TIPS FOR SENSITIVE TUMMIES

AS YOUR diet moves from a little to a lot of fibre, you may get a feeling of bloating and gassiness as your microbes celebrate this new way of eating.

So here are my top tips and tricks to building a tolerance.

1 GO SLOW. Don’t transform your diet overnight or binge on plants one day and deprive your microbes the next. Like us, they need ‘food’ every day to function.

2 STAY HYDRATED. Fibre needs water to perform at its best. So, as you up your fibre, up your water intake, too.

3 CHEW WELL. With high-fibre whole foods, chew each mouthful around 20 times. This not only helps prep your stomach, but it also kickstarts the digestive process that occurs in your mouth (both physically, with your teeth, and chemically with the enzymes in your saliva).

4 KEEP MOVING. This doesn’t just support your arm and leg muscles, but your digestive muscles, too. (Remember your digestive tract is wrapped in muscle!)

5 FEELING BLOATED? Gentle yoga-like stretching at the end of the day can help (when, typically, symptoms are at their peak).

6 APPLY HEAT. If you experience a little extra gut activity, it’s nothing to be worried about. Applying a heat-pack to your stomach can do wonders by drawing extra blood there to support digestion.