Your gut health is very important not only for your digestive system but also for the good health of your whole body.
Due to the unpleasant way of life and bad eating habits, A lots of people have troubled and irritating digestive system.
Having a bad gut health leads to different health problems, such as leaky guts, Unintentional weight changes, sleep disorder and more.
To improve your general health and prevent diseases you need to start by taking care of you guts and keep your microbiome happy and healthy.
Here is how to improve gut health in 11 easy ways.
1. Change your Eating Habits
Changing some basic eating habits such as eating fast, not properly chewing food before swallowing, using electronic devices whiles eating tends to affect our gut health. ” The way you eat has a large impact on your digestive system.”- says Dr. Arpitha Komanapalli. Also selecting the kind of food you eat at what time is great for your gut health.
Taking about at least 18-35 min to eat a meal is a good eating habit since eating too fast can make you take in more food before you feel full. This could be bad for your gut health.
2. Eat A lot of Fiber.
Vegetables, fruits, and legumes are rich sources of fiber which is needed for gut health. The Microbiome present in our gut depends on fiber for food and growth. This enables the microbiome to multiply in number and also grow. How thick the mucus wall is, depends on the number of microbiomes present in your gut. The higher the number of microbiomes, the thicker your mucus wall. This prevents the growth of the bad bacteria that affects our guts and causes infection and inflammations.
Also, fiber helps in making the digestion process easier hence the risk of getting constipation or even indigestion is low.
3. Drink A lot of Water
Water is lost throughout many activities in the body such as sweat, urine, and breathing. Water is needed in the process of digestion to help transport nutrients throughout the body and also the main cause of constipation is due to the lack of water in the colon hence making it hard to pass a stool. Hydrating your body helps make digestion easy by allowing the fluid motion of food in the intestines.
Drinking water between other than during meals prevents the dilution of stomach acids needed for digestion.
4. Avoid Artificially Made Sweeteners.
Artificial sweeteners cause you to experience diarrhea and constipation by altering the good bacterias present in the gut that are needed for digestion.
Avoid foods with no nutritional value and are made of artificial flavors, colors, and refined sugar they are addictive and may not only affect your gut but also your dental health and liver.
5. Eat Fermented Foods
Fermented foods are a way of introducing microbiomes in the body since fermentation is done as a result of the altering of the sugar present in foods into organic acids by using yeast or bacterias. This helps increase the population of microbiomes in the gut and also stabilize these microbes.
Some of these fermented foods include:
- Yogurt
- Kefir
- Tempe
- Kvass
- Kimchi
They may be reffered to as Probiotic foods.
6. Include probiotics in your eating regimen
Probiotics are the good bacteria that line your gut and support your body’s capacity to retain nutrients and fight disease. There are many probiotics in your gut than cells in the rest of your body. When there is an irregularity in your gut from low levels of good bacteria, it might turn into a breeding ground for bad bacteria, yeast, infections, growths, and parasites. An excellent way you can start to replace the required good bacteria in your body is to avoid food that feeds bad bacteria and begin taking probiotic rich nourishments or probiotic supplements.
7. Eat Prebiotic Foods
Prebiotic foods such as onion, banana, apples and garden asparagus enable the growth of microbes in the body. They act as food for probiotics. A daily intake of 5-8 grams can help with diarrhea, calcium absorption, and colitis. They also help the immune system by keeping the good microbiome healthy to fight off diseases.
8. Exercise more
The various movements during the various exercise you do help food travel easily in the digestive system. ” Frequent low-level activities like walking is an excellent aid to digestion”- says Dr. Arpitha Komanapalli. Exercise also helps with blood circulation around the muscles and intestine needed for the movement of food around the body and also out of the body.
Research has shown that exercise increases the number of microbiomes in the gut.
9. Stimulate Stomach Acid
Bloating, heartburn and fatigue are caused as a result of the low levels of stomach acids in the gut. Drinking a tablespoon of apple cider every morning is a great way to boost the acids in the stomach.
10. Eat Whole Grain Foods
Foods such as barley, rice, cracked wheat, and oatmeal are rich in fiber and also promotes the growth of microbiomes such as lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria which are essential for digestion.
The high carbohydrate present in these whole grain foods are broken down and used up by the microbiota which stimulates growth.
11. Avoid Food High in Fat
Even though foods high in omega-3 and monosaturated fats are good for the body and also microbiomes, other forms of fats such as trans fat, omega-6, and saturated fats tend to cause an imbalance in these microbes hence lessens the good bacteria and increasing the population of the bad bacterias.
Avoiding or minimizing the intake of foods such as high lactose dairy foods and junk foods.
Conclusion
Bacteries present in the gut are really important when it comes to gut health. Eating foods that boost them and also avoiding foods that cause damage to these gut bacteria should help you have a healthy gut. With these 10 ways to keep your gut healthy, you should be good to go. Eating more whole grain foods, legumes and prebiotic and probiotic foods would help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.
According to the American Nutrition Association, 70 million people suffer from digestive issues such as constipation, indigestion, abdominal pains and many others every day. These issues might even be more complicated than the obvious. It is advisable that you see the doctor if you have any digestive issue that lasts longer than usual.
Sources:
http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/digestive-issues
https://avocadu.com/unhealthy-gut-warning-signs/
https://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topics/healthy-gut-prebiotics-and-probiotics
