If you’re struggling with your gut health, I’m guessing you probably feel a little overwhelmed with all the different advice out there about how you can improve things. Whether it’s to eat more fermented food, sleep more, stress less and eat more fibre, maybe you just don’t know where to start.
Why is gut health important
You may have noticed that the talk of gut health is everywhere just now – it’s not a trend! Research has found that gut health is vital for both our physical and mental health. It can effect our entire body; our immune system, digestion, mood, brain, heart. It’s so important that we all take care of our gut to maintain overall good health.
The healthy bacteria in the gut supports our immune system (our gut houses about 70% of the cells that make up our immune system!), aids our digestive system which is responsible for breaking down our food into the nutrients that our body needs for optimal health and helping the body fight disease.
What are the signs of an unhealthy gut
When there is an imbalance of good VS bad bacteria in our GUT, it can lead to many health complaints. Such as bloating, constipation, acid reflux, chronic fatigue, skin irritations, brain fog and low mood. Long term health issues may include a weakened immune system, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Irritable bowel syndrome, depression and obesity.
What effects our gut health
There are many lifestyle factors that can effect our gut:
An unhealthy diet (eating too much highly processed foods)
Not eating enough fibre
Medications (like antibiotics)
Obesity
Alcohol
Smoking
Sleep deprivation
Chronic Stress
Environmental Toxins (personal hygiene products, plastics, cleaning products etc)
Lack of exercise
Why is gut health especially important for busy mum’s
When life is busy, it can sometimes feel impossible to find time to take care of our own health and wellbeing. The mental load and the ‘juggle’ we deal with as busy mum’s can leave us feeling so exhausted, our own wellbeing often gets forgotten. However, could Mum life become a little bit easier if we tried to improve our gut health? Could a healthy gut = more energy, less anxiety, less mood swings, better concentration, better bowel movements and much more?
4 tips to improve your gut health
I have listed below 4 small healthy lifestyle habit tips to start you off on your gut health journey. Nutrition, sleep, stress etc all plays a key role in maintaining gut health. It’s important that we consume lots fibre, minimise ultra processed food, eat the rainbow and consume fermented food. However, from my experience, when you are a busy mum, finding time to shower is difficult enough! So reading that you have to over hall you diet, cook everything from scratch, get to bed early, and minimise your stress levels all at once…. is just too overwhelming and not possible!
Lets focus on really small habit changes that over time bring you closer to your long term goal of better gut health.
- Stay hydrated – it sounds simple, but many of us are so busy making sure the kids have everything they need, that we forgot to drink. But drinking water is essential to maintain our bodily functions, including optimal gut health. Make it easy for yourself. Place a glass of water by your bed in the evening and drink it when you wake up. Or keep a reusable bottle with you throughout the day – this will be a reminder to drink.
- Add an extra portion of veg to each meal – think colour – the more colourful plants you eat the more nutrients you will be consuming. A fibre rich diet helps promote healthy gut function
- Make a plan for the week – find a slot for me-time. Thinking about our lifestyle habits is as important as the food we eat, when it comes to gut health. Chronic stress has been shown to negatively impact our gut health. We can’t change the demands of motherhood but we can find other ways to manage stress. Time can be really limited when you are a busy mum, so start small. Maybe start with 10 minutes of calm before the kids wake up, carve out 15 minutes in the day where you can exercise, or switch off your phone an hour before bed and read a book! Start saying no to activities that you don’t enjoy doing or feel pressure to do. Instead use that time to do something for you.
- Start thinking about simple healthy food swaps – is there one item of highly processed food or drink that you currently consume that you know is effecting your gut? Can it be easily swapped? Could it be swapping fizzy drinks for water or swapping your normal processed snack for a piece of fruit? Check out my food swap guide below.
Making small changes over a period of time can have a big impact on your health.
Be kind to yourself. Health is not a race, it takes time to change your habits. Most importantly, celebrate the small wins! Why not try out one of my tips above, or think of another small habit change, that will take you one step closer to a healthy gut.
If you are looking to improve your gut health, and would like personalised advice, please book a free discovery call here or check out my coaching packages.
Kerry x