These days, it’s harder than ever to separate fact from fiction when it comes to gut health. Social media is flooded with #guttok posts touting solutions like goopy chia-seed water and aggressive (and decidedly not recommended) DIY “cleanses,” while the wellness market is teeming with designer probiotics and fancy poop tests promising to optimize your digestion. The result? Tending to your gut can feel like a complicated—and costly—endeavor.
But in reality, the most reliable ways to support your gut are far simpler than all the hubbub would suggest. You’ve probably heard the advice to eat more fiber by loading up on fruits, veggies, and whole grains. It’s such a common recommendation from gastroenterologists not just because fiber can keep you regular, but it also because it can improve your overall digestive health and has non-GI benefits too, like lowering cholesterol, Olufemi Kassim, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist and clinical assistant professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, tells SELF. Hydrating well, moving your body often, and managing your stress levels are also seemingly run-of-the-mill behaviors with real positive ripple effects for your gut.
It turns out, a few equally basic habits can also subtly work against your gut, throwing a wrench in your digestion or setting you up for issues down the line. Read on to learn the everyday things gastroenterologists advise their patients against, why they can wreak havoc, and what to do instead to keep your GI system chugging along smoothly.
1. You leave large breaks between eating or skip meals outright.
If you’re a person who gets “hangry,” you already know how bypassing a meal can fry your nervous system and spark some serious irritability. (It can also make you feel low-energy or struggle to concentrate, not to mention potentially trigger nausea or a migraine.) But there’s also a gut-related downside to putting off eating at usual times: It can throw off your bowel movement frequency, Kyle Staller, MD, MPH, a board-certified gastroenterologist at Mass General, tells SELF.
In particular, he points to how skipping or delaying breakfast can leave you constipated. That morning influx of food is what wakes up your bowels and gets them contracting, so you can have a nice comfy poop later on. Without it, you risk slowing things down. (And if you’re putting off breakfast because you’re giving intermittent fasting a go, keep in mind: The research doesn’t conclusively show that it can benefit your health long-term, and this kind of restrictive eating style can bring its fair share of harms.) But ultimately, any kind of switch-up in your typical eating schedule can back you up, Dr. Staller notes. Travel constipation, anyone?
What to do instead: Keep your meal times roughly as consistent as you can, Haleh Pazwash, MD, FACG, a gastroenterologist at Gastroenterology Associates of New Jersey, tells SELF. The exact best cadence varies from person to person, but generally speaking, experts recommend eating every few hours during the day to stay fueled and regular.
2. You consume lots of artificial sweeteners.
It might seem like opting for a “sugar-free” snack would be the healthiest choice…but the faux sugars found in things like candies, energy bars, and chewing gum can do a number on your gut, largely because they’re “tough to digest,” Dr. Pazwash says. In these products, it’s typically sugar alcohols to blame (e.g., sorbitol, mannital, and glycerol)—they pass through the upper part of your bowel unscathed and then wind up in your colon, where bacteria feast on them, leaving you with a surge of gas and bloating. As they traverse your GI tract, they can also “draw water into your colon,” which can cause diarrhea, Felice Schnoll-Sussman, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian, tells SELF.
