| Shayna's Kitchen

13/12/2024

If you follow my journey on social media, you may have seen updates about my life in Italy from my biodynamic olive oil farm and Umbrian serene soul retreats to my love for matcha and mindful rituals! Across all my posts, gut health remains the foundation of every aspect of my journey. I am a passionate advocate for optimizing gut health because it is what I struggled with for nearly a decade before finding relief and healing naturally through holistic living.

Two thirds of Americans struggle with a chronic illness related to gut health. Gut health issues are more common in women—irritable bowel syndrome is “two to six times more common among women than men.” My gut health masterclass Inner Alchemy: Your Essential Guide To A Healthy, Balanced Gut empowers you to take your health transformation into your own hands with holistic practices that will naturally heal and restore your gut. The Inner Alchemy Masterclass is created and taught by myself and Dr. Daryl Gioffre, a dear friend and renowned gut health & inflammation specialist who has been pivotal in my gut healing journey. Dr. Gioffre has over 2 decades of experience and treating over 150,000 patients, helping people naturally heal their guts without the use of potentially addictive and dangerous drugs.

As a kid who ate a lot of processed food growing up in America, I developed all types of digestive issues in my early twenties. I sought healing through conventional medicine and spoke with countless doctors of various specialties, but nothing helped me recover from persistent constipation, bloating, acne, gas, abdominal pain, yeast overgrowth, dermatitis, water retention, and more. It wasn’t until I became my own health advocate that I discovered that the root cause of my digestive issues was a leaky gut.

Healing my gut changed my life. My digestion is no longer a constant battle which means I feel comfortable in my body instead of bloated all the time. My skin is clearer with fewer breakouts and almost no dermatitis, and my hair is strong and shiny. I experience fewer sick days and no more brain fog. I’ve learned how to manage my stress on a daily basis, and my mood, energy, and productivity are elevated.

I share what I’ve learned about healing my gut naturally with my community online @shaynateresetaylor. If you are looking for inspiration on your gut healing journey and a reminder that you are not alone, I’ve gathered some of my favorite gut health posts here.

Gut Revival Challenge & Morning Ritual Challenge

I know from firsthand experience that healing a leaky gut takes time, dedication, and patience. Optimizing the health of your gut does not happen with an overnight fix. The transformation of your gut health happens with a holistic mindset and lifestyle of consistent habits. All it takes to begin your journey are small, incremental changes that will lead you to a better quality of life.

For those who are ready to take their healing into their own hands, I created a simple challenge to help you build one habit over the course of 30 days. For our 30-day Gut Revival Challenge, we raised our glasses every morning with a toast to vitality and reclaiming the power to heal our bodies. My gut health morning shot is simply the juice of half a lemon with 1-2 tablespoons of organic extra virgin olive oil taken on an empty stomach to start your day with a small commitment to wellness.

I love taking my gut health olive oil lemon shots with my friends and seeing my community start their day the same way! 15 years ago, shots looked quite different for many of us, but now our glasses are filled with gut strengthening vitamins, anti-inflammatory fats, antioxidants, and polyphenols that help lower the risk of premature death, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.

From the Gut Revival Challenge, we continued to build mindful habits with the Morning Ritual Challenge: a 10-day commitment of starting each day with 10 minutes of managing stress and anxiety. By meditating, journaling, and making matcha together, we created a calm, joyful environment to heal our guts.

Your Gut, Brain, & Skin Connection

The gut-brain connection is one of the most powerful forces in the human body. Your gut is your first brain, regulating and influencing immunity, mood, sleep, hormones, and digestion through the Vagus Nerve of your gut-brain axis. The emotional burden of stress can tax our bodies with inflammation, especially in our gut, where the majority of the happiness hormone serotonin is produced.

Ever notice your skin flaring up whenever you go through a period of stress, anxiety, or depression? When your body releases the stress hormone cortisol, it can disrupt your digestion, weaken your gut lining, and lead to gut dysbiosis. Chronic stress kicks up our immune system, triggering inflammation that can show up as issues like acne, eczema, and psoriasis.

As someone who has struggled with dermatitis, rashes, and breakouts, my beauty secret for clearer, more glowing skin are my habits that keep my gut happy and thriving. I live by a philosophy of mindfulness, grounding myself in daily meditation, journaling, breathwork, and yoga to keep my mind and body calm. I take my gut health olive oil lemon shot every morning, and I eat a variety of nutrient dense foods and wholesome meals to fuel my body. I avoid refined sugar, processed foods, and seed oils; I try to eat the rainbow—a colorful mix of different fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds to fuel my body and support gut microbiome diversity.

Stress has a huge impact on our gut health, which is why managing stress can visibly improve your skin. If you drink coffee in the morning, try ceremonial matcha for less caffeine and the calming benefits of amino acid L-theanine. 5-10 minutes of morning sunlight helps to reduce stress, balance hormonal cycles, and improve mood, while a digital nighttime detox from blue light helps you relax and switch off for higher quality sleep.

Removing yourself from a toxic relationship and surrounding yourself with emotional support creates a healthier and more balanced microbiome that aligns with gut-brain harmony.

Your gut feelings are real. Your gut is your brain, your intuition, and your spiritual guide. As you heal your gut, you will learn how to listen to your body telling you what it needs to heal and thrive emotionally and physically.

Intuitive Eating For Gut Health

Women of all ages are misled into thinking that they need to follow extreme diets to look a certain way. This often leads to yo-yo dieting, which I experienced myself in my early 20’s, adding stress to my already stressed out body. After years of suffering I discovered the holistic approach of intuitive eating, which has healed my relationship with food. By listening to my gut, I listen to my body’s cues.

Healing your gut is about embracing a stress-free lifestyle, not following a restrictive diet. I focus on colors, not calories. Eating fresh, seasonally, and organically feeds your gut with a garden of diverse goodness.

As a chef and holistic nutritionist, I eat intuitively and to improve my gut health. I no longer feel pressured to adhere to a strict diet. Here are some questions that can help you learn how to eat intuitively. What does food mean to me beyond sustenance? How do emotions, memories, and experience influence my relationship with food? When have I felt truly satisfied after a meal, and what did that experience teach me about listening to my body’s hunger and fullness cues? How has feeling pressured to eat in a certain way affected my ability to trust my body’s signals?

We all hold the power to transform our health in such a beautiful way, and it begins right within the sacred space of our own kitchens and homes.

The typical American diet, often filled with processed foods, refined sugars, and low in fiber, disrupts the balance of good bacteria in the gut. When this harmony is lost, the gut’s ability to digest and break down food becomes impaired, leading to constipation. My gut healing recipes are an elevated and nourishing twist on what Americans traditionally know and love so that you can enjoy food as fuel without feeling the pressure to restrict.

My bone broth recipe gently simmers beef or chicken bones to release an array of essential gut-healing collagen, gelatin, amino acids, and minerals.

shaynaskitchen.com and @shaynas.kitchen is full of gluten-free and refined-sugar-free recipes for you to heal your gut. My green gut smoothie and toast with sauerkraut or kimchi are some of my favorite snacks for probiotics, fiber, protein, and healthy fats.

Master The Inner Alchemy Of Your Gut Health: https://shaynaskitchen.com/masterclasses/

Connect & heal your gut with me!
https://instagram.com/shaynateresetaylor

Gut-healthy, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free recipes: https://shaynaskitchen.com/recipes/

Recipes Gut Health

Up Next

Repair Your Gut With Anti-Inflammatory Recipes That Boost Collagen & Balance Your Microbiome