25 eating habits for a healthier gut, digestion and body

We eat all the time and often our eating habits can do with some improvements.

Good food is something we need every day and as one of the requirements for health and life, how we eat, what we eat, when we eat, can significantly improve or deteriorate our health

There are some eating habits that need to be adjusted immediately if we want to remedy health conditions like heartburn, obesity, diabetes, some cancers, high blood pressure, etc.

How to develop habits that stick

70 habits that maintain your health

103 bad habits to quit for a healthier and happier life

Today, I will be discussing eating habits that help us keep a healthy gut, and boost our health both in body and mind.

Here we go:

Habit 1. Eating regularly and not skipping meals – This reduces spikes in sugar levels making you more prone to overeating, irritability, having low energy, etc.

Habit 2. Snacking with fruits, vegetables, and nuts – It is easy to snack with burritos, chips, sodas, and all other undesirables. Snacking is a healthy habit but you need to snack on nutritious substances and actual food, not just junk such as roasted nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

Habit 3. Eating only farm produce and avoiding packed foods – It is important that you eat what grows from the earth or what is from the environment and not artificial foods that do nothing but harm your health

Habit 4. Eating at least 2 hours before bedtime – It is recommended that you give your body at least 2-3 hours before bedtime so that to digest most of the food before going to bed to prevent things like night heartburn, nausea, insomnia, etc. Also, late-night snacking is bad for health

Habit 5. Cook at home – Most of the fit and healthy people you see make time to cook most of their meals at home. Limit takeaways and eating out because home-cooked meals are almost always healthier. They have less bad fats, sodium, calories and have better hygiene.

The best part is that home-cooked meals are often cheaper than takeaways or eating out.

Habit 6. Exercising 1-2 hours after eating – exercising immediately after meals is bad for digestion and can cause dizziness, nausea, heartburn, etc. 3o minutes is sufficient wait-time after eating a snack

Habit 7. Avoid very hot, very sugary, very sour foods – Frequently eating foods with extreme tastes are bad because they exceed the limit that our body is comfortable digesting.

Habit 8. Do not sit immediately after eating – Sitting or being stationary immediately after eating is not recommended. This study among others showed that those that did a chore or walked around digested the food faster.

Habit 9. Chew food well and do not rush – not chewing probably and eating in a rush contributes to suffering from indigestion, gas, bloating, etc. It also causes low nutrient absorption during digestion in the stomach.

Habit 10. Avoid going on prolonged weight-loss diets that are unhealthy – Ideally, weight loss should be a lifestyle that is sustainable. When you are going on a more extreme diet for faster results, remember not to overdo short-term altering your diet drastically or it might harm your health

Habit 11. Do not skip breakfast – This is a common habit, especially for working adults. Skipping breakfast or eating brunch and not breakfast is equally bad. It leads to low productivity, low energy levels, being prone to overeating, etc.

Habit 12. Do not eat more than 50% of your stomach -Eating big meals that leave us tired or unable to move around. It is over-tasking our digestive system. Eat until you are not hungry anymore then, stop.

Habit 13. Sit upright while eating – Sitting upright while eating improves digestion.

Habit 14. Mentally keep track of what you eat and compensate when you feel you should – y that, I mean roughly keep track of what you are eating and when you notice that you have been over-indulging in unhealthy foods, try to compensate e.g. by going on a mini 3-day or so healthy-meals-only diet to compensate for the damage of the unhealthy foods on your body.

Habit 15. Do not eat while standing – Eating while standing also causes indigestion in the body and makes the person more prone to overeating.

Habit 16. Do not eat extreme temperature foods – Foods that are too cold or too hot are not good for our health. Lukewarm or warm solids and liquids are best.

Habit 17. Only eat when you are hungry. If not, snack on fruits and vegetables – There are times that we feel like eating even though we are not particularly hungry (I get that urge too sometimes). When that happens, snack on healthy snacks and not artificial foods to tame the urge to eat.

Habit 18. Research your foods and know when to eat what – We need to know the types and categories of the food we eat and when to eat what. Meaning if for example, you are experiencing nausea, you should know to avoid alcohol, strong-smelling foods, etc.

Habit 19. If you cannot identify an ingredient, do not eat it – Knowledge is power they say. Not all foods that are labeled or presented as food are actually food for the body. Make it a habit to know the environmental source of all that you eat.

Habit 2o. Find healthy alternatives to your unhealthy foods – Most people including me have an unhealthy snack or food that we love even though we try to avoid eating it often.

I will highly recommend that you research and find a healthy alternative to your unhealthy food/snack because we should remember that the harmful effects of unhealthy foods accumulate with time in our bodies before we experience the consequence of the habit.

Habit 21. Avoid eating many food varieties at once – While it is advised to have a varied diet, eating too many varied foods in one seating is bad for digestion and health. We should not eat more than 3 types of foods in one seating.

Habit 22. Eat Foods and fruits that are in season – A very important habit of eating is to eat the fruits that are harvested particularly in the season.

The fruits of each season are different and they grow according to the conditions of the season hence, such foods have the nutritional content that is what is most appropriate for the body during the season.

Habit 23. Drink lots of water – Almost all the processes in the body that keep us alive and healthy need sufficient water to be fully functional such as blood filtration, urine filtration, digestion, etc. They all need sufficient water in the body to be carried out.

The recommended amount is at least 8 glasses of water in a day or 3.7 liters for men and 2.7 liters of water for women.

Habit 24 – Have a varied diet– It is easy to eat what you are used to. I am often guilty of that but I try my best to make sure that I am not eating the same food made through a different recipe. This will significantly reduce the chances of having a deficiency in your body.

Habit 25: Pair foods well -Know which foods make your body react negatively or cause indigestion such as citrus fruit and milk, a cheesy meal and beans, etc. It can even be a unique combination that your body doesn’t like. Once you figure it out, avoid eating such food together.

How to develop habits that stick

70 habits that maintain your health

103 bad habits to quit for a healthier and happier life

Final thoughts

These are the eating habits and dietary advice that I managed to compile and during my research, it helped remind me to improve my eating habits too.

This dietary advice, eating recommendations, and healthy habits will help you to be healthier especially in your gut health and digestion.

If there are some recommended habits that I have omitted, kindly let me know in the comment section below.

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice day