Perhaps you’ve just had severe food poisoning, or an intense Crohn’s or colitis flare? Maybe you’ve suffered prolonged vomiting, or intestinal bleeding or some other serious condition that requires you to now be as gentle as possible with your digestive system.
Here are some very well-tolerated, easy-to-digest meal ideas for those times when you need to be extra gentle with your GI tract, yet still take in high quality nutrition.
Of course, omit or modify ingredients according to your unique body’s allergies, tolerances, and tolerance thresholds.
10 Soothing Meals for the Gut during a Bowel Rest
1. Steamed rice with miso soup. Take half a spoonful of rice and then dip it in the miso soup to fill up the spoon and eat.
2. Sliced avocado drizzled with a tiny bit of lemon juice and then a little bit of soy sauce. So delicious you cannot imagine it. Avocado is super delicate, so you only need to use a tiny bit of sauce or flavouring and it becomes prominent.
3. Absorb plus shake with 1 tablespoon Udos oil and one scoop of MultiAbsorb Immune Booster
4. Bone broth or veggie broth with rice Ramen noodles. If you’re ready for it, add some well-cooked carrot and zucchini, or diced cucumber. Add soy sauce to taste.
5. Steamed rice with sliced avocado on top, drizzled with the yolk of a soft cooked egg and Himalayan salt or soy sauce to taste.
6. Soft-boiled eggs with gluten-free toast soldiers. Cut toast into strips and dip into egg yolk.
7. Porridge with diced cooked apples and coconut sugar as needed to sweeten. Soak the oats the night before for improved digestibility.
8. Roasted butternut squash with steamed rice and homemade teriyaki sauce.
9. Congee – Traditional Chinese congee (or in Korean culture, jook) with broth is a great meal to provide bowel rest during digestive upset.
10. Bone broth or veggie broth with diced roasted squash, carrot, sweet potato, red potato, zucchini.
Thanks for this, Jini! Peace and blessings!
You’re welcome Geoff! Let me know if you come up with anymore that you like 🙂
Hi Jini, my autistic son was admitted into the hospital for constantly bloody diarrhea and vomiting for over a week. He’s now on Prednisone, Mesalamine, Ferrous Sulfate, Omeprazole DR and Folic Acid. He’s on a bland diet but he insists on eating his favorite cookies and Ensure several times a day. He’s also on Lexapro, Clonidine, Depakote and Geodon for moods and behavior management due to his autism. A colonoscopy and endoscopy is schedule. I’m stressing over those. I managed to keep him in remission for the past 5 yrs since his diagnosis but things have changed in our lives. He finished school as an adult now and his grandparents who we lived with for the past 21yrs, retired and moved out of the country. We moved into an apartment. I think these major changes affected his Crohn’s disease. How do I help him? He still has 3-4 Bloody diarrhea daily.
Hi there! I am so sorry to hear what is happening to your son! 🙁 I would highly recommend consulting Natren probiotics and their autism nutritional support protocol: https://www.natren.com/pages/probiotic-nutritional-support-for-autistic-children
You can even call and speak with a member of their team, and they can help guide you to which probiotic is best for your child.
Regarding your mention of colonoscopies, here is an eBook Jini wrote which may help guide you as you’re making all these decisions: http://signups2.s3.amazonaws.com/What-Need-Know-About-Colonoscopies.pdf https://blog.listentoyourgut.com/colonoscopy-dangers-what-you-need-to-know/
I would also consult Jini’s home remedy pages to take a look at each symptom he is having and follow her suggestions: https://listentoyourgut.com/heal-your-symptoms/
Absorb Plus is an elemental shake that many can take while vomiting and still able to get nutrients and keep it down: https://shoppe.listentoyourgut.com/collections/absorb-plus
He can take this shake as a whole meal, so he may benefit from being on an elemental or half-elemental diet until symptoms calm down in conjunction with Natren probiotics to help support the gut. Jini’s 8 Kep Steps outlines a lot of what I am saying, so I would watch this and then try to implement what you feel are good options for your son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsIN8tSWjI8&t=888s
I did it, and I helaed! So keep the hope! -Linsy
Hello, I am wondering if there is any part of the heal your gut protocol that should be postponed while tappering of of steroids? I would like to start but I only have money for so many shakes and supplements. Would it be better to wait until I’m completely finished with the steroids or will starting the protocol while tapering off make the transition easier as I’m having hardly any bleeding or other symptoms. I just don’t want to waste any of the probiotics or shakes if it will be less effective on steroids. Thank you!
Side note. Prednisone is the only medication I am taking.
Hi David,
Great questions! Many readers are on medications when they start the protocols with LTYG. Make sure always to ask your physician of course but it is common that people begin the protocols while still on meds. Then they eventually tend to wean off the medication with the help of the elemental diet etc…
Take a look at Jini’s LTYG book chapter 5 under ‘Allopathic Medicine’ where she discusses common meds used with IBD, which can be very insightful.
Chapter one you can download for free: https://listentoyourgut.com/listen-to-your-gut-the-complete-natural-healing-program-for-ibs-and-ibd/
In terms of the shake check out this post by Jini where she tells you how to build your own shake on a budget. This might help you continue on the shakes the whole time while on your medication or weaning off (whatever your health goals are)
https://blog.listentoyourgut.com/create-your-own-elemental-bowel-rest-shake/
Hope this helps! Linsy
I’ve read that it’s important to keep certain supplements and probiotics separated by two hours. The protocol says to take the probiotics before bed. I like to take my magnesium before bed as it helps me sleep. Do you think this will effect the probiotics in a negative way?
Hi David! Good question! Yes, it’s important to separate probiotics from anti-pathogens by at least 2 hours since anti-pathogens will kill ALL bacteria – good and bad. Are you supplementing with QuikPlus Magnesium, or a nano mineral version of Mageniusm?
Atom-sized minerald like QuikPlus are actually absorbed directly into your bloodstream through the lining of your mouth, so does not require any digestion and will not interfere with your probiotics. If you are taking another form of magnesium, it may be a good idea to separate the magnesium and probiotics by at least 20 minutes.
In order for the powdered probiotics to colonize it’s best to take these on an empty stomach, so if you are taking the Natren powders I would take these before bed and then 20 minutes later take the magnesium. If you are taking the Healthy Trinity capsules, we actually recommend taking this capsule with food as it optimizes digestion. So if this is what you are taking, perhaps take that at dinner. Here is a post I think you will find helpful: https://blog.listentoyourgut.com/i-want-to-take-probiotics-where-do-i-start/
I’m using a magnesium citrate. I will wait at least 20 minutes after I take my Natren probiotics before taking the magnesium then.
Thank you for ALWAYS responding to my questions. It is so important to have somebody to bounce the questions off of. You rock!
Oh wonderful so glad to hear that! That is what we are here for! 🙂
All my best to you David!
I wish there was someone to help guide me though this stuff. Is there a list or a link to natural doctors or someone that can guide me. I’ve tried all this stuff but it’s hard to know what to do and when to do it. I’m just confused looking for answers.
Hi Mike! Jini offers a list of practitioners who are familiar with her protocols: https://shoppe.listentoyourgut.com/collections/private-health-consults
I personally used Crohn’s Colitis Lifestyle when I was sick, and their info is provided at that link. 🙂 All my best!