A simple way of settling digestive issues at home

Digestive issues, allergies or even illness, are all connected to what we put in our bodies. If you think foods may be affecting your health or even if you're not sure, a simple place to start is to simplify and monitor your diet. This involves going right back to basics, taking out any processed or refined foods, while eating enough to feel

satisfied and full, and keeping a Food and Feel diary of what you eat, how you feel before and after, what you drink and what signs and symptoms you encounter, as well as your bowel movements.

Start with a table with each heading, Day, Food, feel, Bowel Movements, and give a little summary of how you've been feeling in general. Next keep eating as normal for a couple of days and use the chart to note down everything you eat and before and after write down, 1. how you feel physically, tired, sick, headache, bloated or any other signs and symptoms and, 2. how you feel mentally, positive, negative mindset/thoughts, depressed, frustrated, happy or other. Give as much detail as you can and as you feel necessary but try to write shorthand and concise as possible. This will make it easier when re-reading and evaluating.

After a couple days take out any caffeine, alcohol, sugar and processed/junk food. Replace with increased water/ water and lemon and herbal teas. Increase whatever fruits and vegetables you enjoy. We are going through a process of simplifying what we eat so we can identify what triggers us and letting our bodies slowly get used to the change to avoid any effects of change such as constipation or gas. If consumption of the 'take out' items was previously high you may experience headaches or digestive changes due to the detoxing effects, this is normal and should pass in 1 or 2 days. Increase water consumption at this time.

The key is to go slow and low, slowly introduce low amounts of fruits and vegetables, and build it up as your body allows. Buy organic and/or wash food well before to help remove any contaminants that can irritate the body. Steam, saute or roast vegetables and use 1 tsp-1 tbsp of a cold pressed oil max if any. You can use a little salt or spice such as ginger, cayenne, lemon or cider vinegar to help you enjoy your food as well as support healing, and eat until you are full. You can eat one food item per meal if you feel you can do this for e.g eat a bowl of steamed potatoes or eat as many papaya as you want. Or you can begin by slowly simplifying your meals and build to simpler meals. The simpler the meal the more easily we can tell which items are irritants and should be avoided while healing.

Ideas of meals include roasted whole sweet potato, steamed broccoli and a small handful of chickpeas, steamed or baked fish or other protein source. If you can start to take

out meat, dairy and eggs or just have a small portion this will aid in the healing of the gut. Slowly increase vegetable consumption to nourish the body, aid healing and increase helpful fibre intake. I enjoy eating a lot of steamed veg and roasted potatoes, cruciferous vegetables, soups or rice, hummus and tofu bowls. You can use some grains such as rice or quinoa but avoid wheat for now.

Make a food planner and shopping list to help you and batch cook to save time and energy. It can be very easy and simple to eat this way, making life easier. It can also seem boring and unsatisfying at first but after we remove a lot of strong flavours and processed foods we will start to regain our sensitivity for flavour and enjoy the subtle taste of unseasoned vegetables. Try to keep each meal simple and no more than 3 items, eating organic can be beneficial to enhance the flavor of food.

An example meal plan would be, breakfast of oats, water and banana, lunch of roasted squash, red pepper/capsicum and chickpeas and dinner could be the same as lunch or could be lettuce, tomatoes and steamed potato. Keep notes on every food item and how you feel 5-30 minutes after eating. Try to eat vegetables that you like or if that is quite difficult for you, eat more rice or potatoes to fill you up. The important thing is to work out when we feel good after food and when we experience symptoms.

Review your journal at the end of each week and look at which foods give you signs or symptoms after. We then need to eat those foods separately to pinpoint which one it is, if not already done. Depending on how easy you find this you may be able to do this all-in-one week or two weeks and once used to it may enjoy eating a lunch of only one thing like potatoes or rice. After two weeks, if there are no extreme symptoms from dietary changes you should be able to tell which foods do not agree with you. If continued and extreme or uncomfortable changes persist after 5 days, take a break and start again slower when symptoms settle. Try to maintain the diet for 2-4 weeks so you can start to identify trends and take out any problem foods. Once your symptoms have settled down, you can start to reintroduce foods you previously reacted to to see if digestive sensitivity has reduced. Keep a track of this as well as you experience symptoms, leave a week before trying it again.

It acts as a good reset as well, reducing our dependence on processed foods, sugar, salt and fat and eating strong flavoured foods for comfort. It is likely very flavoured and processed foods may not be as nice or appealing to you after which helps to remove our desire for them. As always more processed foods may sneak in and too much restriction can increase cravings and cause bingeing, so once symptoms are relieved test foods you liked to eat and monitor your experience with them as well.

If after four separate times foods still cause negative symptoms, you may need to remove them for three months and then try again. Start to rebuild your diet with a healthier and more sustainable approach than before. Keep eating as many fresh and cooked vegetables and fruits as you enjoy and keep processed food as a treat once a week or fortnight. Keep the diary going to see changes and alter accordingly. This will get you more in communication with your body and be able to adjust your diet for your needs. You will learn what works and what doesn't and start to feel happier and healthier.

I have personally done this a few times throughout my life and it has been the most effective way to work out and reset my diet and health. When we are in a state of irritation or inflammation everything can be a trigger as our systems become more sensitive. When we can simplify and get back to a state of calm in the body we can easily see what triggers us and make it easier to retrain our taste buds and eating habits.

If this is difficult physically or mentally see your herbalist or naturopath, to help support and relieve symptoms with herbal support. Consult your doctor before any changes, especially if you have any disease or illness, are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Tips:

• Start after you have eaten up everything tempting and processed in your house and do not replace and instead when peckish or hungry don't be scared to eat more

fruits or vegetables until you are full.

• Cook extra jacket potatoes or carrots for snack times. Plants have a much lower calorie density and you can go back to consuming as much as you need to feel full without the high load of calories from added oils or sugars or salts.

• Go easy on yourself, change is never smooth, this is a learning process and can take a while to get into it. Just keep slowly transitioning, keep the diary going and go as slow as your body needs.

• Improving our health takes time and can feel overwhelming if we have a busy schedule, making a food planner, shopping list and diary table all first will get you feeling organised, set aside enough time to shop, cook and pack lunches/snacks and take more than you think you'll need until you know how much you need to stay full. Once in the swing it can save a lot of time and energy from thinking and cooking a wide range of ingredient high meals.

• You can take some probiotics, kombucha, and other fermented foods to help your gut grow more microbes for better digestion.

• You can take cayenne pepper, ginger and lemon tea to boost your metabolism and energy if you are lacking energy from caffeine . If this agrees with you, if you have a sensitive stomach I would stick to chamomile or peppermint herbal tea.

Book recommendations:

Fibre Fuelled by Will Bulsiewicz

How not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger