It's a new year, which means new resolutions to start the new year, actually the NEW DECADE, on a healthy track. Many people want to feel and look better so they think that exercising is the only resolution they need to make. What most people do not realize is that in order to start feeling better, taking care of your insides is the first step. This means cleansing and recharging your gut health.

We all have microorganisms that live in our digestive tract. These microbes are essential and even beneficial for our health. The ideal is for the good bacteria to balance out the bad bacteria in our digestive system. When we do not eat healthy and take care of our body, the bad bacteria grows at a faster rate than the good bacteria and that is when we start to feel sluggish and bloated and then comes the onslaught of more health problems.

What can you do to recharge your gut health? Start by following the below three tips and you will notice an improvement in health and well being.

Stay in Rhythm

The Circadian rhythm is the internal biochemical processes that follow a 24 hour awake sleep pattern. These biochemical processes affect our physical and mental state of being. Our gut also functions on a 24-hour cycle of day and night. This means when we sync our gut clock with our body clock of sleep awake cycles, then the microorganisms in our gut work better which ultimately affects how food is digested and how we feel. If we are not sleeping well then our gut is not resting and therefore not recharging. Likewise, if we eat at night then our gut is not given the rest it needs to recharge. Ultimately, it is important to eat during the 8-10 hour window of day time hours and give your gut 14-16 hours of rest at night to digest and reboot for the next day.

Eat Your Veggies

A nutritious and healthy diet full of vegetables (I say 5-7 servings!) provides our body with the nutrients and vitamins and we need to remain healthy. Many people have resorted to vitamins to supplement their diet as an excuse not to eat vegetables but truth be told- no supplement can outdo what vegetables can do for your gut. If you start doing this you will notice a difference in your gut within two weeks, possibly even in just a few days. Scientifically, eating more prebiotics (form of dietary fiber found in foods such as bananas, asparagus, garlic, onions, apples, etc)induces the growth of good bacteria in our gut.

Get Sweaty

Research has proven that exercising is essential for diversifying our gut health.Take that a step further and exercising in nature is doubly beneficial because nature is calming and improves blood flow to the gut thereby diversifying your microbiome. More importantly the sun (or even UV rays on a cloudy day) increases your vitamin D and also helps with diversifying your gut microbiome. Therefore, getting outside and going for a walk, hike or jog is good for your gut.

Start the new year off right, by recharging your gut with these three easy tips. You will look and more importantly feel significantly better in 2020.