5 Ways I Reset My Gut Health Post Traveling or Stress
Learn the best practical tools & tips to improve digestion after traveling and stress! These gut health tips & tricks will help strengthen and calm the gut.
I don’t know about you, but when I’ve been traveling long distances or even if I’m just going thru a stressful time, my digestion suffers. Especially with bloating & constipation. Embarrassing, but hey! It happens to the best of us. Most of our family feels some type of effect digestion-wise after traveling or stress, whether it be bloating, constipation, or acid reflux.
Why Does Digestion Suffer While Traveling?
There are a few reasons for this. First, when we are stressed, our body dials down its production of stomach acid. Stomach acid is what helps us digest our food efficiently, so when this is lower, digestion is sluggish.
Second, when traveling we are almost always eating more junk, sugar, and processed food and less healthy proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Finally, it’s REALLY tough to eat enough fiber while traveling. It’s actually hard for most of us to get enough fiber daily in an ideal environment, but traveling makes this twice as hard! You really have to be strategic to get enough.
I can always tell when I need a gut reset, because personally I experience painful bloating and slowed digestion (less frequent trips to the bathroom). TMI, but this is an article about gut health!
5 Steps to Improve Gut Health Post-Traveling
So, what do I do when I need a gut reset after stress or traveling? Here’s the detailed list of what I try to prioritize. After following these tips for several days, things usually get back on track!
1. Morning electrolytes + probiotic
When digestion is sluggish, we need optimal hydration and minerals to get things moving. So I always start my day with some type of electrolyte drink with a probiotic before breakfast to give my gut some support before I consume anything else.
Some electrolyte drinks I like:
- Coconut water, a pinch of unprocessed salt, & squeeze of lemon
- Jigsaw Potassium Cocktail (pictured below)
- Redmond ReLyte
I don’t have a specific favorite probiotic I recommend, and tend to cycle through different brands to get different strains. But here are a few I’ve tried:
- Garden of Life (they have a line of various good ones)
- Culturelle
- Renew Life
- Jarrow-Dophilus
I also like eating a few bites of some type of fermented food during the day to increase good gut bacteria through food. I think this is even more powerful than a probiotic pill. Right now my favorite way is through homemade sauerkraut, but I also like kefir and kombucha (these gummies are fun.) Learn how to make milk kefir here.
2. Eat enough fiber
For adults, 25-30 grams of fiber and recommended daily, and this is challenging on the standard American diet. The only place I ever feel I get enough fiber while traveling is at my Mom & Dad’s house.
Mom is the queen of cooking lots of veggies & fruits, and she always has a pot of beans and usually some freshly milled flour baked goods. It’s such a great fiber boost, we’ve started referring to a week at their house as the “Palmer Cleanse”! But it always reminds me how much my body needs enough fiber to feed good gut bacteria and prevent constipation.
So when I need a gut health reset, I try to ensure my breakfast is fiber-rich and also eat some type of veggie or fruit (or both!) at each meal.
My favorite breakfast for this is a bowl of oatmeal topped with fruit, flax seeds, and chia seeds. That’s a lot of fiber right there! And, I always pair it with a protein (usually eggs.)
A great fiber boosting recipe to try is Apple Pie Steel Cut Oatmeal!
3. Ginger tea before dinner
When my gut health is stressed, I usually start feeling it before dinner time. It’s like my body is starting to run low on stomach acid or digestive mojo for the day, and needs a little extra help.
One way I support this is with a cup of strong ginger tea before dinner. And no, I’m not talking about a piddly little ginger tea bag. I need a strong cup. So, I like buying a good quality loose leaf ginger tea (like this) and adding a couple tablespoons to a tea infuser with hot water. I let it steep for 4-5 minutes so it’s nice and strong, and sip it while I make dinner.
Why does ginger work so well at supporting digestion? Actually, a lot of reasons. Ginger tea does the following:
- Speeds up stomach emptying & prevents food sitting too long (thanks to a compound called gingerol)
- Boosts digestive enzymes
- Lowers gut inflammation
- Eases nausea & bloating/gas
- Stimulates digestive secretions like saliva & bile, which help us digest food (source).
4. Digestive bitters
This is one of my favorite easy tools to help me digest when I need it! Digestive bitters are herbal extracts from specific bitter plants which are known to support the digestive process. They help to stimulate the production of saliva, bile, enzymes, & stomach acid and have been used for centuries in many traditional medicine practices.
Common herbs you’ll find in digestive bitters include dandelion, burdock, gentian, orange peel, fennel seed, yellow dock, etc. But each blend is a little different.
My favorites are the Earthley Digest Support pictured below (use code HCH10 to save) or Urban Moonshine tinctures. I just do a dropper full in a bit of water about 10-15 minutes before dinner. Or, do it at all 3 meals of the day if you need that extra support.
5. HCL and/or enzymes
The final thing I do is take a digestive enzyme and/or HCL tablet before dinner. I only do this short term, perhaps for several days while I get my digestion back on track. I don’t like relying on this for long periods, because our systems can start to rely on this instead of making their own stomach acid.
HCL is hydrochloride acid and is essentially the acid that helps break down our food. Enzymes also help to break down the food and can come from plant or animal sources.
The only one I can really recommend is Zypan from Standard Process, because it’s the most gentle I know of and the only one our family has used frequently. It contains betaine hydrochloride, pancreatin, and pepsin to aid stomach acid. I also love it because their ingredients are naturally sourced which makes the enzymes really effective.
Additional Gut Supportive Tips
There are a couple other things I do day-to-day already, but these will also help you in your gut reset.
Gelatin, Collagen, & Bone Broth
I try to incorporate gelatin, collagen, or bone broth (or all 3) at some point during my day. Our Western diets are often lacking in the gut healing amino acids & nutrients from bones, collagen, and connective tissue. These strengthen the gut lining!
My favorite gelatin & collagen I use on a daily basis are from Perfect Supplements (use code HEALTHY10 to save). They even have bone broth powder now! I enjoy using this in a pinch, but homemade broth is the best.
Rest & prayer
This step is SO foundational and supportive. Don’t eat while stressed and on the go — sit down and relax while eating which will support digestion more than just about anything else. (Maybe this is why we struggle so much while traveling and rushing!)
And, always begin your meals with prayer. Praying not only connects us to our Father through gratitude, but it also a calms our nervous system and puts our body in the best place to receive nourishment.
I pray these tips help support your gut health! Be nourished.
