5 gut health habits

27th Jun 2024

If you’re dealing with stomach pain, indigestion, bloating, or reflux, these tips can complement your doctor’s recommendations to support digestion, lower inflammation and strengthen your gut barrier.

1. Early dinners

Leave a 3-hour gap between your last meal and bedtime to prevent reflux and improve digestion. Late-night eating and irregular meal times disrupt our circadian rhythms, which may impact gut functions and microbes.

3 tips:

• Create a routine with a consistent dinner time and a soothing herbal tea to ‘close’ your eating window.
• Prep meals ahead of time or cook early using simple, quick recipes.
• Choose lighter lunches and steer clear of heavy snacks in the afternoon.

2. Don’t eat on-the-go

Research shows that eating slowly (15 minutes or more per meal) can ease symptoms like hiccups and acid reflux, and lower the risk of developing gastritis.

How? It can help lower stress levels, prepare your body for digestion and improve chewing, which helps reduce stomach exposure to gastric acid and protect the stomach lining.

3 tips:

• Make time for meals in a quiet spot without distractions. Take a moment to slow down and enjoy the flavours and textures.
• Take deep breaths before eating to lower stress levels and prepare your stomach for digestion.
• Chew thoroughly and take smaller bites to reduce the burden on your stomach

3. Reduce irritants

Some foods and medications can negatively affect the intestinal barrier, gut microbes and increase stomach acid, such as:

• Alcohol, which directly damages the stomach lining.
• Ultra-processed foods high in added sugar, salt and food additives, like sausages, bacon, ham, instant noodles, flavoured yoghurts, sugary drinks, crisps, mass-produced bread, instant soups, some breakfast cereals and ready meals.
• Ibuprofen and aspirin in excess can damage the stomach lining by reducing the secretion of protective mucus.

We’re not saying never: The goal is to build a ‘resilient’ gut that can maintain its state and recover from perturbations. But if you’re eating these foods in excess every day or experiencing GI symptoms like reflux or bloating, reducing them could make a positive difference in how you feel.

3 swaps:

• Diversify your protein with tempeh, tofu, beans, lentils, eggs or lean meat, instead of processed meats like ham, bacon, or sausages.
• Replace alcohol with kombucha, non-alcoholic spirits, fruit and herb-infused water or homemade iced herbal teas.
• Go for homemade snacks like hummus and veggie sticks, berry and chia pudding, spiced nuts, crispy chickpeas or fresh fruits.

4. Eat more probiotics, flavonoids and fibre

• Fermented foods like quality yoghurt, kefir and sauerkraut contain ‘probiotics’ that promote a more diverse gut microbiome and help with gut problems such as abdominal pain, bloating and lactose intolerance.
• 30g of fibre a day from vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and whole grains helps support gut microbes, protect the stomach lining and lower inflammation.
• Flavonoid-rich foods like apples, berries and leafy greens show ‘gastroprotective’ effects in lab studies by increasing the secretion of protective factors like gastric mucus and anti-inflammatory factors.

5. Daily gut care practices

• Deep breathing or diaphragmatic breathing to lower stress and muscle tension. Research shows that breathing practices improve symptoms in patients with reflux.
• Stomach massages in the morning or before eating to improve blood circulation. Trials show benefits for the treatment of constipation and reflux.
• Post-meal walks to ease bloating and help food move through your digestive system.
• Avoid tight clothing to prevent excessive pressure on your gut, especially after meals.

Sources

Early dinner: Newberry et al. J Thorac Dis. 2019 | Voigt et al. Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019

Eating speed: Kim et al. Korean J Fam Med. 2015 |Li et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020

Irritants: Pan et al. Alcohol and Alcoholism. 2019 | Sreeja et al. Nutrients. 2022

Other habits: dos Santos et al. International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. 2022 | Qiu et al. Ann Palliat Med. 2020 ** ** | Hosseini-Asl et al. Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. 2021