4 Tips to Improve Gut Health
Gut Health Mini Series
Part One: Why am I bloated all the time?
Part Two: 4 Tips to Improve Gut Health
We all know that gut health is a key factor in our overall health, yet many people silently suffer from gut-related issues, such as bloating, indigestion, IBS, constipation, and food sensitivities. While these symptoms may be common, they are certainly not “normal” and shouldn’t be ignored. Your gut is trying to tell you something, and it’s important to listen.
In the last post in this gut health mini series, we discussed the root cause of bloating and what you can do to resolve it fast. In this post, we’ll explore different strategies that you can use to optimize gut health, alleviate discomfort, and improve digestion. We’ll cover hydration, diet, movement, and some lesser-known but highly effective techniques like abdominal massage and hypopressive exercises. These strategies not only improve digestion but also improve your core strength and reduce your waistline. If you’ve you've tried everything from restrictive diets to new fitness programs and nothing seems to work, this guide can help you feel confident in your gut again.
1. Proper Hydration
One of the simplest, yet highly impactful things you can do for your gut is to stay properly hydrated. Your body needs water to help with digestion, nutrient absorption, and elimination of waste. When you’re dehydrated, your digestive system has to work harder, and this often leads to issues like constipation and bloating.
The general recommendation is to drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, aim for at least 75 ounces of water daily. But here’s a key tip: make sure to add minerals to your water to enhance absorption. Products like Laird Superfood Hydrate is a great option that not only helps your tissues absorb the water more effectively but also replenishes essential electrolytes.
Why It Matters: Proper hydration helps your digestive system break down food efficiently, keeps your bowel movements stay regular, improves muscle function and fascial integrity, and ensures smooth transportation of nutrients throughout your body.
2. Boost Fiber Intake with Vegetables
Fiber is essential for a healthy gut. It helps bulk up and soften the stool, regulates blood sugar, promotes regular bowel movements, and feeds the beneficial bacteria in your gut that aid digestion. Without enough fiber, many people suffer from constipation, bloating, abdominal pains or even irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
A good rule of thumb is to make vegetables the majority of every meal. Leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and root vegetables like sweet potatoes are fantastic sources of fiber. If you struggle to get enough fiber through diet alone, you might consider adding a supplement like psyllium husk, which can help you meet your fiber needs and improve digestion.
Why It Matters: Fiber helps move food through the digestive tract, aids in nutrient absorption, balances blood sugar, and promotes the growth of good gut bacteria, all of which are critical to long-term gut health.
3. Hypopressive Training
Hypopressive training is a lesser-known practice that can have profound effects on your gut health. This type of exercise is designed to optimize the position of your internal organs by reducing intra-abdominal pressure, leading to improved blood, lymph, and nerve flow to the gut. Regular hypopressive training helps detoxify your organs, improve digestion, and promote regular bowel movements.
One of the most important roles of your core muscles is to keep your organs in their ideal location so that they can receive optimal blood, lymph and nerve flow. Since organ function is dependent on the blood, lymph and nerve flow they receive, it is of the upmost importance that the core muscles are able to efficiently support your organs and keep them in their best position. By restoring optimal core and pelvic muscle function, hypopressive training improves digestion, regularity, and nutrient absorption. The results? A healthier gut, improved core strength, and a trim waistline.
You can learn hypopressive training inside The Core Recovery Method®, where you are guided step by step through beginner, intermediate and advanced practices.
Why It Matters: Optimizing organ position by training your core muscles to lift and center your organs through hypopressive training, ensures that your gut can function as efficiently as possible, preventing common issues like bloating, discomfort, and indigestion.
4. Abdominal Massage
If you suffer from bloating, constipation, or abdominal and pelvic discomfort, incorporating a self-abdominal massage routine can be transformative. Abdominal massage releases tension and congestion around your organs, improving blood, lymph, and nerve flow in the gut. By encouraging circulation and reducing tightness, this massage helps your digestive organs function more efficiently. In order to position the organs through abdominal massage, the direction and depth of the strokes are quite specific and intentional. You can learn the abdominal massage that optimizes organ position, releases congestion and tension in the core muscles, and improves digestion and regularity inside The Core Recovery Method® online program.
Why It Matters: Abdominal massage supports intestinal detoxification, improves circulation to the gut, and can significantly reduce discomfort and bloating by promoting better organ function.
The Gut and Core Muscle Connection
It’s important to recognize that gut health and core muscle health are intimately connected. Your core muscles not only provide physical support to your spine, but also determine the position of your organs by managing the pressure in your abdomen. If your core muscles are weak or dysfunctional, it can throw your digestive organs out of position, impairing their blood, lymph, and nerve flow. This can lead to various gut issues, such as constipation, IBS, bloating, and indigestion.
Incorporating practices like abdominal massage, hypopressive training, increasing fiber, and ensuring proper hydration can help bring both your core muscles and your gut back into balance. These strategies work together to support optimal organ function, improve digestion and elimination, get rid of bloating, reduce your waistline, and help you feel confident in your gut again.
Since your gut health and core muscle health are so intimately connected, and one cannot be fully optimized without the other. The Core Recovery Method® is designed to help you improve both your core muscle health and your gut health through powerful and proven techniques. If you’ve been struggling with long-term gut issues and conventional methods haven’t worked, this is the missing piece you’ve been looking for.
