Have you ever felt a little sad or maybe a little anxious and your stomach felt uncomfortable too?

Recently, a lot of research has been released linking our mood to our gut health. Poor gut health has been linked to both anxiety and depression.

In animal studies improving the bacteria in the digestive tract actually reduces anxiety.

Our digestive tract is lined with neurons, much like the brain, that absorb and sense everything that we consume. Our gut also has the ability produce and absorb endorphins (our happy hormones).

Our brain and our gut are always sending messages. It's no wonder we get butterflies in our stomach when we get excited!

On the flip side, we can suffer from ulcers or irritable bowel syndrome when we’re experiencing a lot of stress.

Here are a few signs that it might be time to start working on improving your gut health:

You're always anxious or worried without a good reason.
You're feeling sad or moody without knowing why.
You're experiencing brain fog (can't seem to focus or concentrate).
Your belly feels bloated, burns, painful, overly gurgle.
You have heartburn, an ulcer, irritable bowel syndrome.

If you have any of those signs or symptoms, there’s good news! We know how to heal our gut. Keep reading and we’ll give you some mind and body techniques to heal your gut.

Using mindfulness to heal your gut:

Eat slowly. We put stress on our body and our gut when we eat too quickly.
Eat while relaxed. Take a moment before you begin eating to relax. Take a few deep breaths and settle into your meal. When we are in a high stress state our body pulls it’s energy into our brain, muscles, and lungs and away from our digestive tract. Making it hard to digest.
Practice meditation. Meditation helps us to return to a relaxed state more quickly and helps us stay more relaxed all of the time. It has been shown to improve digestion and decrease stress hormones.

Now let’s think about our body and how to physically heal our gut.

Reduce these foods: Everyone is different but these foods can unbalance your gut bacteria. Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. While we never say give up everything cold turkey! Try reducing the amount of each you eat or drink and see if you feel better. Or try experimenting a week off of one, then the next week the other.
Probiotics: Probiotics and prebiotics are an excellent way to help increase the good bacteria in your gut. However, everyone is different so depending on your stomach pH this may or may not work.
Exercise: Not only does exercise help digestion, but it also improves mood!

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