A Gut Health Dietitian’s Ultimate Holiday Debloat Guide

Feeling extra bloated during the holidays?

You’re not alone. Travel, late nights, indulgent meals, and holiday stress can all add up to uncomfortable bloating.

While I love helping clients uncover the root cause of chronic bloat, these debloat pro tips can bring you relief this holiday season.

Holiday Debloat Tips:

• First, Focus On The HOW

  • Before supplements, start with my Rule of 3’s: take 3 deep breaths, 3 times per meal, and chew thoroughly. Eating in a stressed state literally shuts down digestive juice output and motility. AKA - you are bloat-y!

  • Take deep belly breaths to increase blood flow to your digestive organs. This activates ‘rest and digest’ mode, naturally boosting saliva, enzymes, and bile production for smoother digestion.

  • Holiday pro tip: Chew 10–12 times per bite. Chew more than you think you need—your gut will thank you!

• Mind Your Mind

  • Feeling guilty about “indulgent” foods can increase fat storage and reduce digestion efficiency. Instead, focus on intentional eating. Choose foods you enjoy, and savor them fully.

  • Holiday pro tip: Practice mindful eating. Sit down, feel grounded, notice one color on your plate, and enjoy the sensory experience of eating.

• Embrace Gut Rest

  • Resting your gut between meals activates the MMC (migrating motor complex), a natural cleaning wave that moves food along and clears leftover particles to prevent bloat.

  • Avoid sweetened drinks (even stevia/monk fruit) during rest periods—they disrupt the MMC.

  • Holiday pro tip: Space meals 2.5-4 hours apart (this is individualized and depends on the person’s adrenal, thyroid and blood sugar needs). Prioritize meals more than snacks - grazing all day long can increase bloat.

Sip On Carminatives

• Carminatives are herbs that help reduce gas and calm bloat. Ingest via strong teas (use 2 tea bags, steeped covered for 5 mins) or tinctures - some of my favorites in my Holiday Bloat Supplements HERE. Favorites include ginger, fennel, cinnamon or cardamom - this tea is a nice combo of these.

Holiday pro tip: Keep fennel tea (my favorite linked here) or fennel seeds (to chew on) handy for quick relief of bloating.

• Watch The Bloat Trifecta!

  • Gluten, dairy, and sugar—especially in processed forms—can irritate the gut when combined (especially in those prone to bloat or IBS). To reduce bloat, avoid eating all three at once. Instead, choose just one or two (e.g., opt for gluten-free pumpkin pie instead of gluten-containing cheesecake).

  • Holiday pro tip: Holiday pro tip: Feeling bloated after a meal? Lie down and gently massage your abdomen using a body oil mixed with magnesium oil. My guided abdominal massage video is part of my Breath Work For Gut Health Starter Pack.

• Stimulate The Vagus Nerve

  • Activating the vagus nerve boosts digestion and gut motility, which helps with bloating and constipation(1). Simple vagus nerve activation practices like gargling, singing loudly or humming regularly can improve the movement of food and waste through the GI tract.

  • Holiday pro tip: Add 1–2 minutes of humming to your daily mindfulness routine to reduce stress and support digestion. My guided humming practice is included Breath Work For Gut Health Starter Pack.

• Peppermint For Pain

  • Peppermint oil is a natural anti-spasmodic that relaxes smooth muscles and relieves trapped gas and abdominal pain (known as visceral hypersensitivity)(2). Grab the peppermint oil product I recommend HERE.

  • Holiday pro tip: If you have acid reflux, stick to carminatives and bitters instead of peppermint, as it can sometimes worsen reflux symptoms.

Embrace The Bitter!

• Bitter foods and digestive bitters are powerful tools to boost digestion and reduce bloat. Seasonal options like fresh cranberries, radishes, cabbage, and kale are perfect picks.

• Aim to include one bitter food at each meal for optimal digestive support.

Holiday pro tip: For maximum debloating, try JÜJ Bitters (½–1 mL on the tongue) 15 minutes before meals.

• Reduce Raw

  • Eating mostly cooked, warming foods this season is not only aligned with seasonal eating but also easier on digestion. Cooked vegetables are easier to break down and absorb, making their nutrients more bioavailable.

  • Holiday pro tip: Limit raw produce to small portions and pair with cooked veggies. Fresh fruits and greens are usually well tolerated, while raw crucifers can often cause bloating.

• Minimize sneaky stressors

  • While processed oils, refined sugar, and low-quality gluten and dairy are obvious gut stressors, others can sneak under the radar.

    • Sneaky stress examples = Long gaps between meals, fasted workouts, lots of cardio, irregular bedtimes, too much screen time, certain DF products with gums and thickeners, wearing tight clothes all day - all can increase the stress load on your gut and contribute to more bloating

  • Holiday pro tip: If bloating is an issue, focus on gentler workouts like strength training, walking, and yoga or Pilates to keep stress on your gut low.

  Feel like you already do most of these things and still feel bloated?!

  Chronic bloat is often rooted in dysbiosis, significant maldigestion or gut inflammation. Schedule a clarity call to inquire about becoming a 1:1 client so we can dig deeper and get fucnctional testing to identify the root cause.

  References:

1. Bonaz B. Unmet needs of drugs for irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases: interest of vagus nerve stimulation and hypnosis. Inflammopharmacology. 2024 Apr;32(2):1005-1015. doi: 10.1007/s10787-024-01446-7. Epub 2024 Mar 21. PMID: 38512653.

2. Chumpitazi BP, Kearns GL, Shulman RJ. Review article: the physiological effects and safety of peppermint oil and its efficacy in irritable bowel syndrome and other functional disorders. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2018 Mar;47(6):738-752. doi: 10.1111/apt.14519. Epub 2018 Jan 26. PMID: 29372567; PMCID: PMC5814329.