8 TIPS FOR OPTIMAL GUT HEALTH

Hello friend ♥

Today, I am super excited to share with you 8 of my personal favourite gut health tips, to help empower and elevate your on you gut health journey.

Once we set our intention towards it, caring for our gut health quickly becomes a natural, effortless part of our life, a beautiful act of self love.

It is my wish that this blog post will bring new inspiration to your gut health journey, and that these tips will elevate your life just like they did mine! 

1. START YOUR DAY RIGHT

Starting your day in a clean and invigorating way is key if you wish to have a clean and invigorating day.

I highly recommend to have a ritual to wake up your digestive system in a loving way every morning. My personal favourite way to start each day is simply with a big glass of water, hydrating, cleansing  and awakening my digestive system  (gut health tip : best to drink lukewarm water for optimal benefits).  If you prefer something a little more tasty, a squeeze of lemon juice and a touch of honey make for healthy additions. On the days when you need a little extra boost, some green tea and/or fresh ginger can also be added to the mix.

2. NOURISH YOURSELF IN A BALANCED, WHOLESOME WAY

Gut health starts on the plate. If you want to optimise the health of your digestive system, it is important that you feed your body in a beautiful, balanced way.
Make sure to treat yourself to lots of fresh, clean, wholesome, nutrient rich foods. Stick to natural / unprocessed foods as much as you can and make sure to include lots of plant fibres.

3. CREATE HAPPY EATING RITUALS

It’s not just what you eat, but also how you eat which impacts your gut health 🌞

Whenever possible, aim to:

• Create a grounded, relaxed time / space for eating
• Become  fully present with the process of eating. Take away distractions. Feel Gratitude for the nourishment.  Pay attention to and appreciate the flavours, the smells. You can think of it a little bit like ’making love’ to your food 😉
• Chew your food thoroughly, it makes your digestion process a lot easier.
• For about 30 minutes after eating, don’t be too active so you can preserve your energy for digestion.

4. BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR GUT

Your gut has been working with you, and for you, since your very first day, and will continue to until your very last.

When contemplating on that, it seems to make good sense that we should create a beautiful, loving relationship with our gut.

Since my passion with gut health sparked, I have created a special connection with my gut. This has had not only a highly beneficial impact on my gut health, but also on my overall quality of life.

Some examples of what you can do to create a relationship with your gut:

• Think of your gut as a good friend, an ally, continuously working to digest your food and provide you with energy and nutrients to live. Without your gut, you simply would not exist. When becoming aware of that, and taking a moment to feel gratitude towards our gut and all it does for us, an instant connection is born.
• Become aware of what your gut and enjoys, and not. Out of love and respect towards your gut, your ally, make a pact with it that, in order to help it do its work as best as possible, you will do your part in feeding it what it loves best. And you will avoid the stuff that gives it a hard time.
• Treat yourself to occasional cleanses to give your gut a chance to relax and restore. I personally love doing intermittent fasting a few days of the week and occasional juice cleanses.

5. STAY HYDRATED

Staying hydrated is a simple way to promote a healthy gut.

Water has the ability to move nutrients around the body, flush out bad toxins and ease waste removal. It also beneficial effect on the mucosal lining of the intestines, as well as on the balance of good bacteria in the gut.
Having a healthy and hydrated gut promotes healthy skin, immune system, sleeping habits, good mood, brain function, energy levels and may even help boost metabolism to aid weight loss.

Extra Tip : Tap water is often full of chlorine and other chemicals which are harmful to your gut flora, so if you drink tap water, make surer to invest in a good filter.  if you have access to spring water where you live, even better 

6. MOVE YOUR BODY

A little bit of movement everyday helps your gut function optimally.

Not a big fan of exercise? Don’t worry, gentle exercise does the trick. Whether it is going for a nature walk, a cold water swim, doing yoga, pilates, surfing, cycling or any form of exercise – the movement is helping your gut do its work.

7. MAKE TIME FOR RELAXATION

When you are stressed, you are in the fight-or-flight state and in this state, there is not enough blood flow or energy flowing to the digestive system. Continuous therefore stress takes a toll on the gut.

Most of us unfortunately cannot avoid stress completely, but what we can do, is include every day habits/rituals to relax and help lower our stress levels.

Some ways of my favourite rituals to lower stress include ensuring quality sleep, spending time in nature,  swimming in the ocean, meditation,  lighting incense, listening to my favourite playlist, decreasing my caffeine intake, or doing yoga.

8. GET YOUR DAILY DOSE OF PROBIOTICS

The Gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microorganisms — both friendly and unfriendly. Probiotics are the friendly kind of  microorganisms that naturally live in our bodies and help our guts function optimally.

Maintaining the right balance of friendly bacteria in our gut is known to improve digestion and nutrient absorption, boost metabolism and immunity and  improve brain function and mood.
When it comes to probiotics, diversity is key. Probiotics can be found in  supplements as well as in fermented foods as well. You guessed it – that’s where we come in ! 



Enjoying a glass of our kombucha or water kefir as part of your daily routine is a delicious, easy way to get your fix of  probiotics ♥

Thank you for taking the time to invest in yourself by reading through these tips. Remember that caring for ourselves is caring for the world.

CHEERS to you and your gut health journey!

With ❤️

Manon, Mama to Happy Culture