I’ve been on the hard side. The side where health is a real struggle.
Before I became a nutritionist:
- I suffered from clinical depression
- Was diagnosed with mono
- Had super low self-esteem
- Struggled with binge-eating disorder
- Fought with severe cravings
- Was overweight
So I know what it’s like to be in the trenches with your health. And I know what it takes to heal and get to the other side.
If you’re feeling like you’re in the trenches right now, I know how overwhelming healing can feel.
But I don’t want you to be so overwhelmed by the process that you don’t even get started. I’ve been there, but the end result is worth the scary choice of saying YES to YOU.
So I want to help you simplify getting started by narrowing your first step down to digestion.
If “all disease begins in the gut”, as Hippocrates said, then digestion seems like a good place to start.
Here are a few ways to get started:
Eat the Rainbow
Vitamins and minerals are important for healthy digestion. For instance, magnesium is a mineral found in avocado, banana, and leafy greens. It’s absorbed in the gut and can help with proper elimination – preventing constipation.
Eating a variety of colours of produce ensures you’re getting enough different nutrients.
Aim for 10-15 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Try to get in some white, green, orange, red, purple, and yellow.
Drink Away from Your Meals
Healthy digestion requires enough stomach acid to be able to breakdown your food. Drinking water with your meals, can affect that process. This makes it harder for you to digest your food and can lead to symptoms of indigestion.
Drinking water is still important for digestion, though, just drink it away from your meals.
Aim to stop drinking water within 20 minutes of your meal. And wait 20 minutes after your meal before drinking, also.
Don’t Peel the Skins
You might peel the skins of your fruits or vegetables out of habit or because you don’t like them. But most of the fibre and flavour is in the skin, right under the surface.
According to a study published by American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, only about 5% of the population get enough fibre. Eating the skin is a great opportunity to increase your intake.
Buy organic produce when possible, and simply give it a light wash to remove the dirt.
Relax While You Eat
You’ve heard of fight-or-flight before, which is your sympathetic nervous system at work. And you may have heard of rest-and-digest, which is your parasympathetic nervous system. This system is critical to proper digestion.
To be able to breakdown, digest, and absorb nutrients you need to be relaxed while you eat.
Aim to sit down at the table, chat with the family, and chew your food during each meal. Relax, enjoy your food, and give your digestion a head start.
Increase Your Fibre
As mentioned before, you’re probably not getting enough fibre. Yet, it’s so important for a healthy digestion. Fibre helps with elimination and helps provide prebiotics to feed your gut bacteria.
Increasing your quantity of fruits and vegetables is the best way to increase your fibre. But I’ll warn you, don’t increase too quickly or you’ll get indigestion.
Aim to add one extra serving of fruit or vegetable every two to three days until you’ve reached the recommended 10-15 servings daily.
So if you’re suffering from any symptoms, try improving digestion first. Symptoms like anxiety, food sensitivities, constipation, acne, or moodiness, for example.
You might be surprised at how much better you start feeling!
And if you do, then it’s a good sign you should dive deeper into healing your gut too. Here are a few free resources to help you out:
- Download a free copy of my Starter Guide to Healing Your Gut
- Get started with The Healthy Gut Protocol and 21-day challenge
- Book a nutrition consultation with me for more personalized support