Holiday Gut Health: How to Support Your Gut Over the Festive Season

The holiday season is synonymous with travel, festive feasting, social gatherings, late nights, and well-earned indulgence. But behind the celebrations, rich foods, excess sugar, alcohol, disrupted routines, and heightened stress can quietly disrupt gut health — often without immediate warning signs.

This hidden strain on your digestive system can have far-reaching effects. Poor gut health is closely linked to lowered immunity, fluctuating energy levels, digestive discomfort, mood changes, and disrupted sleep, making it harder to fully enjoy the holidays and recover afterwards.

Prioritising gut health during the holidays isn’t about restriction — it’s about support. Simple, practical strategies to maintain a balanced gut can help you feel energised, resilient, and well throughout the festive season, so you can start the new year feeling restored rather than depleted.

READ MORE | All you need to know about gut health

How Gut Health Shapes Your Holiday

Your gut does far more than break down food. When it’s out of balance, everything feels off.

Around 70-80% of your immune cells live in your gut¹. When your microbiome is compromised by stress, alcohol, or poor eating, your defences weaken, making travel bugs and tummy trouble more likely.

The gut and brain are tightly linked via the gut-brain axis². An imbalance in gut bacteria (known as dysbiosis) can heighten feelings we already encounter during stressful holidays, contributing to anxiousness, irritability, and low mood.

On top of that, compromised gut function can drain your energy. As your gut helps regulate metabolic function and nutrient absorption³, imbalances can lead to fatigue, blood-sugar swings, and that “heavy” feeling after meals.

The holidays can create this imbalance and impact gut health and function for various reasons:

1. Overindulgence in rich, sugary, or fatty foods: Festive meals often mean more processed foods, refined sugar, and alcohol. These substances are known to disrupt the gut microbiome. These shifts can lead to bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, sluggish digestion, and even changes in your mood.
2. Irregular routines: Skipping meals, eating late at night, and inconsistent sleep all interfere with the gut’s natural circadian rhythm. When your internal clock is off, digestion can slow, cravings typically increase, and your gut bacteria become more imbalanced.
3. Alcohol intake: Alcohol irritates the gut lining, affects nutrient absorption, and alters the microbiome. Even a few nights of increased drinking can lead to inflammation, disrupted digestion, poor sleep, and energy dips.
4. Travel stress and new environments: Whether you’re flying overseas or taking a road trip, travel means new bacteria, unfamiliar foods, dehydration, disrupted sleep, and physical stress. All of these can destabilise the gut and weaken immunity.

Gut-Friendly Holiday Tips

Thankfully, there are numerous easy and proactive steps you can take that can help your gut stay balanced even when routines get messy.

Start strong: Start each day with a gut-smart habit, like a fibre-rich breakfast that includes rolled oats, chia seeds, and fruits like dates, prunes and apples. A probiotic supplement, like Biogen Supreme Probiotic 9-Strain, taken first thing on an empty stomach can help support microbial balance.

Prioritise plants: Fibre feeds beneficial gut bacteria and stabilises digestion. So add more fibre to your diet throughout the day by adding more plant-based foods to your meals. Choose salads, roasted veggies, or fruit when available, and snack on nuts, berries, or hummus instead of sweets outside of social settings.

Sip smart: As alcohol is one of the biggest holiday gut disruptors, it pays to support your system by alternating alcoholic drinks with water, choosing clearer spirits or wine over sugary cocktails, and sipping on electrolyte-infused water after a night out – Biogen Revitalyte powder is a great way to support hydration, electrolyte balance, and recovery by replenishing essential minerals and vitamins. 

Keep digestion moving: Start each meal with added digestive support to keep things moving with a serving of Biogen Digestive Enzymes. Each capsule contains enzymes that assist in digesting proteins, fats, carbohydrates and fibre. Movement is another simple cure for festive bloating. Take short walks after big meals, or stretch or do light yoga to aid motility. You can also sip herbal teas like ginger, mint, or rooibos to aid digestion.

Travel support: If your holidays include travel, especially overseas, start an acute course of a multi-strain probiotic before your trip. Biogen Supreme Probiotic 9-Strain Acute is the ideal travel companion, helping restore gut microbial balance and support optimal digestive function. Other helpful tips include prioritising hand hygiene, choosing bottled or filtered water where uncertainty exists, and sticking to foods your body is used to whenever possible.

Skimp on sugar: You don’t need to avoid treats, just limit and balance them. Try dark chocolate over milk chocolate, fruit-based desserts over pastries, replace white bread rolls with whole-grain crackers or seeded bread, and limit sugary drinks.

READ MORE | Add glutamine to your supplement routine for better gut health

Make Small, Smart Holiday Choices

Your gut is the foundation of your holiday well-being. When it’s supported, you digest food better, feel more energised, stay healthier, and enjoy the season with a lighter mood and clearer mind.

By making small, smart choices, like eating more vegetables, less sugar, minding your alcohol intake, implementing consistent routines, and taking a proactive approach to travel-friendly gut care, you can keep your microbiome happy and make the holidays feel good from the inside out.

References:

1. Wiertsema SP, van Bergenhenegouwen J, Garssen J, Knippels LMJ. The Interplay between the Gut Microbiome and the Immune System in the Context of Infectious Diseases throughout Life and the Role of Nutrition in Optimizing Treatment Strategies. Nutrients. 2021 Mar 9;13(3):886. doi: 10.3390/nu13030886. PMID: 33803407; PMCID: PMC8001875.
2. Appleton J. The Gut-Brain Axis: Influence of Microbiota on Mood and Mental Health. Integr Med (Encinitas). 2018 Aug;17(4):28-32. PMID: 31043907; PMCID: PMC6469458.
3. Krajmalnik-Brown R, Ilhan ZE, Kang DW, DiBaise JK. Effects of gut microbes on nutrient absorption and energy regulation. Nutr Clin Pract. 2012 Apr;27(2):201-14. doi: 10.1177/0884533611436116. Epub 2012 Feb 24. PMID: 22367888; PMCID: PMC3601187.

Author: Pedro van Gaalen

When he’s not writing about sport or health and fitness, Pedro is probably out training for his next marathon or ultra-marathon. He’s worked as a fitness professional and as a marketing and comms expert. He now combines his passions in his role as managing editor at Fitness magazine.