How to Heal Your Gut After Holidays

Daniel Gigante
Nov 24, 2025
3 min read

Holiday food hits different — big meals, rich desserts, alcohol, late nights, weird eating schedules, stress, and way less fiber than usual. It’s normal to feel bloated, sluggish, constipated, or like your stomach is "off" in the days that follow.

The good news? Your gut can bounce back quickly with the right reset plan. Here’s how to get digestion, regularity, and gut comfort back on track fast.

1. Start With a Hydration Reset

Holiday food is usually high in salt and low in water-rich foods, which leads to dehydration — and dehydration leads to constipation and bloating.

Do this for the next 3–5 days:

Drink 16–20 oz of water first thing in the morning
Aim for 80–120 oz total per day
Add electrolytes once daily if you had alcohol
Sip warm water or herbal tea to soothe motility

Hydration alone can dramatically reduce bloating.

2. Bring Back Fiber (Slowly)

After days of low-fiber eating, jumping straight to 40–50g can create… chaos. Reintroduce fiber gradually to avoid gas and discomfort.

Easy sources to restart digestion:

Berries
Oats
Chia pudding
Leafy greens
Bananas
Avocado
Lentil or veggie soup

Aim for 25–30g/day for a few days, then return to your normal intake.

3. Prioritize Gut-Friendly Meals

Your gut lining and microbiome take a hit from sugar, alcohol, fried foods, and overeating. Temporarily switch to meals that are easy to digest.

For the next 72 hours, focus on:

Lean protein
Cooked vegetables
Soups and broths
Rice, potatoes, oats
Fermented foods (if tolerated)
Low-sugar fruits (berries, citrus, kiwi)

This calms inflammation and helps restore motility.

4. Add a Probiotic Boost

After holiday indulgence, your microbiome shifts — usually toward more gas-producing bacteria.

A high-quality probiotic:

Reduces bloating
Supports regularity
Helps rebalance gut flora
Restores digestive comfort quickly

(Your VitaCleanse ImmuneCore is perfect for this section — it’s literally designed for gut/immune reset weeks like this.)

5. Go for a 10–15 Minute Walk After Meals

Post-meal walks are one of the fastest ways to reduce:

Gas
Bloating
Sluggish digestion
Blood sugar spikes (which worsen inflammation)

Even two short walks per day make a huge difference.

6. Avoid These for 48–72 Hours

Let your gut chill out and recover.

Skip or limit:

Alcohol
Fried foods
Heavy dairy
Excess sugar
Ultra-processed snacks
Oversized meals

Think: “digestive deload.”

7. Give Your Gut a Consistent Schedule Again

Holiday sleep, stress, travel, and late meals disrupt your gut-brain axis.

For the next few days:

Eat at consistent times
Get 7–9 hours of sleep
Don’t eat within 2 hours of bed
Reduce stress (breathing, stretching, journaling)

Your gut is extremely sensitive to routine — getting back on one restores normal motility fast.

8. Consider a Short Gut Reset Routine

For 2–5 days, try this simple structure:

Morning:

Water + electrolytes
Light breakfast (chia pudding, oatmeal, smoothie)
Probiotic

Lunch:

High-fiber bowl (greens + rice + lean protein + cooked veggies)

Dinner:

Soup, stew, or roasted veggies + protein

Daily habits:

Walk after meals
Limit sugar
Drink herbal tea
Stay hydrated

This is a gentle reset that works incredibly well.

Bottom Line

Holiday eating doesn’t “ruin” your gut — it just disrupts it temporarily. With a hydration boost, fiber, probiotics, gut-friendly meals, and consistent habits, you can bounce back in just a couple of days.

Your digestion will normalize, bloating will calm down, and your gut will feel balanced again.