Making #LittleChanges with Rennie

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It’s already the end of February – and it feels like the months of 2019 are flying by. The starting months of a brand new year. The time we take a moment to reflect on the year gone by and make plans, resolutions and goals for the year ahead. The time when we go back to reality, and if you’re anything like me, have a slight amount of regret for recently consuming almost ten times our body weight in turkey, chocolate and pigs in blankets (not necessarily in that order).

We had a fantastic Christmas, and whilst it was clearly a great time for luxurious foods, extra helpings and over indulgence, it also lead to me feeling a more than a little worse for wear at times, suffering as a result of my food choices with heartburn, indigestion and bloating, experiencing pain or discomfort, trapped wind and lethargy. I’m sure I’m not the only one; – whilst our festive feasts may have seemed like a good idea at the time, many of us ended up paying the price for them later.

Some people however, my partner Mike being a classic example, can experience bloating, heartburn and reflux even when they haven’t consumed a large meal or over indulged, finding themselves often feeling uncomfortable and out of sorts. Triggers can be anything; from what they have eaten, how they have eaten it, and even when they eat it, as well as other elements of their diet and lifestyle.

If you’ve ever experienced bloating, heartburn or indigestion, then chances are you’ll be familiar with Rennie. A tried and trusted brand for more than 80 years, Rennie provide a range of fast acting effective treatments that relieve heartburn and indigestion to enable you to get on with your life, and come in a variety of flavours and pack sizes.

As well as combating the symptoms when they arise, there are also many other #LittleChanges you can make to your diet and lifestyle to help reduce the occurrence of heartburn, acid reflux and bloating, and we were asked by Rennie to put some of them to the test.

Whenever a new year arrives, I always start thinking more about what I eat and attempt to be more healthy, so incorporating some little changes and easy wins to help improve our overall digestive health felt like an excellent place to start. Here’s how we got on…..

Our current diet and lifestyle

There’s no beating around the bush here – our diet isn’t great. I’ll be the first to admit we haven’t really looked after ourselves as of late, and are both carrying a little more weight than we should be. We both work and have very busy lives, especially during the week, and as a result we eat a lot of ‘easy’ meals – which are often high in carbohydrates, using packets or jars as the base for sauces in an attempt to get the food on the table in the quickest time possible. We also eat out a lot, mainly for convenience, often consuming less healthy options such as curries, pizzas or chips.

Mealtimes are generally a fairly rushed affair; not always eaten sat at the table, and sometimes food feels like an afterthought at the end of the working day.

Mike suffers terribly with heartburn, acid reflux and bloating, and as such uses Rennie to help manage his symptoms. Whilst he hasn’t been formally tested for any food intolerances, there definitely appears to be a link with certain foods that act as a trigger, resulting in more severe physical responses than others. We have recently been keeping a bit of a food diary to try and notice any trends, and for Mike, it definitely seems to be worse when he eats very spicy or acidic foods, or certain alcoholic drinks such as red wine.

Sadly for Mike he absolutely LOVES the taste of chillies, jalapenos and garlic, so whilst he enjoys them whole heartedly at the time, he doesn’t half know about it a few hours later.

Over the last week we have incorporated a few little changes into our diet and lifestyle to assess the impact on our digestive health, and for us they have been in three main areas – Exercise, Trigger Foods and How we eat. All of these little changes have been quick and easy to achieve, yet we have already seen some positive results.

Exercise

Going for a gentle stroll after eating can help combat indigestion and bloating. It is believed to help enhance the diversity of microbes in our gut, protecting our immune systems and keeping us healthy. Not only this, but staying upright for a period of time after consuming a meal can help avoid acid reflux too – another reason not to go to bed on a full stomach!

A little change that was easy to incorporate, I decided during my working week to go for a walk during my lunch break, getting some fresh air and Vitamin D, whilst helping kick start my metabolism before I returned back to my desk for a busy afternoon – something I’ve found even harder now it starts to get dark so early.

At this time of year in particular, I found it great to get out in the fresh air and blow the cobwebs away after lunch. I work in a fairly sedentary office job, and when it’s busy I often find myself taking lunch at my desk, and forgetting the importance of getting up and moving around. Going for a quick walk around the park at lunchtime; or even a little wonder around the shops definitely left me feeling less sluggish and lethargic in the afternoon following my lunch break.

Removing / Limiting Trigger Foods

With Mike in particular, there are some foods which we know definitely have an impact on the amount of bloating, heartburn, and indigestion he experiences. Over the last week we have tried to limit the exposure he has had to these so called ‘trigger foods’ to see the effect of reducing or eradicating them completely.

First of all Mike stopped taking his morning orange juice with breakfast – whilst obviously a healthy start to the day (and a handy source of Vitamin C), the strongly acidic nature of fruit juice often caused this drink to repeat on him and trigger some uncomfortable reactions. Instead, Mike has swapped this for a yoghurt probiotic, known for containing ‘happy bacteria’ which can ensure a healthy gut.

When making our dinners, Mike would often add some extra spice – an additional clove of garlic or some chilli flakes, and over the last week he has made a conscious effort to be more conservative. Whilst he will never remove it completely – he likes his food with a kick – being aware of just how much spice he was consuming has made us rethink a little about whether it was entirely necessary!

Even in just a week, there were some notable improvements from this, which has really opened our eyes to the importance of what we are putting inside our bodies – learning more about trigger foods and the reactions they can cause, will definitely help us going forwards.

How we eat…

I normally eat my dinner in a bit of a rush, trying to enjoy my meal as quickly as possible so that we have time to do baths, books and homework before the girls go to bed. Eating quickly, or gulping your food down with gusto can increase the amount of oxygen you consume with your dinner, increasing the likelihood of bloating and indigestion. The longer you chew (ideally with your mouth closed!) the more saliva your food gets exposed to, helping to kick start digestion and break it down.

Over the last week, I have made a conscious effort to eat more slowly, trying to savour and enjoy every mouthful. Whilst this wasn’t always easy with two young children to keep focused on their dinners whilst consuming my own, I did find that eating at a more leisurely pace left me feeling far less full and heavy after eating.

I am also a big lover of fizzy pop, despite knowing that it’s filled with chemicals and causes havoc to my digestion. Over the last week I have made a conscious effort to drink my 8 glasses of water a day as a compliment to my food, and whilst I have found myself needing to visit the ladies far more often, I have definitely felt less gassy and bloated as a result. I can only assume that flushing the water through my system in this way will help remove toxins as well as all the other health benefits of drinking more H20.

So how has the week gone?

None of the little changes we have incorporated over the last week have been challenging at all, yet they have already had noticeable impacts on our relationship with food and the physical symptoms we have experienced as a result. Whilst it’s not prevented the symptoms completely, understanding more about why they originate and the small things we can do to help combat them has proved really valuable, and has definitely made us rethink our relationship with food and the impact it has on our wellbeing overall.

Do you experience bloating, heartburn or indigestion? Why not try incorporating some of these #RennieLittleChanges into your diet and lifestyle to see if they can help you too?

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