Healthy Gut - 12 things to improve your gut health

Twelve things for getting a Healthy Gut and Healthy You - 

1. EXERCISE 

We know that exercise and increased activity are important to keep your heart in good shape and for your brain but exercise also is good for your biome. Healthy muscle tone around the abdomen is good for food to digest properly and also for healthy gut.

2. DON’T OVEREAT

Overeating of any food is taxing on your digestive system and can affect the rate of digestion. It allows the body to expand a lot of energy, add stress to the system. Practice moderation and only eat until you are three quarters full.

3. TAKE TIME FOR GRATITUDE

When you take few moments before you eat to pause and reflect, either with blessing or gratitude, you are activating the cephalic phase of digestion. Your brain signal saliva to release and strokes your digestive fires.

4. REDUCE AND ELIMINATE PROCESSED FOOD

The body has to supply its own energy and nutrients in order for these products to metabolise rather than supplying to the body. Stick to whole foods as much as possible. One of the important thing to keep in mind for healthy gut.

5. CHEWING YOUR FOOD

Chewing food helps the food to digest. We complicate digestion process when we are on the run or gulp down our food. Slow down, savour your food and chew it up (saliva contains lots of enzymes to aid digestion) and also helps in keeping the gut healthy.

6. DRINK WATER

It is one of the top nutrients for digestion. The stomach needs water for digestion especially for the health of mucous lining which supports the small intestine bacteria for proper digestion and absorption of nutrients.

7. EAT MORE FIBRE

Eating fibre, increases level of good bacteria, such as Bifidobacteria, which in turn produces all sorts of hormones and metabolites that improves not only your gut health, and your weight but also your brain. Minimum 25 g a day. 

8. STRESS, SLEEP AND THE BIOME

Stress makes you sleep badly, which makes you eat badly, which encourages the growth of bad microbes in your gut. You put on weight, get crankier, sleep even worse and so on. It’s a vicious cycle.

9. BOAST YOUR STOMACH ACID FOR HEALTHY GUT

Many people have slow stomach acid. Heartburn, belching or gas, fatigues, headaches can all be a result of low stomach acid. Gently boost stomach acid by adding freshly squeezed lemon juice to your water, eating handful of bitter herbs before meals or by drinking one tablespoon of raw fermented apple cider vinegar with mother in water each morning. 

10. DRIVE IN DIGESTIVE ENZYMES

You need three categories of enzymes, lipase for fat breakdown, amylase for starch and carbohydrates and protease for protein breakdown.

Some herbs that work as digestive enzymes are-

(1) Glutamine – is an amino acid used as fuel by the cells that line the intestines to keep them healthy. It has been shown to heal Leaky Gut. Glutamine levels can be depleted when the body is under prolonged stress leaving you vulnerable to Leaky Gut.

(2) Aloe Vera – Aloe Vera is anti- inflammatory and healing to the intestinal lining.

(3) Slippery Elm – Slippery elm is demulcent herb. It helps your body produce protective mucus along your intestinal lining.

(4) Quercetin – Quercetin is an anti-oxidant, healing herb that is shown to help heal a leaky intestinal lining.

11. ADD IN PREBIOTICS 

Prebiotics provide food for the bacteria living in your gut, helping them flourish.

Prebiotics are often made of form of carbohydrates or fibres such as Fructo-Oligosaccharides (FOS), larch arabinogalactans, or inulin.

Foods rich in Inulin are-

(i) Onion leaks and garlic

(ii) Chicory

(iii) Asparagus

(iv) Bananas

12. Eating PROBIOTICS

Probiotics help repopulate your large intestine with good bacteria, to stabilize the growth of helpful bacteria and preventing the growth of abnormal bacteria, yeast and parasites.

You can add them as kimchi, sauerkraut or kefir in your diet or can have them as a supplement.

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