There are many ways to improve gut health. The trick is to find several that suit your lifestyle. First, however, you need to understand a universal truth: gut health is crucial to your overall well-being.
In your gut — also medically referred to as your gastrointestinal tract, intestines, or bowels — are trillions of microbes that work round-the-clock to keep you healthy. According to an article by Heidi Godman in Harvard Health, your gut microbes not only ease digestion, they also “fight harmful pathogens, make vitamin K and other important chemicals, affect the way medications work, and may influence your immune system, heart health, and cancer risk.”
The bacteria, viruses, and fungi, which make up your gut microbiome, have the potential to keep you physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy.
When food is digested in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, it is broken down to its most basic parts. The waste products move down to the colon and, eventually, out through the anus. On the other hand, the essential nutrients are absorbed through the gut wall, where they will be sent to different parts of the body through the bloodstream.
This process is made possible by the concerted effort of nerves, bacteria, and hormones. An unhealthy gut lacks beneficial bacteria, which impedes digestion, consequently making the process of nutrient absorption inefficient.
Research has found that the gut is directly linked to mental health disorders, autoimmune diseases, endocrine conditions, GI disorders, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. With an unhealthy gut, experts say its walls become more porous, allowing more toxins into the bloodstream.
It is prudent, therefore, to lead a lifestyle that ensures a diverse microbiome, which supports a healthy gut. A good mix of gut microbes raises the likelihood that you will live longer, healthier, and happier.
How to Take Care of Gut Health
Take a careful, objective look at how you live so that you can determine in which aspects of your life you can make the necessary changes. How much sleep do you get every night? Are there a lot of fruits and vegetables in your diet? Do you exercise? On a scale of one to ten, how stressed are you right now?
The lifestyle adjustments you make can decide how diverse your gut microbiome will be, which, consequently, will largely dictate your overall health.
Eat Well
There is a reason why nutritionists recommend eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes daily. All these are rich sources of prebiotics, which are normally high-fiber foods that feed gut microbes.
Healthline gives a list of prebiotic foods to incorporate into your daily meals. You may already have some of them in your pantry, such as garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, oats, bananas, apples, and avocado.
Equally essential to gut health are probiotics — foods with live microorganisms that sustain or improve good bacteria in the gut. Fermented foods are the richest in probiotics. These include yogurt, buttermilk, kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, kesong puti (cottage cheese), apple cider vinegar, sourdough bread, and kombucha.
In addition, try drinking tea for gut health. Certain herbal teas have been found to be especially effective in this regard. Hibiscus tea’s diuretic properties help regularize bowel movements. Green tea improves gut microbiota profiles. Peppermint tea can improve irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Black tea’s theaflavins are healthy compounds that act as antioxidants, which have been found to protect against stomach ulcers.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are the foods and drinks that you must minimize or completely eliminate to keep your gut healthy: processed meat, desserts with refined sugar, fried foods, and red meat.
Nicotine (found in cigarettes) and alcohol negatively affect your health because these disrupt the balance of gut bacteria. Steer clear of these.
Exercise Regularly
Movement is an effective way to improve gut health for mental health. Not only does exercising boost endorphins, i.e., the happy hormone, any physical activity can also enhance digestion, which, in turn, helps gut motility.
Losing weight is another benefit of exercise. See to it that you are within the range of your ideal weight. Otherwise, obesity, according to a paper published in the National Library of Medicine under the National Center for Biotechnology Information, increases the risk of digestive diseases, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), gallstones, pancreatitis, and digestive organ cancers.
Exercise need not be complicated; just do it at least three times a week for 30 minutes. Brisk walking slightly uphill is effective. Swimming laps, too. If you would like a less vigorous workout, you may opt for yoga designed specifically for digestive health. In this video, Yoga with Adriene on YouTube teaches an 18-minute yoga practice to boost digestion.
Manage Stress Well
The gut and the brain are close collaborators. The function of one often influences that of the other and vice versa.
An article on Northwestern Medicine posits that about 100 million nerve cells line the GI tract. These nerves relay to the brain news of the state of the gut and immune system — one reason why physicians sometimes call the gut the body’s second brain.
On the other hand, stress significantly impacts gut health, as well. When you’re stressed, it may cause real chemical and physical reactions in your body, making it unable to digest well, which then may lead to pain and discomfort.
Numerous stress-reduction techniques, when done consistently, may lead to a healthy gut. Sleeping at least seven hours at night is a big help. Good sleep lowers cortisol levels, regulates the immune system, and helps the brain process emotions better, reducing anxiety and, therefore, stress.
Mindfulness exercises also contribute to a more stress-free lifestyle. Try doing yoga and deep-breathing exercises. These can help relax the mind. Not into yoga? Regularly taking a walk among trees or where there is fresh air calms the nervous system.
A Healthy Gut Means A Healthy Body
The gut significantly influences the rest of the body’s organs. That is why, in both conventional and traditional medicine, many treatments focus on gut health. An imbalance in the digestive organs throws the rest of the body off course.
If you want to get healthy, listen to what your gut is telling you.
Photo by Andres Ayrton on Pexels
DISCLAIMER
This article provides general information and does not constitute medical advice. Consult your healthcare provider for personalized recommendations. If symptoms persist, consult your doctor.
