Pursue Wellness - Kelly Lutman

06/03/2026

Travel throws off nearly everything that keeps digestion running smoothly, from sleep schedules and meal timing to available foods and the stress of unfamiliar places. Coming home bloated or constipated has become so common that many people assume digestive trouble is simply part of traveling. With some preparation, you can maintain gut comfort without packing a pharmacy.

Here are the strategies that help.

1. Shift your eating schedule before you leave
If crossing time zones, start adjusting meal times a few days before departure. Your gut has its own clock, and sudden changes cause constipation or bloating. Shifting meals by an hour each day for three days makes a noticeable difference.

2. Bring familiar breakfast options
Breakfast is hardest when traveling since digestion is just getting started and more sensitive. Pack instant oatmeal, nut butter packets, or granola so you have something familiar. Starting with foods your body recognizes helps you handle new foods later.

3. Walk immediately after landing
Long periods of sitting slow digestion, especially combined with dehydration and pressure changes. Take a 20-30 minute walk after arriving instead of heading straight to rest. This often prevents constipation that shows up days into your trip.

4. Choose cooked vegetables over raw initially
Raw vegetables require more digestive effort, and when your system is adapting to travel stress, this can tip you into discomfort. Cooked dishes ease your gut's workload during the first few days.

5. Keep your water bottle visible
Dehydration causes more travel gut problems than unfamiliar food. Carrying water where you can see it provides reminders that intentions alone cannot match.

Most travel digestive issues are preventable with these simple adjustments, letting you enjoy your trip without spending it uncomfortable.

06/02/2026

Summer can be tough on your digestion. Changes in routine, travel, new foods, and more bacteria in the environment can all affect your gut. Having a simple plan helps you enjoy the season without feeling bloated or uncomfortable.

Here are five steps to support gut health during summer.

1. Prioritize hydration beyond basic water
Heat depletes fluids quickly, and dehydration slows digestive motility. Add a pinch of sea salt to water for electrolyte balance, try coconut water, or drink cold peppermint or ginger tea. Sip consistently throughout the day rather than in large amounts at once.

2. Eat cooling, easy-to-digest foods
Cucumbers, zucchini, melons, and leafy greens are high in water and gentle on digestion. Fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, and coconut yogurt add beneficial bacteria while feeling refreshing. Lighter meals make digestion easier when it's hot.

3. Maintain probiotic and prebiotic consistency
Travel disrupts routines, but summer is when your gut needs steady support. Carry a shelf-stable probiotic when traveling, and eat prebiotic foods like green bananas, asparagus, and oats to feed good bacteria.

4. Practice smart food safety
Warm temperatures help bacteria grow, and summer gatherings often involve food sitting out too long. Be mindful of how long dishes have been unrefrigerated and trust your instincts about questionable foods.

5. Build in recovery time
Consecutive days of irregular eating stress your digestive system. Schedule lighter eating days after celebrations to let your gut reset before the next gathering.
Summer digestive issues often stem from weeks without consistent support rather than any single event. Following this plan lets you enjoy the season without spending days recovering from digestive upset.

05/30/2026

Many common habits quietly stress the nervous system in ways that accumulate over time, leaving you feeling depleted, reactive, and unable to relax even when circumstances allow for rest. Recognizing patterns that keep the body in a stressed state creates the opportunity to remove sources of strain rather than simply trying to counteract them.

Here are five habits worth reconsidering for your nervous system.

1. Checking Your Phone First Thing
Reaching for your phone immediately upon waking floods the brain with information, notifications, and other people's demands before you've had a chance to orient to your own body and day. This habit triggers stress responses during the vulnerable transition from sleep to wakefulness and sets a reactive tone that often persists for hours.

2. Consuming Caffeine on an Empty Stomach
Caffeine stimulates cortisol release, and consuming it before eating amplifies this effect while also potentially disrupting blood sugar stability. The combination of caffeine and an empty stomach creates more intense nervous system, often producing anxiety and jitters rather than clear energy.

3. Ignoring the Need for Breaks
Pushing through hours of concentrated work without pause keeps the sympathetic nervous system continuously engaged. The brain and nervous system function best with regular oscillation between effort and rest rather than prolonged uninterrupted activation.

4. Eating Meals Quickly While Distracted
Rushing through food while scrolling, working, or watching content prevents the shift into parasympathetic mode that proper digestion requires. This habit keeps the nervous system activated when the body should be transitioning toward rest-and-digest functioning.

5. Staying in Artificial Light After Dark
Bright lights and screens after sunset suppress melatonin production and signal to the brain that daytime activity should continue. This disrupts the natural circadian downshift that prepares the body for sleep.

Eliminating even one or two of these patterns often produces noticeable improvements in baseline stress levels and capacity for genuine relaxation.

05/28/2026

You know that overloaded feeling in your gut when you haven't been able to eliminate for a few days or more? It's not normal, and it's not a disease ... it's constipation. And there are some simple shifts you can implement to get things moving.

Small Shifts That Get Constipation Moving. Constipation often involves a combination of issues. Here are 8 options to explore.

05/28/2026

Are you or someone you know walking through a cancer journey?

You may feel bombarded with well-intentioned suggestions, and wonder where is the foundational info that will guide me to success. Have you heard of my book, Thriving Through Cancer: A Whole-istic Approach For Your Journey? It’s a guide for supporting the rest of your body - the part that isn’t malignant - for resilience.

I’m teaching an interactive workshop of Saturday in Covington, LA, at Healthy Body Healthy Soul at 6:30, and I invite you to join us to learn how you can nourish, move and process for a better outcome.

05/27/2026

If you or someone you know has received a cancer diagnosis, you know that it takes over your life. The medical team is focused on killing the cancer, but all too often you get little guidance on supporting the rest of your body. And it gets the treatment too.

That's why I wrote Thriving Through Cancer: A Whole-istic Approach For Your Journey. You are invited to join us for this in-person workshop hosted by Healthy Body Healthy Soul in Covington, LA.

Who do you know who would benefit from this workshop?

05/25/2026

The Memorial Day holiday provides an opportunity to remember those who have fallen in defense of our country, and also to pause and "be."

05/23/2026

How the day ends shapes both the quality of sleep that follows and the state in which you begin the next morning. The stress and stimulation of the day carry directly into evening hours, making it difficult to wind down. Building consistent end-of-day routines signals to the nervous system that the active portion of the day has concluded and creates conditions for genuine rest.

Here are five end-of-day routines that consistently support better rest and reduced stress.

1. Set a Hard Stop on Work and Email
Deciding on a specific time when work-related activity ends and honoring that boundary prevents the day from invading evening hours. This might mean closing the laptop at a set time, removing work email from your phone, or creating a physical ritual like shutting an office door.

2. Dim the Lights After Sunset
Bright overhead lighting suppresses melatonin production and keeps the brain in daytime mode. Switching to lamps, candles, or dimmed fixtures after sunset supports the natural circadian shift toward sleep. This simple change signals a transition without requiring any additional time or effort.

3. Write Tomorrow's Priorities Before Leaving Work Mode
Capturing the next day's most important tasks on paper before ending work clears them from your mind. The brain often holds onto undone tasks, running them in the background and creating the low-level anxiety that interferes with relaxation.

4. Move Through a Brief Body-Based Practice
Gentle stretching, foam rolling, or a few yoga poses help discharge physical tension accumulated throughout the day. Even five to ten minutes of intentional body care can yield meaningful benefits for both physical comfort and nervous system regulation.

5. Establish a Consistent Pre-Sleep Sequence
Following the same sequence of activities before bed, whether that includes skincare, reading, preparing clothes for the next day, or other personal routines, creates a predictable pattern that the brain learns to associate with sleep.

Protecting the transition between day and night through these routines creates a foundation for restorative sleep that affects energy, mood, and resilience throughout the following day.

05/22/2026

Our medicine culture has taught us to reach for a bottle rather than stop to consider what options there are to support a shift at a deeper level. Often, you can respond to symptoms with movement, and this graphic is a great guide.

Share with me what you will try first - and what you notice when you do.

I'm thankful that this valuable graphic was created and shared by Abram who writes about Circadian & Decentralized Health on LinkedIn.

05/20/2026

Do you feel you are doing all the healthy things that are suggested on social media and AI, but still something is off?

It’s not unusual, but most doctors are honestly not equipped to help you search deeper. I have been training in a new approach ….