5 minute read
Simplifying GUT HEALTH
By Lydia Fowler
Books on gut health - any guess as to how many are out there? Amazon alone shows roughly 1,000+ in print. Google can’t say for sure. PubMed currently has almost 55,000 medical research publications. The buzz on gut health (luckily) has been a HOT topic for several years now and doesn’t look to be slowing down. That makes this dietitian’s heart happy!
It’s about time these 39 trillion microorganisms in our guts get some attention and GLORY! That’s right, 39 trillion microorganisms make up our gut microbiome community. There are more of them than there are cells to make up your body by quite a bit. They say we are only 10% human. What a crazy thought.
These microorganisms play the leading role in digestion of course, but also affect nearly everything else in our bodies. To give you just a short list, our gut microbiome affects our body weight, immune system, mental health/ mood, skin, hormone health, and of course, digestion. I don’t know about you, but I would like very much to be kind to my gut microbiota. I would hate to see them upset!
You can read all kinds of approaches to gut health, listen to podcasts, and see it featured on the news but all the knowledge and therefore tips and to-do lists for improving your gut health can get overwhelming. I would be one of the first to say that we should all be experts in our own body’s building blocks and operations, but who has time to learn all of those details and put them all into practice?
TAKE ACTION ON THESE THREE THINGS:
Eliminate the ultra-processed products: This is what I call nonfood items and sugary options. This is in every bit of nutrition literature out there, so I doubt you need me to go into detail.
Eat a diversity of plants: This is my all-time favorite goal to set each day! How many plants can I get in today? I think my highest counted day was 27 plants talk about a healthy competition to have with your family or friends. You may remember that in some of my previous tips on nutrition, I talked about eating the rainbow. Same idea but now think even more diverse than the colors of the rainbow. Enjoy all the tastes and textures this earth has to offer. Diverse plant intake means a healthy, diverse microbiome. Happy gut, happy life!
Yoga poses and breathwork: Yoga helps bring back the balance from our stressed fight/flight/freeze side (sympathetic system) to the better side of rest/digest (parasympathetic system). A yoga practice can help provide mindfulness allowing you to make better food choices too!
The Thunderbolt pose encourages diaphragmatic breathing improving circulation and energizing our rest and digest system (parasympathetic nervous system).
Start in a kneeling position with legs and feet together then sit back on heels. Sit tall pressing your hands together in front of your chest or resting your hands on your thighs with palms up. Modifications place a rolled blanket behind the knees or under the ankles. Place a block in between your feet to allow you to sit higher. Hold as long as is comfortable working your way up to 30 seconds to a minute breathing deeply.
This pose promotes bowel movement by aiding small and large intestines.
Sit on the floor with both legs straight. Cross left knee over right leg, placing left foot on the floor. Hug left knee with right arm. Lift left arm up and begin to slowly rotate to the left placing left hand on the floor close to left hip gradually twisting to the left for 5 breaths. Repeat on the other side.
Wind Relieving Pose
Start lying down hugging knees into chest with toes pointed and tucking chin into chest if comfortable. Hold for 3-5 breaths then stretch out end to end. Repeat as many times as you need.
Lay flat with arms by your sides, palms up. Wiggle shoulders down the back away from your ears and relax your jaw and tongue. Give yourself permission to relax. Stay as long as you need to feel a little more like you.
Breathing also helps to relax the gut (a place where we hold a bonkers amount of stress) while flipping the switch from fight/flight/freeze to rest/digest. Give it a try! Get comfy and take 3 reset breaths. Breathe in through the nose as deep as you can feeling the bottom and back of your lungs open up then sigh out through the mouth emptying out those lungs. Begin to breathe deeply, building up to 4-7-8. Inhale to a 4 count pausing for a 7 count then having a slow, steady exhale for an 8 count.
LYDIA'S TOP 5 BOOKS ON GUT HEALTH
Fiber Fueled BY DR. WILL BULSIEWICZ
Gut BY GIULIA ENDERS
Eat Yourself Healthy BY DR. MEGAN ROSSI
10% Human BY ALANNA COLLEN
Gut Garden BY KATIE BROSNAN
Yoga and breathwork tips provided by the amazing, Robyn Collier. Robyn is the owner and yoga instructor at Lifted Up Yoga and Wellness here in Columbia, Tennessee. If you want a fun-loving, laid-back environment to get your bend and twist on, I urge you to try it out and be ready for some laughs! n
LYDIA FOWLER, MS, RD, LDN, CPT, is a Co-Founder, Registered Dietician, and Personal Trainer at Climb Performance Therapies in Columbia, Tennessee. Follow Climb on social media at @climb.ptnutrition or visit climbptnutrition.com for additional information about their practice.
