I’ve lived with IBS for a few years. Bloating, cramps, discomfort – the kind of thing you quietly manage and just accept as “your normal”. I’ve tried the food swaps, the supplements, the elimination diets. Some helped a bit. None of it fixed the problem.
But here’s what I’ve noticed, holiday after holiday, for years now – not just this one trip. Every single time I get away, even for just a week, my gut calms right down. Less bloated. No cramps. No pain. Nothing dramatic changes about what I’m eating – if anything, I’m often eating and drinking less carefully than I would at home. The one thing that reliably changes is everything else: the deadlines, the to-do list, the constant low-level pressure of daily life gone. This time it was a week in Santorini. It’s happened enough times now that it can’t be coincidence.
It makes sense when you understand the gut-brain connection. Your gut and your nervous system are in constant conversation. Stress switches your body into fight-or-flight, digestion gets deprioritised, and inflammation can creep up. Remove the stress, and digestion often settles right back down. It’s not magic – it’s physiology.
But stress isn’t the only piece of this puzzle, and I think it’s worth being honest about that. Gut health issues have become far more common in recent years, and a few other factors are worth understanding too:
Ultra-processed food
A huge share of what’s on UK supermarket shelves is heavily processed, with additives and preservatives our guts simply weren’t designed to handle in large amounts.
Imported produce isn’t always as “clean” as it looks
Even fruit and veg – food that feels like the healthy choice – can carry pesticide residues, particularly when it’s grown outside the UK under different regulations. It’s worth being aware that “healthy” and “minimally treated” aren’t always the same thing.
The sheer pace of modern life
Work, family, finances, always being reachable – our nervous systems are rarely given permission to switch off, and that constant low-grade stress adds up in ways we don’t always notice day to day.
I can’t prescribe myself a Greek island every time life gets overwhelming (I wish). But this pattern has taught me to stop treating rest as a luxury and start treating it as a genuine part of managing gut health – right alongside diet and movement. Here’s what I’ve built into my routine as a result:
- Non-negotiable downtime, daily – even 10 minutes of doing nothing tells your body it’s safe to stand down.
- Gentle movement over punishing workouts – walking and stretching lower cortisol; smashing yourself when you’re already depleted doesn’t help your gut, whatever the fitness world tells you.
- Actually sitting down to eat – no scrolling, no multitasking. Digestion starts before the food does.
- Being more mindful of processed and imported food – not perfect, not obsessive, just aware. Choosing UK-grown or organic where it’s realistic.
- Sleep as a priority, not an afterthought – poor sleep and gut symptoms feed each other in a loop.
- Tracking flare-ups against stress and food both – the patterns often say more than an elimination diet ever will.
- Letting yourself rest without guilt – this was the hardest one to unlearn.
I’m not saying stress and food are the whole story – everyone’s gut is different, and if symptoms are persistent or severe, it’s always worth getting checked out properly. But if you’ve ever wondered why your gut behaves the second you’re away and rebels the moment you’re back, it’s worth looking at the fuller picture — not just what’s on your plate, but everything else going on around it too.
This is something I talk about a lot with clients – training and eating well only get you so far if your nervous system’s never off duty and your gut’s under constant low-level attack from what’s actually in your food. Follow along on Instagram @absolutefitnesswithlisa for more real-life fitness and wellbeing.
