Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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
Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make this show possible!
Azure Standard is a family-owned company dedicated to providing you with high quality, affordable organic, natural, and non-GMO groceries, health, and household products. Place your order at azurestandard.com and use the code SIMPLE15 to receive 15% off your purchase. This promotion is only available for the first-time Azure customer order with a minimum of $100 order (orders to drop locations only). One time use per customer.
ABOUT HEATHER
Heather Woodruff is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner and Certified GAPS™ Practitioner, a Kitchen Medicine Keeper who supports women in healing their digestion through the medicinal foods and ancestral wisdom of their great-grandmothers.
Heather’s work is rooted in slow living, ancestral nourishment, and the belief that digestive symptoms are not a sign the body is broken, but a form of communication inviting deeper care. As women heal their digestion, that healing naturally ripples into their homes, families, and communities.
When she’s not teaching or cooking, Heather can be found wandering farmer’s markets, talking to her garden, planning women’s circles, or moving gently through life with her brilliant husband and spunky daughter by her side.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Check out Heather’s Workshop: Meat Stock & Soup Making for Deep Digestive Healing heatherwoodruffnutrition.com/workshops
Sign up for Heather’s free guide: 5 Morning Rituals for Gut Health & Healing heather-woodruff-nutrition.mykajabi.com/morning-rituals
Master the rhythm of sourdough with confidence in my Simple Sourdough course bit.ly/simplesourdoughcourse
Gain the sewing knowledge and skills every homemaker needs in my Simple Sewing series bit.ly/simplesewingcourse
Keep all my favorite sourdough recipes at your fingertips in my Daily Sourdough cookbook homesteadliving.com/daily-sourdough/?utm_source=farmhouseonboone&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=SRD
CONNECT
Heather Woodruff
Website: heatherwoodruffnutrition.com
Instagram: instagram.com/heatherwoodruffnutrition
Facebook: facebook.com/heatherwoodruffnutrition
Lisa Bass of Farmhouse on Boone
Blog: farmhouseonboone.com
YouTube: youtube.com/c/FarmhouseonBoone
Instagram: instagram.com/farmhouseonboone
TikTok: tiktok.com/@farmhouseonboone
Facebook: facebook.com/farmhouseonboone
Pinterest: pinterest.com/farmhouseonboone/_created
Do you have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? A guest you’d like me to interview? Submit your questions and ideas here: bit.ly/SFLquestions.
GET MORE FROM THIS EPISODE
Listen to this podcast episode: pod.link/1494284839/episode/YWVhZDU4YzAtZmExYi0xMWYwLTkwZWQtYzNmNmE4ZGQ2OWI1
View full show notes on the blog: simplefarmhouselifepodcast.com/2026/01/27/gut-healing-without-extremes-ancestral-nutrition-and-simple-whole-foods-heather-woodruff-episode-326
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
Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make this show possible!
Azure Standard is a family-owned company dedicated to providing you with high quality, affordable organic, natural, and non-GMO groceries, health, and household products. Place your order at azurestandard.com and use the code SIMPLE15 to receive 15% off your purchase. This promotion is only available for the first-time Azure customer order with a minimum of $100 order (orders to drop locations only). One time use per customer.
ABOUT HEATHER
Heather Woodruff is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner and Certified GAPS™ Practitioner, a Kitchen Medicine Keeper who supports women in healing their digestion through the medicinal foods and ancestral wisdom of their great-grandmothers.
Heather’s work is rooted in slow living, ancestral nourishment, and the belief that digestive symptoms are not a sign the body is broken, but a form of communication inviting deeper care. As women heal their digestion, that healing naturally ripples into their homes, families, and communities.
When she’s not teaching or cooking, Heather can be found wandering farmer’s markets, talking to her garden, planning women’s circles, or moving gently through life with her brilliant husband and spunky daughter by her side.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Check out Heather’s Workshop: Meat Stock & Soup Making for Deep Digestive Healing heatherwoodruffnutrition.com/workshops
Sign up for Heather’s free guide: 5 Morning Rituals for Gut Health & Healing heather-woodruff-nutrition.mykajabi.com/morning-rituals
Master the rhythm of sourdough with confidence in my Simple Sourdough course bit.ly/simplesourdoughcourse
Gain the sewing knowledge and skills every homemaker needs in my Simple Sewing series bit.ly/simplesewingcourse
Keep all my favorite sourdough recipes at your fingertips in my Daily Sourdough cookbook homesteadliving.com/daily-sourdough/?utm_source=farmhouseonboone&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=SRD
CONNECT
Heather Woodruff
Website: heatherwoodruffnutrition.com
Instagram: instagram.com/heatherwoodruffnutrition
Facebook: facebook.com/heatherwoodruffnutrition
Lisa Bass of Farmhouse on Boone
Blog: farmhouseonboone.com
YouTube: youtube.com/c/FarmhouseonBoone
Instagram: instagram.com/farmhouseonboone
TikTok: tiktok.com/@farmhouseonboone
Facebook: facebook.com/farmhouseonboone
Pinterest: pinterest.com/farmhouseonboone/_created
Do you have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? A guest you’d like me to interview? Submit your questions and ideas here: bit.ly/SFLquestions.
GET MORE FROM THIS EPISODE
Listen to this podcast episode: pod.link/1494284839/episode/YWVhZDU4YzAtZmExYi0xMWYwLTkwZWQtYzNmNmE4ZGQ2OWI1
View full show notes on the blog: simplefarmhouselifepodcast.com/2026/01/27/gut-healing-without-extremes-ancestral-nutrition-and-simple-whole-foods-heather-woodruff-episode-326
