Gut health
🚨5 Everyday Habits Destroying Your Gut...and how to fix them
If it’s true that we are what we habitually do, then the gut microbiome is not just what we regularly put into it, but also the sum total of all our other routines.
Here are 5 daily habits that might be putting your gut health at risk and what you can do about them.
1️⃣ Stop Scrolling On The Toilet
Yes, we’ve all done it. In fact….are you in the Oval Office right now?
The average bowel movement should take between 3-5 minutes, whereas spending upwards of 10 minutes in the ceramic cockpit increases pressure on the pelvic floor, raising the risk of haemorrhoids.
However, a 2025 study found that 37% of phone users spend more than 5 minutes on the toilet compared to just 7% of non-phone users (PMID 40901789).
So, here’s the first simple change - leave the phone away from the throne.
2️⃣ Always Eating The Same Stuff
Your gut microbes thrive on diversity and always eating the same stuff isn’t going to deliver.
Even if you do eat 30g of fiber per day, you might not be feeding the whole of the gut if what you eat doesn’t contain a selection of slow, medium and fast fermenting fibers…(p.s this is exactly why we formulated LOAM to have a mix of all 3 fiber types, which no other fiber supplement has!).
Aiming to eat 30 different plants (fruit, veg, nuts, seeds) per week is a good step in the direction of diversity.
3️⃣ Eating In A Rush
Digestion begins in the mouth, so rushing through it is counter productive. Eating quickly can result in bloating, overeating and poorer digestion due to less chewing.
Simple hack: place your cutlery down on the table between bites to spend more time chewing and less time shovelling.
4️⃣ Not Moving
The simplest way to improve digestion, reduce the risk of constipation and even move gut microbiome composition favourably is to move.
A 10-minute walk after a meal will reduce blood sugar spikes, improve digestion and snag you anywhere between 500-1000 extra steps.
5️⃣ Not Planning
Very few people get 30g of fiber by accident. This becomes even more difficult if you’re following a diet or fasting.
I'm certainly not telling you to not diet or fast; however, if you do, you might need to spend a little bit of time planning how to get enough fiber. It’s not sexy, fun or glamorous, but your gut microbiome will thank you for it.
One cheat code for those hard days or if you’re on a GLP-1 is using a fiber supplement like LOAM. A 10g serving of fiber that will dissolve into your morning coffee without trace. That means you leave for work safe in the knowledge you’re a third of the way to your daily fiber target.
GENERAL health
🏋️Stopped Training? Read This
See if this sounds familiar:
You take up a new sport or fitness habit: going to the gym, working out at home, taking your creatine or fiber supplement every single day or taking a walk after lunch.
You clock up one or two months of regular practice: the streak on your wearable hits double, then triple figures.
People start to notice!
Then….something happens.
One of the kids gets ill, or you go on holiday or you just fancy a break and….
Next thing you know it’s been a month since you last so much as looked at a weight.
I know from experience how difficult it can be to get back on the wagon and how disheartening it is when you realise you can’t do what you were doing before.
However, a recent study (PMID: 39364857) suggests training breaks - planned or imposed - might be exactly what you need.
Half the participants - all of whom were untrained individuals - trained continuously for 20 weeks, while the other half trained for 10 weeks, then had a break for 10 weeks and then trained again for the final 10 weeks.
At the end of the study, which group do you think had made the most gains in muscle size and strength?
That’s right, there was no significant difference between the two groups!
That doesn’t mean the group that had a break didn’t lose any of their gains - they did.
The point is, when they recommenced training they were able to make up their lost ground quicker than the continuous group in the equivalent time. Everyone ended up in the same place.
So, here’s what to do with this information:-
1️⃣ When an unexpected training break rears its head (having a baby wasn’t unexpected, but my training definitely took a hit) don’t panic. Get back to it as soon as practical and hopefully you’ll see the benefits.
2️⃣I’m no personal trainer, but all the fitness influencers out there recommend a “de-load” week every couple of months. This research suggests a week of lower or even zero training is unlikely to have any permanent effects, so don't be afraid of occasionally taking a break.
3️⃣ When you start up again, it’ll be about reestablishing habits, not picking up where you left off. Accept you might only be able to do less, but remember you’ll return to your best more quickly.
REFLECTIONS
📖Lessons From The Odyssey
One of the most famous stories from the Odyssey is of Odysseus outsmarting the Sirens.
No one could resist the alluring calls of these mythical beings with many ships wrecked as a result.
However, by filling his sailors’ ears with beeswax and tying himself to his ship’s mast, Odysseus resisted temptation.
He was wise enough to know in advance that he wouldn't be able to resist the Sirens’ call, so he took action in the present to prevent himself from falling into temptation.
Psychologists call this a commitment device, placing constraints on yourself in the present to prevent poor choices in the future.
Commitment devices work in almost every context imaginable. For example:
- Setting up automatic savings rather than waiting to see how much money you have left at the end of the month
- Giving a friend $100 and telling them to donate it to charity if you don’t complete X
- Not keeping junk food in the house
Psychologists believe they work because they are a form of strategic self-control (“I will remove the opportunity for temptation to arise”) rather than effortful self-control (“I’ll resist temptation when it arises”).
So the next time you decide to take up some difficult new habit, think about what commitment device you can make use of to make it that little bit easier.
👋 Who are you again? I’m Karan Rajan - a doctor and curious explorer of all things health and wellness. I'm the founder of LOAM Science, a microbiome company aiming to create the best fiber product in the world! I host the Dr Karan Explores Podcast, where I talk to experts in science and medicine to cut through the BS of modern health advice. If you'd like an easy way to dig through the archive, you can ask me any questions about the podcast and talk to my digital librarian here. I've also written two books "This Book May Save Your Life" and "This Is Vital Information". I'm the Chief of Science of Throne, a smart gut health tracking device.
If you feel strongly about some health things or just want to say hi? Hit reply... I’d love to hear it and hear from you! (yes I read every reply!!!)
