Simple Steps to Improve Your Gut Health

Are you suffering from digestive symptoms such as gas, bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, or heartburn?  You are not alone!  Whether it’s the occasional stomach bloat or more chronic gut health issues, there are many possible solutions and ways to manage it all.  As a functional gut health dietitian, I am going to share some simple steps to improve your gut health.

What’s the Problem with our gut health?

With today’s fast paced society and elevated levels of chronic stress, it’s no wonder our bodies are constantly in a state of high alert.  Many of us are mindlessly eating while standing up, distracted, or rushed.  We may not be chewing our food thoroughly enough either which, as minor as it may seem, plays a role in how your body handles food and can interfere with digestion and absorption. All these seemingly little factors can snowball into bigger digestive health issues in the long run.

Not to worry because I’m going to be offering solutions to help you get back on track with your GI tract.

Tips to help improve your gut health

Here are some tips to get you on the path to healthy digestion:

1. Get rid of distractions.

Set up your eating environment to eliminate distractions. The focus should be on your food. Distractions and stress both disturb and disrupt natural digestion and the coordination of digestive processes. Focusing on your food, i.e. the smell of food, the sight of food, the taste of food, the texture and mouthfeel of food, etc. are all part of the digestive experience.

2. Sit down to eat.

Avoid eating standing up, moving or yelling. For those with kids, you know what I mean haha! The goal when eating is to send blood flow to the digestive organs, not the arms and legs. Experiencing stress while eating can decrease blood flow to the GI tract, increase the transit time of food/nutrients moving through the GI tract, and reduce nutrient absorption. All of this can induce inflammatory responses in the body, increase the risks of intestinal permeability, and may trigger many more detrimental physiological responses that reduce digestive functions.

3. Take a pause.

Slow down and take some deep breaths before eating for a minimum of 30 seconds. Meditation and diaphragmatic breathing modulate the stress response.  Deep breathing turns off our fight-or-flight response, supporting a rest-and-digest state. It is important to give your body cues that it is safe to digest your food.  Thirty seconds may not be enough for everyone, but it can be very helpful to start with the breath and slow breathing down.

4. Chew your food slowly and thoroughly.

Believe it or not, digestion all begins in the mouth! Thoroughly chewing food aids breaking down food into absorbable components through the actual act of chewing and the help of enzymes. The enzymes in your saliva begin starch (carbohydrate) and fat digestion. This sends signals to your brain and stomach that food is coming and prepares your organs for digestion. In other words, the more you can chew your food, the better.

5. Ditch the straws.

Sipping drinks through straws can introduce too much air into your stomach, causing uncomfortable bloating, belching, abdominal pain and possibly heartburn. In addition, carbonated beverages are okay on occasion, but consuming too many can also lead to discomfort.

6. Avoid grazing all day and allow your MMC to kick in.

When we pick at food all day, we’re not giving our digestive system a rest. Our GI tract works in waves, through something called the Migrating Motor Complex (MMC).  The MMC is a sequence of muscle contractions throughout the digestive system that acts as a 'cleaning wave' to help keep contents moving along.

These cleaning waves occur after ~ 90 minutes of fasting. The MMC moves bacteria down into the large intestine during fasting at night and between meals, clearing them from the small intestine on a daily basis.

The majority of the cleaning waves happen at night while we are asleep, and for many people this will be enough to help maintain a healthy, balanced environment in the digestive tract. For others, it may be beneficial to space out food intake during waking hours to allow for a couple cleaning waves to occur between meals.

7. Fast for 12 hours.

Give your gut a rest by taking 12 hours off from eating per day to allow for digestive system healing and repairing (read the previous point for the reason why). A general guideline would be to avoid eating 2-3 hours before bed, but this can be individualized to your needs.

Giving your gut a rest (ie. for 12 hours or more) can enable many restorative processes, such as autophagy. Autophagy is “A catabolic process of nutrient recycling that is essential for defence against oxidative stress”. Oxidative stress is strongly linked to inflammation and inflammatory responses in the body. In other words, gut rest can help induce autophagy, defend against oxidative stress and help reduce oxidative stress-induced inflammation in the body.

Research in this area is still emerging. What’s interesting is that some evidence suggests that during fasting, certain types of gut bacteria replicate and feed off carbohydrates in the gut lining. This makes the gut barrier healthier and more robust. One explanation for this could be that gut microbes follow a circadian rhythm like we do. Microbe communities, like us, may also need to rest and recuperate as part of a daily circadian rhythm. How cool is that? It will be interesting to see how this research unfolds over the years.

8. Exercise regularly.

Any movement counts; you don’t have to sweat it out in an intense workout. A brisk walk, gentle yoga or stretching help to keep things moving along the digestive tract. Moderate exercise reduces inflammation and leads to positive effects on gut microbial diversity and composition and has many metabolic contributions to human health.  Not to mention it can also be a stress buster for many people!

Regular exercise can have a large impact on gastric motility and keeping bowel movements regular. In fact, inactivity or a sedentary lifestyle is a major contributing factor to experiencing constipation.

9. Get adequate sleep.

Easier said than done, right? It’s critical to prioritize getting enough restorative sleep. Several scientific studies have determined a strong association between sleep disturbances, a lack of sleep and gastrointestinal issues and diseases.

Why is this? When we chronically don’t sleep well, our body produces pro-inflammatory substances called cytokines (ie. tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). These types of inflammatory cytokines are prevalent in individuals with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), liver disorders, and colorectal cancer.

In addition sleep disturbances can impact our digestive hormones and our metabolism, as both are connected to our natural circadian rhythms. Hormones like melatonin, cortisol, growth hormone, leptin and ghrelin, are all regulated by sleep and circadian rhythms. Therefore, chronic sleep disturbances can negatively impact the regulation and release of these important digestive hormones. Ever wonder why we get so hungry and crave certain foods when we are overtired? The regulation of these hormones and their impact on metabolism is to blame.

10. Focus on posture.

Sometimes postural issues on the toilet can lead to incomplete evacuation. Sitting on a standard flush toilet is the preferred method for elimination in North America. Turns out that squatting (ie. sitting on a toilet with a squatty potty or footstool used to elevate our legs and feet) can reduce strain to create an easier pathway for elimination. Of course, there are many other factors that contribute to ease of fecal elimination, such as hydration, exercise, diet and fibre intake, stress and relaxation, as well as medications that can promote constipation.

The Bottom Line

If you suffer from uncomfortable digestive symptoms occasionally or even daily, there are many possible solutions, some of which we discussed here.  Implementing some simple strategies can help to alleviate these symptoms as a first step. However, sometimes we do need to take a deeper look into what is causing your gut symptoms. 

I’d love to hear if you found anything particularly helpful or have further questions.  If you need more help implementing these tips or would like further investigations and dietary strategies, I’m here to help! 

References

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6. Could leaving 12 hours between dinner and Breakfast Benefit Health? (2021). Retrieved January 02, 2023, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/fasting 

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10. The State of Queensland. Queensland Health. (2017). Are you pooing properly? Retrieved January 02, 2023, from https://www.health.qld.gov.au/news-events/news/how-to-poo-properly-sit-squat-healthy 

Shelley amato

Hi, I am Shelley! I am a Registered Dietitian and Integrative and Functional Nutrition Certified Practitioner specializing in gut health, weight loss, and lifestyle medicine to prevent and manage chronic disease.