My Morning Routine for Gut Support

A few years ago, I was listening to a podcast with my partner, “Aussie.”* It was a bro-y wellness podcast, and the host was rattling off his 45648649 step morning & evening biohacking routine.

*note: if you are new here or don’t listen to the podcast, Aussie is a nickname we gave my partner on the show. It’s not his actual name.

Aussie and I were dying laughing.

It seems like some people’s morning & evening routines start to encroach on their entire days. Like this man must have started his evening routine and soon as he finished the morning routine!

But, he did say something that stuck with me:

He said he likes to bookend his day with connection.

Ever since, I’ve really enjoyed the concept of bookending your day.

I guess I’ve been bookending my day for a long time now. The first and last hour of my day are phone/screen-free; I use these times to meditate, journal, and engage in other forms of self-connection; and I truly block them off as “me” time.

It’s taken me years to develop these routines, but as part of our October “DeBloat by Halloween” series, I wanted to share components of my morning routine that I credit with keeping me regular & helping me debloat:

MORNING WALKING MEDITATION — my days start with me taking my dog out immediately upon waking. truthfully, I do this because she can’t quite hold her urine, but I absolutely adore the feeling of getting cool morning air on my face immediately upon waking. Plus, they say watching the sunrise is the best way to wake up. We tend to be out before the sunrise, so this doesn’t quite apply to us, but if you wake up around the sunrise, I highly recommend popping outside to watch it.

While we walk, I don’t listen to podcasts or music (I actually don’t even bring my phone, but more on that later); instead, I do a walking meditation:

• I start by saying to myself “today is going to be a good day because…” and then I list 3 reasons why

• and then I list 3 things that I’m excited to do today

• and then I make 3 observations about the present moment. It could be the temperature of the wind on my face, sounds that I hear, different colored lights that I see on the street. Anything that brings me into the present moment & makes me feel more mindful!

CLEANSING WATER — once we come inside, I first brush my teeth & put in contacts, then I have a few cups of my cleansing water. this recipe has ingredients that increase gut motility & hydrate the colon, which helps me eliminate. You can access the recipe here.

MORNING WINDUP — after hydrating, I do my Blush Academy “morning windup.” The windup is a combination of a few different modalities of breathwork, mindfulness meditation, intention setting, visualization, inner child work, lymphatic drainage, and neuroplasticity. It’s a somatic exercise, meaning it isn’t just in your mind, you also move your body. It’s designed to stimulate digestion/help you eliminate, but also has components that help you build resilience, regulate your nervous system, and boost your confidence. If you’re interested in trying this, you can sign up for a free trial of the Blush Academy here—there’s a generous 7 day free trial because I know once you try the Academy, you will love it!

NO SCREENS — I don’t touch my phone or look at screens until after I finish my morning windup. This one adjustment goes a long way for your nervous system. The ratio of light spectrums in our phone screens are equivalent to the noon sun, which is the most stimulating sunlight. Put more simply: every time you look at your phone screen, you tell your brain that it is noon. Now, if it’s actually noon, that’s great. But when it’s not noon, it’s a problem, because…

At noon, our energy naturally dips. The blue and green light frequencies in the noon sun prompt our brain to secrete more cortisol to give us an energy boost. Again, when this actually happens at noon, it’s great. But when it happens at 6/7/8am, or 6/7/8pm, we have a problem. The excess cortisol overstimulates us, makes us more anxious, makes it harder to sleep at night, and makes it harder to eliminate during the day.

I highly recommend putting your phone in a warmer color frequency, but also exerting some boundaries with your phone. You’ll find your mornings will be far more peaceful if you put a bit of distance.

GLUTAMINE — Glutamine is an amino acid that is incredibly helpful for fortifying your intestinal lining. I macro-dose it in the mornings (I currently take 15g) and it has made my bloating go down so much and it helps me poo. Please consult with your doctor or medical professional before starting or stopping any medications and supplements, but if you struggle with bloating, constipation, or feel like you have food allergies or leaky gut, it could be helpful. This is the one I take.

NEURAL REWIRING PRACTICES — NRPs are the special sauce of the Blush Academy. They are the self-hypnosis modality that we use to quite literally re-wire your brain into one that can give you the life you want.

When I say hypnosis, I don’t mean quack like a duck type of shit. It’s more subtle than that.

Think of it like this:

Think of your childhood brain as wet cement. Everything you experienced as a child imprinted upon that wet cement. And now, as an adult, you have a slab of cement that is grooved in a specific way.

But let’s say that isn’t the shape of cement you want. Maybe you wanted cement molded into a planter; but the cement that you have is shaped like a brick.

Here’s where the NRPs come in — the NRPs metaphorically re-wet the cement, so that you can now mold it into the planter shape that you wanted.

Same thing here: your childhood experiences, both good and bad, have created neural pathways in your brain that dictate how your life looks. Everything about how you show up, your habits, your behaviors, your reactions, how you see the world, how you carry yourself, your confidence levels, etc. all come from these neural pathways.

If there is something that you want to change—

let’s say you want to be more confident;

or maybe you want to be less reactionary.

maybe you want to work harder, have better habits;

maybe you want to do less emotional eating, or exercise more.

or maybe you just want to feel happier, be kinder…

whatever it may be, the easiest & most sustainable & effective way to enact that change is to re-wire your brain so it supports that change. and the NRPs help you do that.

We have NRPs for better digestion, but also NRPs for being more confident, more secure, less reactionary, having better habits, working through painful memories, and so much more.

The NRPs have truly changed my life— not just my gut health, but also my overall life. Everything I have in my life; everything from my relationship with Aussie & friendships, to my apartment, career, body, and more; are the direct result of NRPs.

You can learn more about NRPs here.

btw if you’re new here, I highly recommend checking out some of my recipes for constipation!

LET ME KNOW if you have any questions, or if you want me to share my evening routine!

For More on Gut Health & Bloating

If you want more recipes that will help you debloat & eliminate regularly, I highly recommend checking out my [free] Gut Health Cookbook, which has 5 yummy, gut-friendly, recipes. You can download it here.