It’s the final week of our Hack the Holiday series, and we are just days away from heading into the new year! With the Holidays behind us, now is a great time to start thinking about kicking off the new year with a healthy gut and strong immune system.
The overarching goal of this series has been to optimize your physical and mental health, so the last four weeks have been preparing you to get to Week 5 ready to take on the New Year. So on top of the work you have been doing (minimizing alcohol, staying active, managing stress and making healthier choices), we are giving you our additional top tips to keep your digestive system on track to start the year off with a clean (digestive) slate!
Focus on fiber
A high-fiber diet is key when it comes to keeping your digestive system moving. A fibrous diet promotes regular bowel movements, lowers cholesterol, and regulates blood sugar and hormone levels (thinks estrogen here!) This means including both soluble and insoluble fiber into your diet, since both help the digestive system in different ways.
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For soluble fiber, think oats, black beans and vegetables like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, carrots, and sweet potatoes
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For insoluble fiber, think nuts, beans, cauliflower, green beans, fruits and healthy whole grains.
Take probiotics and prebiotics
Most people know about the benefits of probiotics (aid in digestion, improve the immune system, fight IBS, reduce inflammation, heal the gut), which can be found in foods like kefir, kombucha, tempeh and sauerkraut or taken as a pill. But not everyone knows about the benefits of prebiotics!
Prebiotics are the food – or fuel – for probiotics, which increase the good bacteria in your gut and help with digestion. Dr. Lana recommends getting your prebiotics from food, which can be found in fruits and veggies such as apples, bananas, cabbage and asparagus.
Dr. Lana recommends these probiotic supplements:
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Womens formula – balances the pH + flora in the vaginal canal when there is an increase in sugar, which keeps vaginitis, UTIs and yeast infections at bay.
Try taking a digestive aid
Be mindful of high fat foods
While eating healthy fats is important for a well-rounded diet, eating fatty foods (especially the not-so-good for you kind) can slow down your digestive tract and cause constipation. Keeping fatty foods, such as red meat, fried/greasy foods and heavy creams/butters to a minimum will help to keep your digestion in-check.
Eat healthy fats, such as avocado, nuts, eggs, fish and bone broth instead!
Source
Keep Your Digestion In Check is written by Emily Paulsen for www.drlanawellness.com
