaving your body, calories are leaving your body. There is no amount of exercise that comes close to immersing yourself into cold water in terms of what will strip fat off your body. He suggests a cold plunge 3-6 minutes daily!
Benefits of a cold shower:
-Accelerates metabolism
-Improves immunity and blood circulation
-Speeds up muscle soreness and recovery after a workout
-Improves overall mood
-Burns calories fast
9. Here are some links to some of my favourite products for gut health:
- –Fiber fueled book
- –Enrich – Digestive Enzyme
- –Vitamin C (without any additives or fillers)
- –Elderberry Immune support
- –Ginger
- –Turmeric
- –Probiotics
- –Garlic
- –Gut Health Tea
That’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed ‘natural remedies to take extra care of your gut health’ and that it was helpful. It can be so confusing to know how to educate ourselves well when it comes to health. However, I also don’t believe you need a Phd in order to treat our bodies well. You have the power to make little steps in the right direction and I am here to try and help you do just that 🙂
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