Digestive Health Tips
When I get stressed one of my ingrained responses is to eat more.
Mostly sweet things.
This last week I was traveling, and working, and feeling a bit ungrounded and I turned to food for comfort.
Food is grounding. But too much food, as well as too much of the wrong kinds of food, can lead to all sorts of health complaints.
For women, and for myself, I see a direct correlation between eating too much and hormonal imbalances. When our digestive system is working extra hard to process all of the extra things we are putting in it, it no longer has the time to properly eliminate our excess hormones.
This leads to all sorts of symptoms in the body. The main one I see in myself is hormonal acne.
So what do you do when you have been living to eat rather than eating to live?
🌟Doing a 1-3 day reset on your diet can be a good place to start. When you have been hitting the snacks and sweets in an overindulgent way it can be difficult to simply cut back and moderate. I’ve found that doing a short fast can help eliminate those initial cravings by giving your body a break. Fasting is definitely not for everyone-my suggestion is to start with green vegetable juices and vegetable broth and if you find yourself getting irritable or overly weak to switch immediately to a simple mono diet of whole grains, legumes, and steamed vegetables. Keep it as simple as possible.
🌟Get your digestion going again by incorporating psyllium husk and ground flax seeds into your diet. I like to mix a tablespoon of flax, and a teaspoon or two of psyllium into some warm oat milk and drink it just before bed. These are bulking herbs that promote healthy bowel movements 💩 This helps move excess hormones out of the body. I especially like to incorporate these when I am fasting to ensure that everything my body is letting go of actually gets eliminated.
🌟 Incorporate some bitter herbal teas or tinctures into your routine. Dandelion or Oregon Grape are excellent for stimulating bile production and getting things flowing again.
🌟Give your lymphatic system a helping hand by doing a full body oil massage followed by a steamy shower. Sunflower oil is a good choice for most people. Apply it in long strokes moving up your limbs towards your heart. Oil is very nourishing for the nervous system as is massage-this is a delicious way to promote calm and when we are calm we digest and eliminate much more easily.
🌟Lastly, after your reset, work towards healthier portion control. Your stomach is about the size of one closed fist 🤜 That is about the amount of food you want to be placing into your body 3 times per day.
Every body is different, and that is why it so important to practice listening deeply to what 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 body is communicating to you. True nourishment is about giving your body what it needs to thrive-not punishing yourself for “bad behavior”. Go gently with yourself, tenderness is potent medicine 🌺
