Love ya guts: 8 ways to a better gut

A sponsored post for Activia for World Digestive Health Day 2014

As mentioned in my previous post I have been working towards a healthier and happier gut in the lead up to World Digestive Health Day held on the 29th May this year. Activia has been encouraging us to look after our gut by eating their range of yoghurts that contain some special probiotics (Bifidus ActiRegularis) that stay in your gut longer to fight those acids and help keep your tummy happy.

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Call it old age, but I am paying more attention to my body lately. I’ve been trying to exercise, watch what I shove in my mouth and generally listen to what is going on in it. It’s always trying to tell me something…whether I listen or not is another subject! I have found 8 ways to help keep my stomach happy. And if I DO these things I know I feel a gazillion times better. If I add in some exercise? Another 50% happier. Extra water and exercise? If you need me, I will be out saving the world. It’s not always the case – life and bad habits get in the way – but if I do that at least I know what to ease off on the following few days to get back on track. The one thing I have focused on this year is not beating myself up if I do go off and track and not to stay off for too long…rather than writing off 3 months of hard work after a one week lapse, just get back on board rather than waiting another 6 months.

8 ways to better #gutlove

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1.Lay off the booze as much as you can and if you can’t or don’t want to – then drink lots of water in between

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2. I KNOW that I shouldn’t eat bread – and you know how I know that? Well each and every time I eat it WITHOUT FAIL I get the hiccups! I do! Do I listen? No! But I try to avoid eating it as much as I would like.

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3. As much as I adore getting stuck into some nasty arse pre-packaged food sometimes (hello mock cream ANYTHING) I know that it’s not good for my hips AND my tummy. All those preservatives are harder to break down and digest. Home make as much as you can, or have time for.

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4. I ADORE butter, cream, cheese, French foods, all those rich, lovely foods. My stomach does not. Well it does to a point, and then it struggles (my brain always is bigger than my stomach). If I am going to eat some cheese, just have a little. I struggled with this one particularly last week on Saturday night when I completely overindulged in cheese!

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5. Same goes with oils…too much in cooking for me and I instantly feel woozy. A little is good – too much is most definitely not for me!

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6. You know when you spread butter on so thick it can be mistaken for cheese? No? YOU’RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT. Sometimes I even sprinkle salt flakes on top. I do! Oink Oink. Less is more when it comes to my tummy though…as sad as that makes me to say.

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7. I don’t think I could ever give up caffeine completely, but I have to say I try and stick to one a day. Any more and turn into a speed freak and all that hot milky does not do good things to my stomach. We’ll leave it at that shall we?

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8. And lastly I try to limit the amount of PURE fat that goes into my mouth. You will note I did not say STOP, but limit. I will NEVER not eat pork crackle. Or the fat around a cutlet or chop or skin on a roast chicken but I will try to take it easy. Too much and not only do I get indigestion I sometimes get a cracking headache to go with it so I’d rather enjoy a little than feel sick with a lot or angry with NONE.

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Over the week of the challenge I have followed these steps as well as eating a tub of Activia yoghurt each day. There were some bumps along the way – too many rich cheeses and alcohol on the weekend – but I found forcing myself to eat the yoghurt has helped a lot in feeling good. Whatever it’s doing in there – seems to be working!

Here’s to happy guts!

What are some of your triggers for bad digestion?
Is it a particular kind of food?
Or not eating something/drinking enough water/not exercising?

Comments

  1. So all the above just described my diet until Monday and I did a 3-day juice detox, mainly to see if I could go 3 days without caffeine, sugar, bread, booze, I could. So now I’m going to be much more picky about what I put in my gob, it really doesn’t matter as we grow old as I want to live as long as I can for my children.

  2. Bread also makes me hiccup! What I’ve learned to do is get a lovely crusty multigrain roll, pull the soft guts out of it, and just eat the outer crusty bit. No hiccups, but I still get to eat some bread every now and then. ‘Twas a revelation.

  3. Beth, you will have to find a Lurpak Anonymous group. Seriously, how can you cut back on butter?? Its a part of you!
    Me….I’ve been health conscious for a long time. I began gluten free before it was trendy (:-0) and ate those trendy super foods a long time ago …I know I know… trend setter…but anyway I am not perfect and I do indulge in bread and dairy now and then and alcohol is my friend, as is a good daily soy flat white. Like your other reader, I want to be healthy for a long time cause of my kids (two with special needs) so I need to be around for them. But I do live by ‘moderation’, a bit of everything in moderation…and good, organic food.

  4. I second Julie’s suggestion – whenever I have a bread roll, I rip the guts out. From memory, it saves a shedload of calories and also reduces the amount of bread you’re actually eating (obviously). Love that these suggestions are so simple and yet so doable.

  5. The only thing that appears to upset my delicate digestion (ha) is an overload of creamy, cheesy pasta. Everything else, I’m fine with! Pass all that crusty bread, Lescure + flaky salt. Stat.

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