May 23, 2022
You may have heard that it’s important to keep a nutritious diet to have a healthy gut. But do you know why it’s important or how to even maintain a balanced gut? The food we eat is broken down in our gut so that it can enter the bloodstream and be delivered as nutrients throughout our bodies. This can only happen if we have a strong digestive system that contributes to our general health and well-being.
Good gut health means that your body has an ideal balance of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract. This bacterium, also known as microbiomes, is a form of good bacterium that is vital for your body to function properly. These microbiomes help your body obtain nutrients and energy from the food you consume, all the while fighting off harmful bacteria and getting rid of toxins. It also produces the chemical serotonin that acts as a mood stabilizer and helps regulate the body’s digestive processes, blood flow and breathing.
How Do You Know If You Have an Unhealthy Gut?
We’ve all likely experienced digestive issues such as stomach pain, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, nausea, or vomiting. While the sudden onset of severe symptoms should trigger an immediate medical evaluation, and even mild persistent symptoms warrant a discussion with your healthcare provider, they may turn out to be a sign of poor gut health. An unhealthy gut will make it more difficult to process food and eliminate waste properly. A diet that consists of large amounts of processed foods and added sugars could be the cause of you losing the microbiomes (the good bacteria) that is found in your gut. The imbalance can be caused by large amounts of sugar, which will continue to damage your gut.
Gaining or losing weight when you’re not changing your eating or exercising habits can also be a symptom of poor gut health. Having an imbalance of these microbiomes can damage the part of your body that absorbs nutrients from healthy foods. It can also damage the part of your gut that regulates your blood sugar and can store fat. Seeing an increase of weight may be caused due to the lack of nutrients and the urge to overeat. Additionally, if you are experiencing unexplained weight gain or loss, this can sometimes be a sign of intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) or another underlying health problem and should be discussed with your healthcare provider.
Improper gut health can also lead to poor sleep which can result in chronic fatigue. The gut is what produces most of the body's serotonin, a vital part of sleep. It is important because the body uses it in order to make melatonin which is the hormone that tells your body when it is time to go to sleep. Serotonin levels can have an impact on your mood as well so make sure you are getting enough sleep to create a lot of serotonin and boost your mood throughout your day!
If you’re having a hard time digesting certain foods, it could be a sign of food intolerances. Symptoms can range from stomach pain, cramping, nausea, bloating, diarrhea, rashes, fatigue and acid reflux. It’s different from a food allergy which is a part of the immune system, not your digestive system. An unhealthy gut can lead to imbalance and poor microbiomes in your gut which will have a large impact on how you digest food. You may want to check with your health care provider before changing your diet. You may want to attempt changing your diet to see improvement and eliminate the common trigger food. If symptoms improve you should see a positive change in your digestive health by trying this out for a period of time. However, we always recommend checking with your health care provider first before changing your diet.
Lastly, poor gut health can also lead to autoimmune diseases by weakening your immune system. It is believed that it may increase systemic inflammation and alter the proper functioning of the immune system. The microbiomes help regulate your immune system so that it responds to injury and infection but not attack the healthy tissue.
How to Improve and Maintain Gut Health
Now that we’ve covered ways to know if your gut is unbalanced, we have some practical tips that you can follow to help keep your gut healthy and strong. As always, if you believe you are experiencing symptoms of an unhealthy gut, it’s important to speak with your health care provider and review these tips to see what might be the best fit for you.
1.Relieve stress: High amounts of stress can be hard on the body, especially the gut. A lack of sleep may also have severe impacts on your gut and can be the cause to sleep insomnia and increase stress levels. We have some great tips here on how you can lower your stress levels.
2. Eat slowly: It is important to chew your food slowly. Chewing thoroughly can promote full digestion and absorb the nutrients in the food you consume.
MedExpress Pro Tip: Practice slow and mindful eating by putting down your utensils between bites.
3. Stay hydrated: The amount of water you drink in a day can also contribute to your overall gut health. Drinking the right amount of water has been shown to have a beneficial effect on the intestines and help to keep the good bacteria in your gut balanced.
4. Add prebiotics and probiotics to your everyday routine: Prebiotics provide food to your gut that can help promote the growth of beneficial bacteria. On the other hand, probiotics can aid the good bacteria in your body to keep your digestive system healthy. However, probiotics are not meant for people who have bacteria overgrowth or SIBO. Speak with your health care provider when choosing a probiotic or prebiotic supplement to ensure the best health benefits.
5. Switching up your diet: Try limiting the amount of highly processed, foods which often contain higher amounts of added sugar. It is important to eat plenty of plant-based foods and consume lean protein as well. Additionally, a diet high in fiber has been shown to help improve a healthy gut microbiome.
Best Foods to Eat for the Gut
Whatever you are consuming will affect the microbiomes in your gut. Probiotics are the “good bugs'' that can be found in fermented foods like kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut, miso, tempeh and kefir. Their benefits are proven in many studies to be great for gut health. Foods that are high in fiber are also a great source of probiotics. This can be found in foods like legumes, beans, oats, berries, peas, bananas, leeks and asparagus that have all shown a positive impact.
Adding garlic and onion to your diet can aid in your digestive health since they have anti-cancer and immune boosting properties which can be linked to some primary functions of the gut. Consuming collagen-boosting foods like salmon or bone broths are also great for your health and especially your gut. You could also boost collagen production through foods like dairy, mushrooms and certain meats.
Keeping a healthy gut and taking care of its microbiomes are vital for many aspects of the body’s health. Studies show that having the wrong levels of microbiomes could be linked to multiple chronic diseases. There are many ways to keep a healthy microbiomes like eating a range of fresh, whole foods, mainly from plant sources like whole grain, veggies, fruits, legumes and beans.
If you are unsure if your gut health is balanced and filled with robust microbiomes, then go-with-your-gut and try out some of these simple ways to help improve and maintain a healthy digestive system.
References:
1 Your Digestive System: 5 Ways to Support Gut Health. Accessed February 20, 2022.
2 The Microbiome Diet: Can It Restore Your Gut Health?. Last updated January 22, 2019. Accessed February 20, 2022.
3 How To Improve Your Gut Health. Last updated January 27, 2022. Accessed February 20, 2022.
4 Here's Everything You Need to Know About Gut Health. Last updated April 1, 2019. Accessed February 20, 2022.
5 What is 'gut health' and why is it important? Last updated July 22, 2019. Accessed February 20, 2022.
6 Journal of Translational Medicine. Last updated April 8, 2017. Accessed February 20, 2022.