How to get your gut in check
I get this question all the time “How do I just get rid of this stomach?”
Well, it's not about doing hundreds of crunches or other core exercises. It's not about eating less food and drinking meal replacement shakes. It's not about having a low carb diet. And it's not about wearing waist trainers or sitting in the sauna.
Our belly is an external reflection of what’s going on internally. What you eat can contribute to the outward appearance of your stomach. People have been using the term “gut” for years to describe a protruding or flabby stomach. But that's not really what a gut is. The gut is an internal system that helps your body digest, absorb nutrients, produce energy, assist the immune system and interact with other systems in the body to make sure you’re a healthy, properly functioning human being. It's our job to give our body what it needs to build a healthy environment for our gut to thrive!
When we talk about having a healthy gut, one thing to focus on is the gut microbiome. I asked a friend of mine who is a nurse practitioner and owner of a wellness practice in Atlanta (STAT Wellness) to read her dissertation on restoring digestive health and the gut microbiome played a huge role. Educating myself on the things that can disrupt my healthy gut environment helped me start being more aware of my body and what I was putting (or not putting) in it.
There's so much info on the gut microbiome but to keep it brief, it is the name given to the community of living microbes in our intestines. There are over a thousand different species of bacteria living in our gut that help with vital bodily functions.
Things like your metabolism, hormones, immune system, energy even your skin can be affected by your gut health and if you’re not doing the small things right it can make it harder to see change.
So here are some ways you can “get rid of” your unhealthy gut and start building a healthy one.
💧 Drink tons of water
😩 Be aware of your stressor and try to relieve stress when possible 💤 Focus on getting great sleep 💊 Incorporate probiotic and prebiotic food and supplements into your daily routine 🌿 Use herbs instead of relying on medicine (as much as you can) - www.holisticallymade.com is my go to 🍫 Don’t overdo it on the processed sugar 🏃🏽♀️ Exercise regularly
🥦 Balance your meals (try to get your nutrients from more whole food sources)
