Inside my Womens Wellbeing Association app I often talk about gut health with my members.
Gut health is a mammoth subject and even in my book I only skim the surface in the Calm and nourish your gut phase. However, the more we know the better we do and it will always be the small strategies repeated regularly that will have the biggest impact. When those are strategies that nourish your gut health then your mood, hormones, brain fog and overall health will improve.
In our gut there are trillions of bacteria that make up the gut microbiome, which:
🥑 Aid digestion
💩 Remove toxins
💪🏻 Keep the immune system strong
⚖️ Influence weight and mood
Many of our lifestyle choices impact our gut bacteria, unfortunately, all too often, destroying the good and making space for the bad bacteria to thrive, which causes inflammation.
This inflammation initially causes a cascade of symptoms which are often brushed off, normalised or labelled as hormonal (including skin problems, brain fog and fragmented sleep) but prolonged inflammation can have a much bigger impact. It can exacerbate arthritis and trigger a number of diseases.
Of course, there is no one thing that will improve your gut health overnight. Sleep, movement and stress management all play a part in improving your gut health and reducing inflammation but it is vital that feed the good gut bacteria.
Here are FOUR of my top tips:
🥄 Crowd out the bad bacteria feeders.
If you have a lot of sugar in your diet, then start by gradually reducing your serving size. You can reduce by 20% without even noticing a difference. I did this with sugar in my tea, it took time. The heaped teaspoon became a level one, which became ¾ and then ½. I actually ended up with the ¼ measuring spoon from the baking draw in my sugar basin for months and when that ended up being ¼ full (it was literally 6 grains) the job was done.
Alternatively adding in an extra serving of vegetables or a mostly savoury (green) juice each day will change your tastes and feed the good bacteria. It really is about eating a less acidic diet, more vegetables than fruit and getting your food from as close to source as possible.
➕ Add or increase magnesium to repair any damage to the gut lining.
There are hundreds of magnesium supplements available and this may be one of the minerals that you chose to supplement, but please do your research. Chose a quality one and the best form of this mineral for you. Magnesium Citrate is the most common magnesium formulation. It is easily absorbed and good for a sluggish bowel, making it ideal if you do suffer with constipation but less so if you have an already loose stool. If this is the case you should firstly monitor your fibre intake and secondly consider and research an alternative form, such as Magnesium Malate which is also well absorbed, but may have less of a laxative effect. In addition, it may also improve fatigue symptoms and muscular pain.
🍊 Include vitamins C, D and K daily.
I am personally not a huge fan of taking off the shelf multi-supplements ‘just because’ and always encourage sourcing vitamins and minerals in a natural form where possible. Of course, there are always individual circumstances and situations when additional vitamin supplementation may be required. I urge you though, when this is the case, to fully research and source a good quality natural product. Many of the ‘off the shelf’ brands contain more emulsifier than vitamin.
🍎 Take Apple Cider Vingear
I am personally a huge fan of this one! Apple Cider Vinegar is amazing for calming and resetting the gut, feeding the good bacteria and even for balancing your blood sugar. You can use ACV in dressings or add it to your cooking recipes or a smoothie but my personal favourite is to take it as a drink – it does take a bit of adjusting too.
If you opt for this with pure ACV then begin with diluting 10mls in to 100ml of water and build up to 20 – 25ml of AVC in 200/250ml of water and always chose apple cider vinegar WITH MOTHER (it looks like sediment in the bottom of the bottle and that is the good bacteria). You can add lemon or honey to make it more palatable. If you fancy delving deeper into this one then check out Willys ACV and if you use my (affiliate) code: VICWIL10 you’ll get a discount. The 60- day challenge is amazing for a complete gut reset.
