Digestion Get this right and everything else works better

A plan you can't stick to isn't a good plan.

You can have the perfect nutrition plan on paper, but if your gut is constantly bloated, uncomfortable, or unpredictable, you're fighting a losing battle. Poor digestion wrecks your energy, your sleep, your training, and your ability to actually stick to the plan. This guide covers the habits and food choices that keep your digestion running smoothly, so every meal you eat actually works for you.

The Foundations Come First

Digestion doesn't happen in a vacuum. Before you change a single food, get these right.

Protect 7–8 hours

Sleep

Short sleep messes with hunger hormones, cravings, and how well your body handles food. If you're running on five hours and wondering why you're bloated and starving by 3pm, start here.

Pale yellow urine

Water

Your gut needs fluid to do its job. Aim for pale yellow urine as your simple daily check.

Don't fear it

Salt

If you're training hard and sweating, don't fear salting your food. Very low salt intake can leave you flat, fatigued, and sluggish, including your digestion.

Control the state you eat in

Stress

Your gut and your brain are directly wired together. High stress slows digestion down and makes your gut more reactive. You can't eliminate stress, but you can control the state you eat in.

Slow Down When You Eat The most underrated fix

Eating fast, standing up, or hunched over a laptop between meetings puts your body in the wrong state to digest food.

Sit down for your meals whenever possible
Chew properly. Digestion starts in the mouth, not the stomach
Put the fork down between bites if you know you're a fast eater
Take three slow breaths before you start eating if you've come straight out of something stressful

If you're bloated after meals, fix how you eat before you change what you eat.

Walk 10 Minutes After Your Biggest Meals

One of the highest value habits in this entire guide. A short walk after your main meals:

Helps your muscles pull sugar out of your bloodstream, which steadies your energy and prevents that heavy post-meal slump
Physically helps food move through your system, reducing bloating and sluggishness
Adds easy activity to your day without touching your schedule

It doesn't need to be a workout. A slow 10 minute stroll after lunch and dinner is enough. If you can only do one, make it the biggest meal of the day.

Build Your Meals Around Foods That Sit Well

Some foods are simply easier on the gut than others. Build the bulk of your meals from this list.

Proteins

Lean beef
Chicken & turkey
White fish & salmon
Eggs
Greek yogurt

Carbs

White rice
Potatoes & sweet potatoes
Oats
Sourdough bread
Fruit

Veg & Fruit

Spinach, peppers, carrots
Courgette, green beans
Oranges & berries
Bananas

Fats

Olive oil
Avocado
Nuts in moderate amounts

None of this means other foods are banned. It means when your gut is unhappy, these are the safe bets to build from.

Fiber Is Your Friend Not your enemy

You may have heard that fiber causes bloating and should be minimized. For most people that's backwards.

Fiber keeps you full when calories are lower, keeps you regular, and feeds the good bacteria in your gut. High fiber foods like potatoes, oats, fruit, and vegetables are some of the most filling foods on the planet, which is exactly what you want when the goal is fat loss.

Two Rules

Increase fiber gradually. Going from very little to loads overnight will cause bloating. Add it over a couple of weeks and drink more water alongside it.
If you're having a rough gut week, simplify temporarily. Swap big raw salads and cruciferous veg like broccoli and cauliflower for cooked spinach, peppers, and carrots. Lean on white rice and peeled potatoes. Then reintroduce as things settle. Simplifying is a short term tool, not a lifestyle.

Add Something Fermented Most Days

A daily serving of fermented food is the easiest way to support the good bacteria in your gut.

Greek yogurt or natural yogurt
Kefir
Sauerkraut or kimchi

Yogurt pulls double duty here. It's a great protein source, it's filling, and it supports your gut. If you tolerate dairy, keep it in the rotation.

Know The Common Troublemakers

If your digestion is off, these are the usual suspects.

Deep fried food, especially from restaurants and takeaways where oils are reheated over and over. The single most common trigger for next-day gut trouble
Very large, very fatty meals, the kind that happen at client dinners and celebrations
Sugar-free sweets and drinks containing sweeteners ending in "ol" (sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol). Notorious for gas and urgency
Big loads of raw cruciferous veg (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage) when your gut is already irritated
Eating too fast, covered above, but it belongs on this list too

Alcohol

Alcohol irritates the gut lining, disrupts your sleep, and dehydrates you, which is why the day after drinks your digestion, energy, and appetite are all over the place.

You don't need to be a monk, but be honest about the pattern:

Keep drinks with food rather than on an empty stomach
Alternate with water
Expect your gut and your hunger signals to be off the day after a heavy night, and plan simple, easy-to-digest meals for that day

Caffeine

Coffee speeds up gut movement and can trigger reflux in some people, especially on an empty stomach.

If you get heartburn or an urgent stomach in the mornings, try having your first coffee with or after food rather than before it
Cut caffeine off by early afternoon so it doesn't eat into your sleep

Eating On The Road

Travel is where digestion usually falls apart: airport food, restaurant meals, disrupted sleep, less walking. A simple playbook:

Default Order At Restaurants

A grilled or roasted protein, rice or potatoes, and a cooked vegetable. Nearly every restaurant on earth can do this.

Skip the deep fried options when you're already dealing with travel stress and poor sleep
Walk after meals. Travel days often mean sitting for hours, so the 10 minute walk matters even more
Carry safe snacks: fruit, jerky or biltong, yogurt where you can get it, so you're never forced into a bad option by hunger
Hydrate hard on flight days. Flying dehydrates you and your gut feels it first

Find Your Personal Triggers

Everyone's gut is a bit different. If something regularly disagrees with you, run this simple test.

The Two-Week Test

Remove the suspect food completely for two weeks
Notice how you feel. Keep everything else roughly the same
Reintroduce it in a normal portion and watch what happens over the next day or two

That's it. One food at a time, otherwise you won't know what caused what. Share what you find at your check-in and we'll build your plan around it.

Not Coaching Territory

When To See A Doctor

This guide is for everyday digestive niggles. If you have any of the following, book in with your doctor:

Persistent or severe stomach pain Blood in your stool Unexplained weight loss Symptoms that don't improve no matter what you change

Tell your coach too, so we can adjust your plan around whatever they find.

The Whole Thing In One Line

Sleep, water, slow down, walk after meals, build from foods that sit well, and pay attention to what your own gut tells you. Get those right and everything else we do together works better.