One thing that Dr. Vincent Pedre said during my conversation with him on the Live Purely Podcast that I loved was that "You can't out-diet or out-supplement a stressed-out lifestyle." This resonated with me because if you weren't aware, our gut and brain are very connected to one another. He saw patients that were doing all the right things, eating right, taking supplements, and more, but were extremely stressed out due to life, career, family, you name it, which caused them to struggle with their gut health. This doesn't mean that eating right can't help, but it's not the only way. Below we dive into how you can heal your gut naturally in more ways than you probably thought.
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Take a moment to breath
Dr. Vincent Pedre shares that in studies, it's shown that meditation, breathwork, and relaxation techniques can actually have a positive effect on the gut microbiome and shift the microbiome to have more anti-inflammatory effects in the body and helps balance blood sugar levels. Try setting aside a few minutes to take deep breathes and calm your mind.
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Stress Less
Vagal tone, which is affected by stress, helps with stomach acid secretion, the production of digestive enzymes, and gut motility. When your vagal tone is low due to stress, your stomach acid production drops, and as a result you're unable to digest and potentially start to feel constipated. Part of breath work and meditation and exercises, like deep diaphragmatic breathing, are designed to re-engage the vagus nerve to reactivate the vagus nerve to get you into a state where your body feels safe and can properly digest.
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Pay attention to the quality of food
If you're able to, try as much as you can to support your local farmers or buy organic. If you aren't in a place to buy everything organic or from the farmer's market, then Dr. Pedre suggests looking at the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 list as a guide. If it's in the Dirty Dozen list, that's where he suggests to splurge on organic, but if it's in the Clean 15, you can be more discretionary about how you spend your money.
