Love Your Guts
There are still a few weeks until we usher in the fall season, but as summer winds down you may be considering a reset for yourself and/or your family after the seasonal excitement, travel, and festivities. Think birthdays, weddings, reunions, cottages, vacations, barbecues, imbibing and more. Gut health is multifaceted and influenced by diet, lifestyle, medical history, and genetics. It is fairly well known that gut health is a major contributor to overall health with an emphasis on brain and immune health. Fun fact: Roughly 70% of the immune system is in the gut. The good news is that there are a few basic strategies to recalibrate and boost gut health that are appropriate for both kids and adults.
Gut Health Support Five Ways
A shared concern amongst parents entering the back to school season is what to pack for lunches that their kids are a) likely to eat and b) that fuels them and supports their mental and physical demands. Five strategies that can help kids (and adults!) thrive from back to school and beyond:
- Feed the gut bugs- home to over 100 trillion organisms (mainly bacteria), gut bugs help the body digest food, prevent infections, boost immunity, and help regulate metabolism. Fibre found in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables help feed the beneficial bugs, contribute to sustained satiety and can help reduce the odds of constipation. Consider foods like bananas, berries, kiwi, oatmeal/buckwheat, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes and beans/lentils.
- Incorporate beneficial bacteria- diversity is important when it comes to gut flora and even helps teach kids’ developing immune systems to distinguish between friend or foe. Probiotics can help with this and are found in fermented foods like yogurt, kefir and aged cheese. Non-dairy options include kimchi, sauerkraut, non-dairy yogurt/kefir and drinks like kombucha. Probiotics can even be beneficial for reducing allergies and skin conditions including eczema.
- Cut back on overly processed and/or artificially sweetened options- this one exists on a spectrum and everyone has their own definition of processed, but the simplest way to think about this is to do the usual “stick to the perimeter of the grocery store”, “peruse your local farmer’s market”, and/or buy direct from local farmers where/when possible. Sometimes convenience is a necessity and selecting these items based on “simple”/”whole foods” ingredient lists goes a long way towards supporting optimal gut and overall health. Prefer to create your own fun snacks/treats? Consider checking out your favourite food blogger for inspiration. A couple of our favourites are “Ambitious Kitchen”, “Chocolate Covered Katie”, and the featured monthly recipes found in Alive magazine (available in-store or can be found online).
- Consider herbal remedies- Herbs including peppermint, ginger, and licorice root have been used for centuries to ease digestion. This can be more challenging to incorporate for children but for adults it may be the boost you need.
- Digestive Enzymes or Bitters- as the name suggests, digestive enzymes function to help breakdown the food we eat, absorb the nutrients we need and make digestion easier.
Back To School Supplement Support
- Genuine Health Advanced Gut Health Probiotic Kids 5 Billion (lemonade) https://feelgoodnatural.com/shop/digestion/advanced-gut-health-probiotic-kids-lemonade-30-tabs/
- Sea-licious Kids Omega-3 + Vitamin D3 (cotton candy) https://feelgoodnatural.com/shop/oils/omega-3/sea-licious-kids-omega-3-vitamin-d3-cotton-candy/
- Preferred Nutrition-Children’s Multivitamin https://feelgoodnatural.com/shop/childbabies/child-multis/preferred-nutrition-childrens-multivitamin-180-gummies/
- St Francis Deep Immune Kids (Honey & Berry) https://feelgoodnatural.com/shop/colds-and-flus/st-francis-deep-immune-kids-honey-berry-120ml/
- St Francis Canadian Bitters https://feelgoodnatural.com/shop/digestion/bitters/st-francis-canadian-bitters-50ml/
Do I need professional guidance?
If you or your child experience chronic bloating, stomach pain, irregular digestion, or food sensitivities you may consider consulting a naturopath or other trusted health care provider. Naturopath’s frequently use in depth health history, symptom tracking, food sensitivity testing, microbiome analysis and stool testing to help identify the issue.
Disclaimer
The content in this post is for information purposes only and is not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment of conditions that your health care practitioner should assess. The products discussed may not be suitable for you. Always read and follow the label.
To view and ask further questions or seek recommendations on Gut Health Products, you are always welcome to visit us in-store at 317 Brock Street S Whitby, ON L1N 4K3.
At FeelGood Natural Health, we deeply appreciate the ongoing support of our customers (returning and new) over the past 28 years. Like all small businesses, it is our customers that have allowed us to operate as long as we have and to continue doing our best to meet your natural health needs.
References:
Alive Editorial. 2021. “5 Nutrients Your Kids Need”. <https://www.alive.com/health/5-nutrients-your-kids-need/>
Stock, F. The Children’s Naturopath. 2025. “Digestive Health For Optimal Children’s Health.” <https://thechildrensnaturopath.com/digestive-health-for-optimal-childrens-health/>
iStock image retrieved from https://www.istockphoto.com/search/2/image-film?phrase=digestive+system+body
