The gut is essential to good health. Yet modern medicines, foods and lifestyles pose some of the biggest threats to a healthy and properly functioning gut. So it becomes more important than ever to learn how to best care for your gut.
The importance of the gut can’t be understated. It’s responsible for the digestion and absorption of nutrients that feed cellular and metabolic processes through the whole body. Even cognitive functions like mood and memory are effected by how well our digestive tissues are working. The gut’s also an important component of the immune system, filtering out things we don't need or that could cause illness if they were allowed into our bodies. Hence, poor gut function doesn’t just lead to bloating, nausea or constipation. It is famously suggested that “all disease begins in the gut” (Hippocrates).
Your gut health is very much influenced by the food and diet patterns that you maintain. Here are some general rules to live by for keeping your gut in check, but it’s important remember this advice might not work best with every body. It's also necessary to personalize dietary guidance according what works well for your body and lifestyle choices.
Consume probiotics
Probiotics are known as good bacteria. Having more of these in the diet helps to fight off bad bacteria in the digestive tract. Foods with natural probiotic content include yogurt, kefir, aged cheese, sauerkraut, miso, kombucha, dark chocolate, and other fermented or pickled foods. Avoid added sugars in these products since they’ll feed bad bacteria, which negates the point of consuming them. Probiotics can also be taken as supplements.
Consume plants and prebiotics
Plant foods play many important roles in health. A diet with lots of plant foods likely can provide all the vitamins and minerals that the body needs. Research shows that you can even reverse your biological age by eating lots of phytonutrients - compounds found in plants. Another important role of plants in the diet is that they provide prebiotic fibers that aren’t even digestible by us humans and yet still play an important role in health by feeding our gut microbes. Plant foods that are especially rich sources of these prebiotic fibers include lettuces and leafy greens like kale, dandelion greens, and arugula, also garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, bananas and chicory root.
Avoid processed foods. Anything high in processed sugar (plain sugar, high fructose corn syrup, added fruit juice, agave, erythritol, xylitol, etc.) and also preservatives, artificial sweeteners, coloring and emulsifying agents create unfavorable acidic conditions in the digestive tract that can disrupt healthy gut function on multiple levels.
Consume protein & amino acids. Increased protein intake can potentially harm the lower intestine due to harmful byproducts of protein digestion that are known factors in developing bowel disease. Plant fibers help move these compounds out of the body. However, consuming protein and amino acids, collagen and L-glutamine, do help considerably to repair the damaged intestinal wall. Bone broth is rich in collagen that repairs and restores the gut and immune system, and also supports the structural body (bones, skin, hair, nails).
Eat healthy fats. Our bodies benefit enormously from ‘healthy fats’ that can lower bad cholesterol, increase metabolism, and support healthy tissues, hair and nails. Healthy fats come from avocados, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, eggs, butter/ghee, full fat dairy, and eating nuts and seeds. Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are essential to eat and/or supplement with, as the body cannot produce them on its own.