Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar reveals 5 tips to fix post vacation digestion problems: ‘Between 4 to 6 pm have…’

Often many suffer from constipation, bloating, loose motions after their trips. Learn from celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar how to fix your gut.

Post-vacation, digestive health is thrown into turmoil, whether due to eating more street food than usual, overeating at the hotel buffet, irregular meal times, indulging in sugary treats, or simply struggling with bowel movements. All of this puts the gut under considerable stress, even when your mind feels relaxed and carefree on a trip.

The first instinct might be to pop a few medications, but instead, if you take an organic route and opt for a healthy, food-first approach, your gut can find its balance more naturally and steadily.

Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar, who has worked with Bollywood actors like Kareena Kapoor, recently shared on April 30 Instagram post, her five hacks for restoring digestive health after a vacation and getting the gut back on track through simple, food-first habits. She addressed how stool formation can become an issue after travel, with stools either too hard or too loose, and suggested ways to help you pass a well-formed stool and restore your digestion to a steady, predictable rhythm.

1.Eat gawar bhaaji or fibre-rich beans for lunch

Her first recommendation is to have a fibre-rich lunch, with beans as the primary component. “Eat gawar bhaaji for lunch. Gawar bhaaji is basically a cluster of beans- basically eat beans bhaji for lunch, so it could even be broad beans,” Rujuta advised. She also suggested options like vaal, papdi, and farasbi, but her personal favourite is gawar bhaaji because, among Maharashtrians, it is often eaten during shradh (when it is required to eat simple, sattvic and non-oily or spicy foods) and is believed to help ‘reset’ digestion.

She also added that the nutrient profile is quite robust, featuring amino acids, fibre, antioxidants, and vitamin C, making it ideal for boosting energy after travel fatigue or jet lag. This high-fibre, mineral-rich meal helps regulate digestion and reduces the risk of both constipation and loose stools, bringing the gut back to a more balanced rhythm.

2. Do easy workout

The instinct might be to jump right into a heavy workout, but Rujuta cautioned that the body does not need anything intense right now. She advised a light walk, a gentle yoga session or low-intensity strength training at about half effort. The goal is to get you moving, not exhausted, since you are already tired after the trip. Instead of being completely sedentary, light movement helps kickstart digestion and bring the body back into rhythm.

3. Eat seasonal fruit

The nutritionist positioned seasonal fruit as a type of recovery food. "The third thing that works like magic is eating a local fruit, maybe sometime midday or mid-afternoon.” She suggested this because of the fruits' natural fibre and vitamin content, which help to restore much-needed balance after travel-related dietary disruption. Fibre, especially, is helpful for bowel movement. Rujuta recommended seasonal fruits such as jamun, ranjhana, mano, and white jam.

4. Hydrate with sherbats

Consider limiting your tea or coffee and instead focus on smart hydration. While the nutritionist reiterated the value of hydration, the source is equally important. She shared that seasonal drinks like aam panna, lemon sherbet, kokum juice or amla drinks help restore electrolyte balance lost during travel. You can have them with a pinch of salt.

5. Millet with curd

The last recommendation is ‘the main one’; as per Rujuta. “If you have been having a bad gut and your motions are really all over the place then between 4 to 6 pm in the evening, have a millet, so any, either a dosa of a millet like a ragi dosa, or you could have an upma made out of a millet, you could have a thalipeeth, you could have a roti and some chutney- anything that you typically have but a millet and with that some home set curd,” she said.

The focus is on millet-based foods along with curd to calm the gut and support digestion. She also suggested following this for about two days, after which improvements such as smoother digestion, better skin, and reduced post-travel bloating can be observed.

Note to readers: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them. This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice.