5 Simple Ways to Support Your Gut Health
Why your gut health matters and some simple ways to support yours!
Your gut is home to TRILLIONS of bacteria and more research is coming out all the time about how these tiny microbes impact our health!
From your mood and mental well-being to your digestion, food cravings, and immune function, the health of your microbiome influences all of it. A recent study in the journal Nature even found that our motivation to exercise may be influenced by our gut microbiome!
So what exactly is the microbiome?
The human microbiome is composed of trillions (yes, TRILLIONS) of microbes including bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. Some good, some bad, but overall good diversity of lot’s of different species seems to be the thing that matters most.
In addition to the gut microbiome, your skin, mouth, urinary tract and nasal cavities all have their own unique microbiomes as well! And they help with everything from nutrient absorption and supporting your immune system to defending against viruses and bacteria that can make you sick.
In your gut, the right balance of bacteria is essential for healthy digestion, supporting immune, brain, and heart health, and the production and absorption of important vitamins, like vitamin K, vitamin B12, and riboflavin.
Essentially, a healthy and diverse microbiome means a healthier you!
Here are 5 simple ways to support yours:
Eat a variety of different plants!
When it comes to a healthy gut microbiome, diversity seems to matter most!
And eating a wide variety of different plant foods is a simple (and delicious) way to increase the diversity of your gut microbiome.
Based on research from the American Gut Project, 30 different plant foods weekly seems to be the sweet spot. If that seems like a lot, ‘plants’ doesn’t only mean fruits and veggies, it also includes herbs, spices, teas, whole grains, nuts and seeds and legumes.
Polyphenols are naturally occurring plant compounds from foods like fruits, vegetables, green tea, and dark chocolate. They’re full of antioxidants and eating a variety of foods means you’re getting a variety of polyphenols which is a very good thing!
Include fiber rich foods!
Fiber, especially prebiotic fiber, from foods like Jerusalem artichokes, green bananas, and ground flaxseed is another simple way to keep your gut microbiome healthy.
You’ve likely heard of probiotics, which are important, but PREbiotics may be even more important! They’re a type of plant fiber that feed your gut bacteria and encourage production of short chain fatty acids to keep your gut happy and healthy!
Prebiotics also help to decrease the growth of bad bacteria, and support healthy digestion and metabolic health by allowing your gut bacteria to produce nutrients for the cells in your colon. An easy way to get more of these beneficial fibers is to eat more foods high in resistant starch. Garlic, jicama, dandelion greens, and acacia fiber are other favorite sources and they all have lots of other beneficial properties as well!
Incorporate more fermented foods
Fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi contain probiotics (aka: good bacteria) to help to boost absorption of the nutrients in your food, and crowd out the less desirable bacteria.
Plus they’re really delicious!
Cut back on Sugar and Processed Foods
The tiny bacteria that make up your gut microbiome actually have a mind of their own! Some of them can actually cause more cravings for things like sugar because that is what they need more of to survive. . . what?!
I’m not in the camp that thinks sugar is the root of all evil, but eating too much of the sweet stuff can create imbalances in your microbiome, so cutting back when and where you can is a good idea.
Highly processed foods are often full of preservatives and ingredients like processed oils and refined flours that can spike your blood sugar and wreak havoc in your gut. No need to stress yourself out about it, but if your gut health is feeling less than ideal, crowding out the packaged chips and cookies in favor of more fresh foods can be helpful!
Manage your Stress
I know it seems weird that your stress levels and your gut health are connected, but it’s true! Chronic stress can disrupt the balance of bacteria in your gut, giving the bad guys more of an opportunity to thrive.
Giving yourself permission to rest is an underutilized skill, but it’s SO essential to your overall well-being. So schedule a massage, go for a walk with a friend, start a gratitude journal or sign up for a cooking class, whatever it is you enjoy doing. . . go do more of that!
Our busy, modern lives doesn’t exactly make it easy to support a healthy gut microbiome, but there are a lot of simple things you can do daily to naturally increase the good bacteria in your gut.
Choosing a variety of different foods, increasing the amount of high-fiber plants you eat, and managing your stress levels, are simple things that make a big difference for a healthier gut microbiome!
xx
Ashley
P.S. If you need some recipe inspo that helps with all of the above, check out my cookbook Nourish and Thrive. It’s available free for subscribers, or for purchase on my website and full of simple (and delicious) plant-forward recipes that support better digestion, well balanced hormones, and a healthier you!