For Saskia Penn, going vegan was the easy part. The hard part? Finding meals that made her feel good. “I was eating all the right things—or so I thought,” she says. “But I still had bloating and stomach discomfort every night after dinner.”
She knew gut health was important, but she had assumed that a plant-based diet would naturally take care of it. It wasn’t until she started learning about fiber balance, fermentation, and digestion that things started to click.
“I realized I was overwhelming my system with too much raw food, too fast,” Saskia says. So she sat down one Sunday and wrote herself a dinner plan—nothing fancy, just a week of meals that would be kind to her gut.
She focused on gentle cooked vegetables, legumes paired with grains, and fermented foods like miso and sauerkraut. She ate slower, chewed more mindfully, and even left a little space before bedtime to let digestion settle.
The results were subtle at first, then undeniable. “My stomach just felt… peaceful,” she says. “I didn’t even realize how tense I’d been until it eased.”
Now, Saskia’s dinner plan isn’t about perfection or performance—it’s about rhythm. A warm bowl of lentil soup. A stir-fry with ginger and bok choy. Even simple rice and kimchi. It’s food that loves her back.
“Gut health isn’t glamorous,” she laughs. “But it makes every part of life better—starting with dinner.”
