Journey to Consistent Gut Health
Since there is no pretty way to chat about this, we are going to be straight to the point here!
As I have shared with you over time, I have struggled maintaining a healthy gut (aka not being able to shit) quite literally my whole life. From one extreme of bodybuilding to now finding a healthy balance of 70/30 diet and consistently working out from my 75 Soft, the problem remains the same - I still can’t shit without the support of some form of laxative. I am talking 1-2x a week. Yup.
When talking to my doctor about it a couple years ago, she shrugged it off and told me to take Miralax. I was taken back by her recommendation and not really hearing me of wanting to find out what the root cause is. Here we are a couple years later, I finally decided it was time to take the step of working with a registered dietitian because at the end of the day I know what I am putting in my body is most likely what it comes down to.
| Week One |
After my recent meeting with Anna (she was recently on an episode on my podcast if you wanna hear more), I told her I am ready to take significant steps to improve my gut health and overall nutrition. To my relief she told me she does not want to overwhelm me and we are going to start with baby steps - my girl.
First we began by evaluating my current food schedule.
Here's our first step: scheduling and balancing out my snacks throughout the day.
When looking over my eating habits, she noticed I have no set schedule when I am eating and it’s not giving my body predicability of when it is going to be fueled next. She told me that unpredictability in food choices relates back to the gut and it’s important for our body to have a sense of security (knowing when it’s going to get food) to give it a sense of security to operate.
Here’s how we are going to execute that this next week:
We are starting the day with some sort of nutrition rather than going to my 6AM workout on just coffee (I am only human). We decided on an applesauce packet before my workout because it’s quick and easy and a great form on carbs before my workout. Did an ex-bodybuilder know that it’s important to eat before my workout? Yup. Did I stop doing that 5 years ago? Yup. Having something first thing in the AM is crucial, but as Ana reminded me it helps give my body the sense of security it needs to function optimally for the day. It can even as simple as a banana, an orange or a piece of toast with peanut butter.
The second habit we are going to tackle- snacking—my weak point. My 3 meals are always typically always nutritious buuuut when I get a little hungry in-between, it is one of two situations. One, I am reaching for whatever is quickest and easiest. Two, I am working in my she-shed I could possibly not bare the 10 second walk to the house and would work through feeling hungry. So! To fix that she gave me a list of nonperishable items to keep stock in my office like Chomp Beef Sticks, That’s It bars and I grabbed some RX bars for the days I cannot possibly spare the 10 second walk to the house.
Small key goals we also chatted about was focusing on incorporating two cups of veggies into my day, whether through snacks or meals, to enhance nutrient intake. Last topic we discussed was maintaining consistency with hydration, aiming for a minimum of 80 ounces daily, and the potential addition of creatine, starting at 2.5 grams per day.
My biggest take away is to start treating my eating habits with the same structure as “going to the office”, as this will help solidify these new routines while working from home. I will be prepping my snacks the night before to make it even easier and to take the thinking out of the day I am already make 5 million decisions.. I am so lazy when it comes to food you have no idea.
Now as I said, this is just step one. I am going to be starting a notes section for the next week logging what I eat/when I eat to see what we can really start tweaking more in depth to see how my body reacts to what and monitor my progress in one week. After our appointment she e-mailed me a 5 day meal plan, a grocery list and a list of snack ideas to eat. As I have said 1 million times, I will not be sharing my exact macros because your body is significantly different from mine BUT I will share the snack ideas for my office below!
This is different for everyone and I do recommend working with a professional. Anna is accepting clients locally or virtually with 20% off by mentioning my name ($200 fee but $160 mentioning my name). You can e-mail her at info@beartoothperformance.com for inquiries.
