Eating for Gut Health

Building sustainable healthy habits, Q&A, and more.

Happy September beautiful people! September is my favorite month of the year, the last little bit of summer, the days are long and warm but Fall is also approaching. Aaaaand my birthday is this month. I am very very excited for this September because if you have not heard me talking about it already I am doing a three week trip to Italy and France and I just cannot wait. These are two places that have been my dream to travel to and the dream is finally approaching! 

I will be scouting out the local farmers markets, organic farms, and all the best restaurants. Italian food is some of my favorite food ever so I will be eating my way through every place.

I am planning on getting a newsletter out to you every Sunday and Wednesday while I am there, but there may be a couple of days where it doesn’t go out as I am frolicking in the Tuscan hillsides with a glass of wine in one hand and a baguette in the other, so I wanted to let you know in advance. 

But we’re not there yet - so right now I am sipping on (no surprise here) my favorite superhero coffee and shilajit ginger lemonade. It is getting a little repetitive I know but I am just obsessed with these beverages and it’s all I want in the morning. Breakfast this morn is one of my all time favs: papaya boat. I can’t not get a papaya when I see one, they’re my fav.

Health Pillar of the Week: Habits

My dad sent me a quote this week from James Clear that said, “We don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our habits.” - “Habits can be great friends if they’re good, but they can be terrible enemies if they’re bad.”

I often get obsessed with a big goal I want to achieve without thinking about the day to day of how I am going to get there. Working backwards is key.

It is the small day to day decisions that make the big goal happen. We can’t become entirely different people overnight, it is the baby steps that add up. If you want to start waking up earlier, go to bed 5 minutes earlier and wake up 5 minutes earlier. Achievable enough right? Double the time every month and you’ll be waking up almost 2 hours and 30 minutes earlier than you were 5 months prior. It is the consistency with the everyday habits that make the big results.

There is a reason over 90% of new years resolutions fail. Someone who doesn’t have a workout routine wants to start working out every day (sorry to break it to you - but that may not last). One of mine I’ve failed is “learn a new language”. But that’s always failed. Instead I should do “learn 5 minutes of Italian a day”, “watch one show in Italian every week”, “read one book in Italian once a month”, “join an Italian cooking club,” THOSE are the habits that will translate into learning a new language.

Drastic shifts may be attainable in the short term but they are not long term sustainable. You need to make intentional decisions every day with that goal in mind.

Pick one thing you want to do. Start small. Add it into your day. The following week, pick another small thing and add it in, continue this until you build up a day full of healthy habits!

When I fall out of a healthy habit, it always feels so hard to get back into it. But when I begin to do the habit again, I am so happy I did. It takes one small consistent INTENTIONAL shift every day to be the best version of yourself. Do not overthink it. Go day by day. It is okay if you fall out of it, that is part of life, but it is up to you to get back into it.  

Some of my favorite daily habits (that I too fall in and out of - but feel so much better when they are incorporated):

• Not snoozing my alarm

• Making my bed in the morning 

• Sunlight + Breathing Pre-Screen 

• Lymphatic Drainage Massage 

• Outdoor walk 

• Stretching 

• Hydration (+ at least 90 minutes) before caffeine 

• Eating my food without distraction 

• Reading vs. scrolling or watching TV

• Staying off my phone before bed 

• Journaling + Gratitude

• Calling a friend or family member

• Do something creative

My intention this week is to slowly re-incorporate each of these habits without overwhelming myself and feeling like I need to do them all. I will pick a couple to do each day.

Don’t punish yourself or get down on yourself for falling out of a habit, these things ebb and flow. As much as healthy habits are important, we also need those days where we melt into the couch and just rest.

ASK ELLA

Q: Best supplement to heal gut lining

A: Before you rely on a supplement to heal your gut lining, you have to look at lifestyle first. There are many supplements that will support the healing process, but it doesn’t matter unless you go back to basics first. The first thing I always say to look at is stress. 

Stress is at the root of all health issues. A state of fight or flight causes chronic inflammation in the body, which leads to these gut issues. Identify the top stressors in your life, and work to weed them out or find healthy ways to cope with them. For me things that have helped a lot are:

• Avoiding my phone as much as possible

• Getting out in nature

• Grounding my feet into the earth

• Deep belly breath work

• Sunlight in the AM and PM

• Gratitude

• Deep stretching

• Walking, journaling

• Getting a third party perspective / talking or writing something through

• Getting out of my comfort zone (ice bathing, jumping in the ocean, doing something out of routine)

• Listening to my gut intuition

• Surrounding myself with people that make me laugh and give me energy 

Next, I recommend looking at your lifestyle: excessive processed foods, being sedentary, antibiotics/ pharmaceutical or over the counter drugs (NSAIDS), food sensitivities, excessive alcohol, disrupted sleep, toxic ingredients in household or beauty products, and a diet lacking adequate protein, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, fiber, antioxidants, probiotics can all lead to leaky gut. There typically isn’t ONE thing that is causing a leaky gut, but a multitude of things relating to everyday lifestyle that over time tear down your gut lining. 

Once you address these areas of your life, then you can add in supplementation that may help aid in the process. But if you are taking a supplement without adding healthy habits into your lifestyle, it won’t do much (in my personal opinion). Remember, healing is not overnight, it is a long-term lifestyle shift that has much more to do with mindset and stress than we think. 

That being said, some of my favorite products that help aid in maintenance with supporting a healthy gut lining are these: 

• Colostrum

• ION

• Bone Broth

Q: Foods to avoid for better gut health + digestion

A: A year ago, I would list out all of the toxic ingredients you should at all costs for health, but my mindset has shifted over time. I truly believe that obsession over what you CANNOT have leads to stress, which causes more health issues over time.

Stressing over a toxic ingredient is more harmful to your body than the toxic ingredient itself. When it comes to health, I really like to approach it from what you CAN do to better yourself versus what you CANNOT do (abundance mindset). 

HOW you eat is just as important as WHAT you eat. If you are eating while distracted, rushed or stressed, if you are eating without chewing your food, if you are drinking a bunch of liquid while eating, if you are eating right after or before a workout, if you are mindlessly eating. All of these things will impact how your food is digested.

It is so important to eat in a rest and digest state, take deep breaths before eating, eat your meal non distracted and present, chew your food thoroughly and slowly, take herbal bitters pre meals, wait to drink liquid until after you are finished eating, and even eating under the sun and in nature can support how your food is absorbed and digested.

My diet consists of: (primarily organic for all of these) seasonal fruits and vegetables, grass-fed and finished meat, pasture raised chicken, eggs and turkey, raw full-fat dairy, fermented foods, sprouted grains / sourdough bread, extra virgin olive oil, raw honey and raw vinegars.

I don’t often buy packaged food (which I understand is a privilege) because I cook the majority of my meals at home. I know exactly what is going into my food. If I do buy packaged food, I read the ingredient label. The general “rule” for this is if you don’t know where the ingredient comes from and you don’t have it in your own kitchen, don’t buy it. Whole real foods that are grown in sustainable ways (without pesticides + herbicides) are the ones that you want to eat. 

If organic food is not as accessible to you, I recommend checking out the EWG Clean 15 + Dirty Dozen list, which tells you which produce is typically safe to buy non-organic and vis versa.

I do a bi-weekly grocery list for paid subscribers & seasonal recipes as well if you need a clearer guide on what to buy each week!

I also recommend going to local farmers markets, becoming friendly with the farmers and asking them questions about their products and/or farm and growing practices. Check out CSA’s in your area. Cook more meals at home (spend one free day meal prepping for the week if you do not have time!). Ask more questions about the SOURCE of your food, I love transparent companies that have traceable ingredients and use sustainable practices, vote with your dollar to support those companies. 

Q: Biggest tip to get started in eating / living clean

A: Eating and living clean should not feel like a chore. You should crave it and it should feel good. The only way to achieve that is with a mindset shift. You need to identify your WHY to shift your lifestyle before making any changes. For me - I was sick of living a life where every time I ate my stomach would hurt and I would feel bloated. I was sick of waking up with brain fog. I was sick of feeling anxious and depressed all the time. I wanted to wake up feeling truly good and happy. I wanted to eat whatever I wanted. I wanted to live a fulfilled life without symptoms. 

Without a true intention, there will be no sustainable action. Once you define your why, act with that why in mind. Make decisions with your why in mind. Avoid making any quick drastic changes, small baby steps are what make long term sustainable success. Instead of thinking about all the things you can’t do and have, think about all the things you CAN have. Start slowly incorporating healthy habits that crowd out everything else, instead of cutting everything “bad” out. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Summer Sunday & enjoy this longggg weekend! Rest, recharge, get some sun. Do things for YOU. Talk to you Wednesday. -Ella