ayurvedic practices for good gut health

I would classify myself as someone that eats pretty nutritiously and exercises a decent amount Yet, after I ate anything, and I really mean anything, I would feel bloated. Even if my stomach was growling, I would never feel ‘empty’. I felt a kind of tired that would never go away, even after presumably getting a good nights sleep. I thought I was just lazy and tired of the mundane day to day.

One day, I randomly picked up a book on gut health, and my life changed. I realized I was severely deficient in many macro and micronutrients, and the things that I were eating just weren’t nutritiously adequate even if they were ‘healthy’ by western standards. Many of the “gut health hacks” I read about stemmed from Ayurvedic practices, which opened up a door to different lifestyle that allowed me to feel energetic, lean, and clear headed (no more brain fog!).

Ayurvedic practices have long identified the gut as the root and source of health wealth and problems. Too many pollutants and processed foods in our daily consumption habits have destroyed our microbiome, and the downstream effects have been fatal. I’m compiled a list of guidelines that I feel are the most beneficial to follow.

signs of poor gut health that I experienced:

• sugar cravings

• insomnia

• brain fog

• chronic fatigue and poor concentration

• mood swings

• BLOATING!!

morning routines:

1. Start the morning with a 10 oz room temperature/warm glass of water - NOT coffee. Sip it slowly. If you drink it too fast, you’ll feel bloated right off the bat. I add lemon or fennel powder

2. Take my supplements: vitamin C, Iron, Vitamin D conjugate, B12

night routines:

1. Stop eating 3 hours before sleep

2. Sit in the yoga digestive pose, Vajrasan

3. Take Mg-citrate or Magenium Glycinate (100mg), melatonin, and ashwagandha

4. Drinking a tea (hot water + 1 tsp of fennel powder + 1 tsp grated ginger + 1 tsp cumin)

foods I eat (cooked in ghee):

soluble fiber dissolve in water/turn to gel and help improve digestion/normalize cholesterol. Some are fermentable (prebiotic). Foods high in this type:

• carrots

• lentils

• almonds

• sweet potatoes

• broccoli

• blueberries

• apricots

• apples - rich in quercetin (antioxidant that increased bacterial diversity in the gut)

insoluble fiber passes through the digestive tract intact and pulls water, alleviating constipation. Foods high in this type:

• avocado

• chickpeas

• cauliflower

• beans

• chia and flax seeds

• dark leafy greens

• potatoes - best sources of resistant starch that will help to reduce blood sugar spikes after meals

• beans

• oats

fermented foods:

• yogurt with live active cultures

• pickles - I LOVE pickles. if they aren’t your thing though, don’t worry.

• cheese with live active cultures; cheese doesn’t sit too well with me these days so I’ve been trying to avoid large quantities

• kimchi!! my personal favorite :)

• saurkraut

• kombucha - I love the Better Booch kombucha flavors the best!

prebiotic rich foods:

• asparagus

• garlic

• onions

• unripe bananas - full of resistance starch that feeds good bacteria in the gut

• seaweed

• plantains

• shiitake mushrooms

• raw unpasteurized ACV

note: cook and cool starches to develop higher resistant starches. you can reheat these after: rice, white and sweet potatoes, pasta, oats, beans

foods I’ve avoided:

• bread - this is tricky because bread is SO GOOD! It’s hard to think about giving up bagels! I still eat them. But flour is just processed to the extreme in this country (this includes gluten-free bread too!). I make my own GF bread following this recipe. It’s not the greatest but it keeps me full and bloat free!!

• sugary foods. it’s a vicious cycle because sugary foods create more sugary cravings that stem from bad bacteria in your gut. I still struggle and have phases where there is late night sugar cravings, but I’ve gotten better about this over time.

• alternative milks that was oils and carrageenan in them. My favorite oat milk brand is Minor Figures. It’s not as good as Oatly FOR SURE but it has clean ingredients, which is more important to me! Personally, I can’t stand the taste of almond milk so I can’t give you any recs to try. I’m also a big fan of Tache, but it’s not readily available in most places, yet.

• note that foods have a shelf life so meal prepping is NOT the best option always

• ayurveda is very big on food combinations so some foods I avoid together are dairy milk/yogurt with fruits, eggs and cheese, and grains with fruit

• don’t drink water immediately after eating - I typically wait 30 minutes post meal to drink a semi-warm glass of water

exercises to do:

• yoga: poses that cut off circulation to one part of the body in order to shunt blood to the digestive tract

• meditation and pranayama

Great resources I use:

-Dr Mark Hyman

-Gut Health Hacks

-Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

I’m keeping this short and sweet - this is a learning process for me but I hope these practices aid you in your own journey of healing your microbiome!