How to Press the "Reset" Button On Your Gut

Written by Emma Loewe: Writer, author, and editor of Cultured. Her writing explores the intersection of nature, climate, and human health. Emma is the author of “Return to Nature” and “The Spirit Almanac.”
Reviewed by Jennie O’Grady: Senior SciComms Specialist at Seed Health

The Seed Digest:

• Elements of the big game (i.e., fatty foods, alcohol, stress) can disrupt the gut microbiome in as little as 24 hours.
• These disruptions can interfere with digestion and cause temporary bloating and irregularity.
• Seed’s DS-01^® 14 Day Gut Reset is a game-day ally, packed with bacteria that restore healthy gut function during times of occasional disruption.*

Come Sunday, gastrointestinal tracts around the world will go on the defensive. Alcohol, fried food, and other game-day fare can disrupt your gut microbiome—but you don’t need to to settle for less-than-trophy-worthy bowel movements after indulging. Follow our game plan to help your gut reset, recover, and get back in the game quickly.

What Game Day Means for Your Team of Gut Bacteria

What do millions of pounds of potato chips, Olympic-sized swimming pools full of dip, and enough cheese to feed 60,000 people for an entire year have in common? All of them end up traveling through the digestive tracts of Americans on game day.¹ Let’s double-click on how these fan-favorite foods impact the gut on their way down: 

• The 10 million pounds of ribs consumed on game day are high in saturated fat, which can slow intestinal transit time (how long it takes food to travel through the GI tract) and make stool harder to pass.^2,3 Plus, their high sulfur content can cause the stools that do touch down in the toilet to take on a funky odor.⁴ These blockages might persevere for some time after the final whistle is called; research shows that fans of the losing team tend to consume more saturated fat on the Monday after the game too.⁵
• Another game-day favorite, chicken wings, are high in trans fats that may disrupt gut microbiota composition and contribute to slower transit times, leading to some unnecessary roughness in the bathroom.⁶ The dips and condiments that accompany the 1.45 billion chicken wings fans feast on tend to be sneakily high in added sugar, which can weaken the all-important gut barrier over time.^7,8,9
• Roughly 3.47 billion standard (12-oz.) beers are served up for the big game—one for nearly every person of legal drinking age on Earth 🤯.¹⁰ The buzzkill: All that beer can contain additives such as high-fructose corn syrup and artificial colors and flavors. These have been linked to disruptions in the gut microbiome that could contribute to digestive issues over time.^11,12

It’s not just food and alcohol that mess with the microbiome. The big game’s high stakes can rev up stress, causing people to reach for even more gut-disrupting comfort foods.¹³ Plus, a late final whistle can throw off sleep schedules, potentially causing circadian clock misalignment to negatively impact the microbiome’s structure and diversity.¹⁴

Research suggests that once you throw more than one stressor into the mix, the impact on the gut microbiome can multiply (i.e., drinking alcohol and having a poor night of sleep can disrupt your gut more than either stressor alone).¹⁵ 

Not a football fan? Similar disruption can happen after a night out with friends, a celebratory weekend, or an indulgent vacation.

Enter: The Super(Bowel) Effect

The disruptions listed above can shift the composition of the gut microbiome in as little as 24 hours.¹⁶ Enter: the “Super(Bowel)” effect: the pass(age) interference, stomach blitzing, and restroom fumbles that tend to follow the big game. 

When the microbiome is destabilized, our guts are less equipped to defend against harmful bacteria, fungi, or other pathogenic microbes. (It’s no wonder that 22.6 million employees are expected to call in sick come “Super Sick Monday.”)¹⁷ 

If left unchecked, these changes can impair the microbiome’s ability to break down dietary fiber into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the long run. Certain SCFAs, like acetate and butyrate, act as premium-grade fuel for intestinal cells and they help form a strong barrier between the gut and the rest of the body.^18,19 Without them, our guts are not as well-defended from disruptors, putting us more at risk of future digestive issues. 

Your Gut Recovery Game Plan

To get your gut health back on track after the occasional fumble, it’s important to give your “good” gut bacteria the materials they need to restabilize. That’s why we suggest taking National Poop Day (the day after the big game) to focus on gut health after the biggest food fest of the year. Consume plenty of fiber-rich plants, fermented foods, and healthy omega-3 fats, and consider taking a science-backed probiotic for a more rapid reboot. 

Probiotics contain targeted bacteria strains that, when delivered to the gut, help outcompete potentially harmful bacteria and restore balance in the microbiome. Like football players, different strains of bacteria have their own unique strengths. Some support digestion while others synthesize vitamins or modulate immune function.^20,21 

The 24 strains in Seed’s DS-01^® 14 Day Gut Reset act as a winning team to rapidly restore healthy gut function during times of occasional disruption.*²² A ViaCap^® capsule-in-capsule technology protects these strains from stomach acid, digestive enzymes, and bile salts. This helps ensure that they survive the earlier phases of digestion to reach the colon, where the real games begin.

Unlike most probiotics companies, we run double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials (the MVP of scientific research) on our products to ensure the individual ingredients work together. Once in the colon, the strains in DS-01^® 14 Day Gut Reset are scientifically shown to help your home-team bacteria (the resident microbes in your gut) strengthen the intestinal barrier and produce healthy gut metabolites—leading to more comfortable, regular bowel movements.*

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• How can I reset my gut naturally? Taking a probiotic supplement, particularly one that has been clinically tested, like DS-01^® 14 Day Gut Reset, can help quickly replenish beneficial gut bacteria during times of occasional disruption.*²⁰
• What should I eat to reset my gut? Everyone’s different, but a diet that’s rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, grains, and fermented foods tends to be best for the gut microbiome. Dig deeper into the best diet for gut health here.

The Key Insight

After the indulgences of Super(Bowel) Sunday, your gut will likely benefit from a reset. Add Seed’s fast-acting synbiotic to your Amazon shopping cart to help your resident team of microbes bounce back and perform better than ever.