Four of our Favorite Fall Things
We’re kicking off October by sharing our favorite Fall foods, recipes and practices to nourish our gut health as we ease into the cooler months!
Root Vegetables for Gut Health 🤝
Root vegetables are a starchy plant carbohydrate that we love a staple food for gut health. These fiber rich carbohydrates deserve a spot on your gut healing plate all through the Fall and Winter season.
Root vegetables are in season in the Fall and stay well right through the Winter, making root vegetables like sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin, turnips, carrots, parsnips and beets a great staple for meals in the cooler seasons.
Starchy root vegetables are the perfect combination of fiber dense starches that nourish the beneficial bacteria in our gut. Feeding our beneficial bacteria is the number one way to both strengthen and protect the gut as well as the immune system. One of the major reasons for this is when the beneficial bacteria in the gut eat these starchy fibers, they produce beneficial anti-inflammatory by-products called short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). SCFA are powerful compounds that soothe and nourish the gut as well as carry out health promoting qualities throughout the whole body including supporting metabolism, energy production, appetite regulation, insulin and blood sugar regulation as well as are supportive of cholesterol and blood pressure regulation.
Our favorite way to enjoy root vegetables is to roast them! Make a big batch for dinner and use leftovers to add more fiber dense carbs to your breakfast or a quick side for your lunch with protein. These starchy, warm, cozy additions are so satisfying in these cooler months and your gut will thank you!
So this Fall welcome root vegetables as a foundational gut health food. Here is our go to simple meal prep recipe for roasted root veggies here!
Gut Health Approved Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Fall aka Pumpkin season is finally here and we’re honoring the season with these Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies!
Pumpkin is part of the squash family and packed with immune supportive properties like powerful antioxidants including beta-carotene and vitamin C, a robust source of potassium for stress resilience and fiber to nourish our protective gut microbiome. A gut health rich breakfast includes a source of fiber rich carbohydrates and a protein.
Our pumpkin oatmeal breakfast cookies are the perfect sweet treat that is packed with fiber and slow burning complex carbohydrates to support energy, nourish the gut microbiome and aid in a healthy metabolism. Pair this with your choice of protein like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, a protein shake, soft boiled eggs or grass fed sausage links, for a balanced plate you can prep at the beginning of the week!
If this recipe piques your interest, stay tuned for our weekly Gut Friendly Meal Prep recipe drops we’re cooking up just for you - we will be launching in the coming months! More info to come! Grab the pumpkin oatmeal breakfast recipe here!
Fall warming herbs for gut health
As the weather cools, let's keep things warm with herbs, spices and teas!
Fall is a great time to embrace warming herbs and spices like cinnamon, ginger and turmeric! Spices, herbs and teas are some of the highest antioxidant containing foods available, meaning they have medicinal compounds that directly help to address inflammation more than fruits and vegetables alone. This includes dried or fresh herbs as well as herbal teas!
Try adding these powerful herbs to your fall recipes:
Cinnamon: A subtle sweetener with anti-inflammatory compounds, supports blood sugar balance and metabolism! Add to your coffee, oatmeal breakfast cookie recipe or a smoothie
Ginger: Alleviates digestive symptoms by reducing nausea, gas and bloating even helps to reduce period cramps. Add to a savory chicken recipe or brew your own tea.
Turmeric: A potent antioxidant that reduces inflammation, strengthens the gut barrier, and relieves gas and bloating. Add to smoothies, soups, rice dishes or try our golden milk latte recipe in the Fall Guide.
Incorporating these warming herbs and spices is a great way to nourish your digestive system as the weather cools down. If you want more about how to experiment with these ingredients, download our Fall guide for our favorite warming herbal teas!
Circadian rhythm strategies for daylight savings
Daylight savings can be a bit of a shock for our bodies internal timekeeper otherwise known as our circadian rhythm. Our circadian rhythm is the internal clock that governs the fluctuations of our critical hormones, cortisol and melatonin, that impact everything from our energy, hormones, sleep patterns, inflammation levels and even gut motility just to name a few.
When the clocks change on Sunday Nov 3nd, it can throw off our circadian rhythm and take sometimes a week or even two to readjust our internal clocks and feel back in the groove of our schedule. But not all is lost, we can use the same foundations we teach inside of our Nourished Gut Guide (NGG) to help realign our circadian rhythm more quickly and efficiently after the clocks change.
The two most significant influences on our circadian rhythms is the timing of light exposure and meal times. So focusing on consistently practicing these foundations both leading up to and through the time change can make a big difference to support our bodies, our energy and our adjustment to the changing seasons. These simple strategies are also pivotal all the way through the Fall and Winter season when the light is low.
The first most significant signal for a healthy circadian rhythm is morning light. Morning light is a major supporter of stimulating the rise of cortisol first thing in the morning which is critical for a healthy circadian rhythm. Making sure to get natural light within one hour of waking is the key ingredient to help stimulate a healthy cortisol response. Going for a morning walk or taking your coffee outside for a couple minutes all without sunglasses for anywhere from 10-20 minutes depending on the level of light is a great strategy. Or if you are up before the sun or it's just a gloomy, dark morning using a light box that emits 10,000 IU of light can help to mimic natural light for the key cortisol response. Check out our favorite light box on our Wellness Shop!
The second most significant signal for circadian rhythm is the first meal of the day - this is a major reason why we are so serious about breakfast! The first meal of the day helps to regulate cortisol which is our major circadian rhythm hormone - so having a breakfast meal with 1-2 hours of waking is key to strengthening a healthy circadian rhythm and this is also a major tool for regulating healthy cortisol and blood sugar levels too.
These two seemingly simple practices have a major impact on your body's hormonal rhythms, metabolism, gut health and overall stress resilience! The more consistent you are with the foundations, the more benefit our bodies experience especially in a season of change like daylight savings!
