Healthy Gut

Tips to keeping your GUT healthy!

In order to achieve our optimal healthy, we must maintain our gut heatlh. Most of health problems can be traced back to our gut as trillions of microbes reside there. Our gut is home to 70-80% of our immune system, with evidence that links the health of our microbiome to the health of our skin, digestive system, body weight, energy levels and mood – practically everything.

Nutritionist, Jessica Sepel, shares her top 5 tips for supporting your gut bacteria to create a healthy, happy, thriving micro biome.

Tip 1: Slow Down

Our gut is our second brain and with around 90% of neurotransmitters responsible for mood being produced in the gut, we can’t deny that stress has a pretty significant impact on gut health. The hormones released when we’re under stress (even low-grade chronic stress), can negatively influence our gut bacteria. When your microbiome is out of balance, it can affect our mind and mood. Don’t forget to take time to stop and breath and slow down your eating. This will help to put your microbiome back into gear, leading to a happier you!

Tip 2: Make Friends with Fermented Food

Fermented food, such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, kefir and natural yoghurt, are great foods to incorporate into your diet to nourish the good bacteria in your gut. These foods contain natural probiotics that improve the entire functioning of the microbiome. By consuming good bacteria, you are getting rid of unwanted bacteria and therefore improving the overall function of your gut!

  

Tip 3: Pop a Probiotic

It is not always easy to get enough natural probiotics through foods, such as fermented foods, so therefore probiotic supplements are a helpful way to ensure you are getting the necessary amount of probiotics daily. These supplements are helpful for rebalancing the microbiome in more specific conditions such as eczema, candida, IBS or autoimmune disease.

Tip 4: Feed the Friendly Bacteria

Prebiotics, as opposed to probiotics, are foods for the friendly bacteria residing in your gut. Through incorporating more prebiotics into your diet through green veggies such as asparagus, artichoke, fennel, dandelion greens, chicory, garlic and broccoli, your gut will become more balanced. Additionally, resistance starch, found in unripe bananas, potatoes, brown rice and barley, plays a key role in gut health as it promotes the production of an extremely beneficial substance known as butyrate. It is the preferred fuel source for gut repair, improving metabolism, reducing inflammation and nourishing the gut lining.

Tip 5: Quit the Sugar

Refined, processes sugar affects our microbiome by feeding the bad bacteria and limited the growth of good bacteria. Artifical sugars are found to have the same effect, leading to inflammation, blood sugar dysregulation and poor metabolism.

Your gut health is essential to your overall wellbeing, so follow these 5 tips and you will see the benefits!

- Remy