I am in a state of reset when it comes to all aspects of my health. Today I’ll share with you how to reset your gut health and understand the importance of it. I am seeing a doctor to work through my leaky gut diagnosis. I recommend you check with a doctor if you are having issues with bloating, gas, trouble losing weight, inflammation, and/or brain fog.
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I began a program with my doctor from Modern Health & Wellness back in 2019. I did very well with it, but over the past year my body is going through many changes. I just turned 49 this year and am in the phase of life where my body is starting to go through “the change”. With this, comes some challenges like weight gain, belly fat, forgetfulness, trouble sleeping, and mood swings.
I recently had my physical and blood work done, my A1C numbers were not where I’d like them to be, and my triglycerides were extremely high. I went back to Dr. Jen to reset my nutrition and gut health. My first visit with her this week was to set my expectations and determine what is best while I do the reset.
I have cheated a little bit with my nutrition. I ate some foods with gluten or ice cream from time to time. Unfortunately, gluten is my worst enemy. So I am going back to my elimination diet where I will completely avoid gluten, dairy and eggs.
When the gut isn’t healthy it affects many other areas of our body. When you experience changes in your body (menopause, lifestyle, stress, medication changes), your sensitive gut can get out of balance.
Intermittent Fasting
The first step Dr. Jen recommended that I take is to reset my hours with intermittent fasting. This is one of the easiest steps in the reset gut health process. With our busy schedule with softball and karate, we have been eating dinners after 8:00 each night. Jen said that is almost too late for me to have my last meal of the day. She said I should be fasting from 12-14 hours.
Even if we can’t all eat together at the same time, we can certainly sit at the same table at the same time and have our family time together. I can make my digestive tea or have some room temperature water and sit and sip it while everyone else is eating. It is also important to wait at least 90 minutes between meals. Again, letting your gut do what it needs to digest your foods.
Fasting is important because it is giving your gut, time to heal from all of the work it did during the day. Your body can adjust the hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible to burn off. Your insulin levels will drop, which makes stored body fat more accessible. Your cells also repair themselves during your period of rest from eating.
Digestive Tea
Another great aid to heal your gut is to brew digestive tea and drink it throughout the day. Your body prefers to have warm or room temperature foods and liquids so this tea is good to have with you throughout the day.
The recipe is very simple:
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- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1/2 cumin seeds
Boil 4 cups of water, let the tea steep for at least 5 minutes, and drink with every meal for about 2 weeks. The fennel seeds help with flatulence, bloating and indigestion. The coriander seeds also help with gas. It can help calm the intestinal spasms that can lead to diarrhea. Cumin works to promote your pancreatic enzymes and assist in the digestion process, actually speeding it up. Cumin also, helps increase the release of bile from the liver, which helps digest fats and certain nutrients in your gut. It also helps with gas.
As you may be able to see here, the tea is a great source of relief for restoring the health of your gut. It stokes metabolism, and revs up the detoxification process. It also restores tone and tightness to waterlogged tissues and helps reduce inflammation.
Additional Fiber
I was also given a recipe for a special fiber drink to have every night before bed. This will help regulate my bowel movements and help clear out my intestines.
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- 1 tsp psyllium husks
- 1 tsp ground flax seeds
Drink it quickly and chase down with water 1-2 hours before bed. If it is too hard on the intestines, reduce the recipe to 1/2 tsp until you can tolerate it.
Psyllium seed husks are great for adding bulk to your intestinal tract. This makes you feel fuller while eating less. It also helps manage glucose levels and high cholesterol. The ground flax seeds are a great source of Omega-3 fatty acids which help with lowering triglycerides.
Using the psyllium and ground flax seeds will be helpful for weight loss and intestinal issues because the fiber from these ingredients will add bulk to the intestinal tract and help flush out our system. Again, remember to start with a little and build up to what you can tolerate.
Prebiotics and Probiotics
I use a prebiotic every morning in a cup of hot water with some lemon juice. This sets the stage for my day by allowing the prebiotic (affil) to feed and nourish the good bacterial that naturally exists in your gut. When you add fiber to your gut, it’s fermented in the large intestine by the bacteria that live there. Like the fiber drink, start with a smaller serving size than suggested until you can tolerate it without needing to use the restroom frequently.
A probiotic, is a live microorganism that functions like good bacterial in the gut. You can take probiotic (affil) supplements, or you can eat foods that contain probiotics. The probiotics repopulate the good bacteria, which then overwhelms the bad bacterial. Foods that contain probiotics are: yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, sauerkraut, kombucha, pickled vegetables, kimchi, miso, and tempeh.
Elimination Diet
I already know what foods cause my intestinal inflammation from the food intolerance test that I took with Dr. Jen in 2019. In addition to gluten, dairy and eggs, I need to cut out sugar. I have a major sweet tooth. Drinking the tea listed above will also help eliminate cravings for sugar.
With my elimination diet, I am being very strict with reading the ingredients on food packaging and am not “cheating” and having an occasional piece of bread, or a cookie, or ice cream. I really shouldn’t. When I did, during the past six to eight months, I started to gain weight again. This is going to be key to my success of reducing the belly fat I am holding on to and will also help reduce my cravings for sugar.
When I eat more vegetables, and clean foods, reducing or eliminating any processed foods, I always feel so much better. I have more energy and I crave more vegetables and healthier foods.
How To Reset Your Gut Health
The key to staying true to any new plan is in the prep work. When you get your groceries at home, wash, cut and store everything ahead of time. Having your grab and go items already prepared is going to make it easier for you to make better, last minute decisions when they are in your fridge.
I’ll continue to share my journey with you, and I’m using positive affirmations to also help me be successful in this reset.
Please let me know if you have any questions about how to heal your gut!