5 Gut healing staples for mental health and feeling good

Satnam loves, Myrah here.

I spent most of my adult life feeling like was in my 20's till I had my first child in my 30's.  Overnight I went from feeling like a 20 year old to a slightly broken adult. 

I didn't realize the impact of the food I was eating during pregnancy would have on my life for years to come after my first child. 

All I heard from my Mexican mother and Indian mother in-law and the internet at the time was that I needed to eat more, more iron, more meat, more everything to support the growing baby inside of me. 

So there I went, on my first pregnancy following all of my cravings and more, in the dark night cold of a Canadian winter I found myself more sedentary than ever, not getting my daily walks in, not getting my daily yoga in, and falling for the gut dysregulation that happens with a diet that included lots of sugar, pastas, meats and everything in between. 

What I know now, after my second child is that what you eat and how you go about working your gut health during pregnancy is very impactful for many moons after you give birth. 

If you're reading this, don't shift your diet overnight, try to make some digestion changes in small increments. 

Stress is also a big factor which leads to high cortisol levels, hormonal unbalances that mess up your gut and intestines. 

Here's a few ways to begin healing your gut and intestines. 

1. Drinking Bone Broth, is highly therapeutic in restoring damaged gut lining.  It provides the amino acids necessary for tissue taming collagen production.

Glutamine found in bone broth also helps regulate mood which affects digestion if imbalanced. 

2. Get your probiotics on! Opt in for soil based resilient organisms that survive the early gastrointestinal tract and help the intestines.

Other natural probiotics can come from: coconut water, kefir, sauerkraut, pickles, olives, kombucha, miso and if you can handle the spice try out kim chi.

3. Magnesium is responsible for over 300 bodily functions and the major one is digestion.  Mag promotes balanced hormones, detoxing and tissue regeneration in your gut lining. 

Try taking it in small doses, half a teaspoon in water before bed. Another high absorption way to take in Magnesium by spray, try Magnesium oil. 

A lot of digestion issues can be solved simply by taking the right amount of magnesium. 

4. Take in more healthy fats. Healthy fats lubricate the intestine and help you move things along in your digestive tract. The body cannot utilize protein and vitamins in veggies without healthy fat. 

5. Try adding adaptogens to your diet. Adaptogens help restore balance and operate in a synergistic way in your body with other supplements and your diet.  Try Reishi, Chage and Lions Mane and bring them into your diet slowly via tea, supplements or adding them to your smoothie. 

Lions Mane - supports your nervous system

Reishi - Strengthens your immune system while giving you a stress release response

Chaga - anti microbial and anti-inflammatory.  Out of all of these this is the easiest one to add to your diet and life. I highly recommend getting this into your soups, teas, waters.. everything!

Hope that is helpful, this is the first of many posts I'll be sharing inspired by my own post partum healing journey back to wellness.  I am also working on a course that will inform a lot of this information in a much deeper way for implementation and support. 

xo

Myrah