326. Gut Healing Without Extremes: Ancestral Nutrition and Simple, Whole Foods | Heather Woodruff

Jan 27, 2026

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Modern nutrition advice often makes gut health feel complicated and discouraging. In this conversation, Heather shares a simple, ancestral approach to digestion that brings the focus back to whole foods, sustainable kitchen rhythms, and listening to the body’s cues. We talk through why the environment we cook in matters, how modern food processing has disrupted digestion, and why adding nourishing, traditionally prepared foods can be more effective than cutting everything out. This episode offers a realistic perspective on healing the gut in a way that supports the whole family and fits your real life!

In this episode, we cover:

- Heather’s approach to healing chronic digestive issues through ancestral eating and kitchen-centered rhythms

- Why the kitchen environment (lighting, clutter, etc.) plays a role in digestion more than we realize

- Shifting our mindset from cutting foods out to intentionally adding nourishing, traditional foods back in

- A simple ancestral filter for choosing foods without getting overwhelmed by competing nutrition noise

- Gentle first steps for gut healing using soups, cooked foods, and simple meals

- The most common gut symptoms women experience and how digestion affects hormones and nutrients

- Why bloating happens, including microbiome imbalance and poor food breakdown

- Thoughts on gluten pauses, sourdough, and traditionally prepared grains

- When restrictive protocols like GAPS or carnivore may be useful and when they’re not necessary

- Why animal-based protein is often easier to digest than plant-based sources, especially during gut healing

- Observing food rhythms that support digestion while honoring different seasons of life– postpartum, pregnancy, breastfeeding

- The difference between meat stock and bone broth and when each is most supportive

View full show notes on the blog + watch this episode on YouTube.

Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make this show possible!

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Check out Heather’s Workshop: Meat Stock & Soup Making for Deep Digestive Healing

Master the rhythm of sourdough with confidence in my Simple Sourdough course

Gain the sewing knowledge and skills every homemaker needs in my Simple Sewing series

Keep all my favorite sourdough recipes at your fingertips in my Daily Sourdough cookbook

CONNECT

Heather Woodruff | Website | Instagram | Facebook

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