•  Detox water– drinking warm lemon water in the morning helps to boost your digestion and metabolism. I usually squeeze half a lemon into warm water, and I drink this on an empty stomach. You can choose to add honey, ginger or apple cider vinegar to further promote the anti-bacterial properties.                                          However keep in mind that ginger and the apple cider can be harsher on sensitive digestive systems and these may not be the right ingredients for you. It all depends on how you feel.

• 1 month reset– this can be challenging but it is definitely worth the effort if you want to re-establish gut health or repair any damage. The reset involves avoiding sugar, processed foods, gluten and dairy for a whole month. The reason for a month is that it takes quite some time for your body to eliminate gluten. I have been consistently  gluten and dairy free for years now and I know it’s not easy for everyone, which is why a reset may be a better option for most people.Processed foods involve anything store-bought that has those long ingredients lists     that you can’t even pronounce and sugar would be refined sugars such as; white bread, pasta, white rice, cane sugar, energy drinks, sodas and cake. I know it hurts. On the bright side, you can use unrefined sugars such as coconut sugar.

• intermittent fasting – this is something I’ve mentioned before, it’s a versatile method and you can read more about the various methods to approaching it. I’m currently on the 16/8 method, which means I fast for 16 hours and eat during the 8. I don’t eat any less or more, this is just to give your gut more time to rest. It also has the added bonus of promoting weight loss.

• 5 daily servings – it is recommended to have 5 servings of fruit and vegetables, preferably in their raw state. Try to incorporate these into your meals; an easy way would be in a breakfast smoothie. I like having fruit with my oats, veggies with my main meals and fruits as snacks, this allows me to get in my 5 daily servings. This is because they are packed with fibre which help improve gut health and digestive movements.

• 1-2 days w/o meat/poultry – this is a weekly habit that is pretty easy to keep up with. Meat and poultry are pretty hard on our digestive system, so it’s beneficial to let our gut heal and repair by taking 1 or 2 days off. From this, you can try to observe how you feel, as your gut often affects how you feel overall, you may find yourself more energised on these days.

• massage your greens– this seems unusual but it actually works, while greens do provide us with fibre, their cell structure may be hard to digest. This is why you should massage greens, like kale for example, with some olive oil to break it down.

• intolerances/allergies – this is something that has completely changed my life. Food intolerances are not to be underestimated, they can seriously damage your gut and your overall health. If you can get tests done for your allergies, that’s great, but most of the time you have to understand your body’s reaction yourself. Notice how you feel after eating certain foods and gradually eliminate those you feel do more harm than good. I have an intolerance to gluten and dairy, but I am allergic to peanuts, soy and seafood and it’s often trial and error with this, for example; I can drink almond milk and use almond flour but I can’t eat almonds.

You can always research more about food types and their effects for your own knowledge or if you think you’re reacting badly to certain foods. I’d suggest learning more about high histamine, high folate, and high copper foods, just to get started. Of course this depends on your body type, it’s always helpful to get tests done to check if you have any deficiencies or excesses, as that may also be a factor.

I hope you all enjoyed this post, if you have any tips you’d like to share, leave a comment down below. Thank you all for reading and please follow for more tips like these, xoxo.