Series: Gut Health
Article no.: 3
Highlight
- Our digestive system determines a lot of the things that are going around in our body.
- It determines our physical and mental health.
- Assessing its status & health may be necessary and to an extent, can be done at home. However, more comprehensive testing may be needed especially in someone who has some serious gut issues.
- The protective layer in our guts can be compromised if we do not take care of it, and such conditions may elicit various intestinal or stomach issues that can be serious.
- Some habits that can help with improving gut health: eating more fibrous food, eating a lot of veggies & fruits, stress management, eating fermented food, avoiding allergens in food, and taking probiotics supplements.
- Some habits that should be avoided: smoking, taking drugs, frequent antibiotics intake, alcohol consumption, consuming a high-fat & high-sugar diet, and consuming a lot of animal-based food products.
- Taking care of our digestive health can be done from home but it does require some level of discipline and determination, especially when it comes to breaking an old habit.
1. Introduction
Our digestive system occupies the majority of our torso & is one of the main departments that determines our health. All of the food that we eat needs to go through this system before the nutrients can be circulated in our blood & transported to various cells.
It only makes sense that a disrupted digestive system can then become the cause of other health issues in our body. But how do we know the status of our gut health?
2. How to assess our gut health?
Gut health assessment can be done daily from home. When doing so, try asking yourself these questions:
- How often do you defecate daily? Weekly?
- How easy/difficult is it to pass your stool?
- Is there any food that triggers a stomach ache or diarrhea?
- How often do you experience gut issues (bloating, constipation, stomach ache, diarrhea, indigestion, etc.) in a week? In a month?
- Do you have any autoimmune disease(s)?
- How stressful are you everyday?
- Have you taken any antibiotics recently?
- Do you eat enough fiber everyday?
This list of evaluation questions is not exhaustive and can be extended further. Another method is to take a health screening in healthcare facilities that provide such service. In fact, you can also take a DNA screening to dig deeper into your genetics and see if you carry any risks of developing health issues rooting from your gut. Check out www.reimagene.com to find out more about a holistic DNA screening.
3. Why is this important?
Our digestive tract is made up of a thin layer of dermal cells and a layer of mucus on top of it. All food that was consumed & digested by our body will have to pass through this thin barrier in order for the nutrients to reach our cells and organs.
Just like our skin, this barrier in our gut can be compromised and injured. Many damaging lifestyle habits such as smoking, doing drugs, and eating junk foods not only will compromise the protecting layer, but will also exacerbate any existing damages that have occurred.
Aside from the gut lining, our gut microbiota also plays a huge role in the status of our gut health. They interact directly with the nerves in our intestines to send signals to the brain. This phenomenon allows the gut to be coined as the second brain. In that sense, it’s clear why it is crucial to take care of our gut in order to ensure a healthy brain & body.
4. Habits that improves gut health
So what can you do to maintain and possibly improve your gut well-being?
A lot of health improvements can actually be done through lifestyle changes including behavioral & dietary changes. The followings are some of the lifestyle changes you can start incorporating into your daily routine:
A. Consuming more fibrous food
Fibers are the source of energy for the microbiomes in our intestines, especially the non-soluble type. Our body may not be able to physically digest this type of fiber but our tiny friends need them. With more fiber you consume, you’re creating a conducive & abundant environment for them to grow & reproduce. This in turn will create an optimal microbiome in your intestines.
Although the emphasis was put on non-soluble fibers, you should also consume soluble fibers as they are a good cholesterol absorber & remover.
B. Consuming more plant-based food 1
It is understandable that meats & dairy products can be a huge part of someone’s dietary intake, especially if their cultural practices encourage such dietary habits. However, multiple studies have shown that diets consisting mainly of animal meat & products are damaging to our gut & overall health.
Animal products do not contain any fiber or beneficial elements for the gut microbiome. Therefore, they’re not contributing to the well-being of our digestive system. In fact, animal meat & products contain a high amount of bad cholesterol & bad fat that disrupts the function of gut microbiota. They’re harmful to our heart health too.
Consider switching some of your animal proteins to plant-based sources such as tofu and tempeh, as well as including more vegetables into your daily meals. They are a lot cheaper & a lot easier to be handled due to less cross-contamination risks in the kitchen. If possible, you may also include a day in a week where you do not consume any meat at all (e.g. No-Meat Monday).
C. Include fermented food in your diet 2
Fermented food such as yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, and tempe can be excellent sources of probiotics & other nutrients. The way these foods were processed allowed an amount of microbes species to grow in a controlled manner.
These microbes are alive and beneficial for your health. They may contribute to the population & variation of microbiome in your intestines. Though more studies might be needed to evidently prove that fermented food does help with overall gut health, studies have shown that the fermentation process involved in making these foods may produce other beneficial nutrients too. Some of them are even able to fight against pathogenic bacteria (bad bacteria) in our guts. So even if the probiotic itself is not significantly beneficial for some people, they may still benefit from the other nutrients in the food.
Another example of fermented food that you may want to try are kombucha, kefir, and sourdough bread.
D. Manage your stress 3
It’s common to hear some advice from a health practitioner that you need to manage your stress in order to improve your overall health. You might have also heard that stress may impair our immunity.
Those are all right! In the context of gut health, exposure to stress has the ability to disrupt the population of our gut microbiota & damage its ecosystem. Many beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus sp. may also reduce in number upon exposure to stressors. In fact, stress has also been proven to increase the growth of bad bacteria that can degrade the mucus layer in our intestinal lining. This mucus lining acts as a protective layer in our digestive tract, and when compromised, may cause many gut issues to arise.
Managing stress can look differently on different people. Taking some time off from your stressors or stress factors may help in the short term. But if you’re experiencing chronic stress or burnout, taking a longer & proper break may be the best option. If necessary, talk to a therapist or an expert about it. Because our mental & gut health are interrelated, taking care of both aspects at the same time may be necessary in assuring an optimum health improvement.
E. Identify your food intolerance & allergies
Do you know what food are you allergic & intolerant to?
If you’re someone who often gets stomach ache, bloating, or flatulence after eating a certain type of food, you might have the risk of being intolerant or allergic to the components in the food. Many people do not even bother to get themself checked and would rather live with the discomfort and pain from the side effects of eating food their body cannot tolerate.
Putting a bit of an effort to get yourself checked might help to improve your gut health & quality of life in so many ways. In fact, go a step further to get your DNA tested to see other health risks you might carry in your genetics. Check out www.reimagene.com to find out more.
F. Take prebiotics & probiotics
This method is quite self-explanatory; consume more probiotics to improve their population in the guts. However, not all probiotics in the market are the same. Some only contain one strain, while some brands may contain multiple strains of probiotics in a single product. Choosing the right type for you is necessary to ensure what you’re taking really contributes to your gut health improvement.
On top of that, one should also start to consume prebiotics alongside the probiotics. Prebiotics are the source of food for all the microorganisms in our guts. They usually can be obtained from a high-fiber diet containing things such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Without them, the probiotics you consume might not “stay” in your system because there is an insufficient food source for them to survive.
5. Things to avoid
On top of doing all of the above recommendations, it is also important to avoid some behaviors and habits to fully get the benefits of a healthy gut. Some of the behaviors are such as:
- Smoking
- Taking drugs
- Consuming a high-sugar & high-fat diet
- Consuming mostly animal or animal-based products
- Alcohol consumption
- Frequent consumption of antibiotics
6. Conclusion
Our guts do more than just churning & absorbing the food we eat. It is interconnected to our nervous system and brain which makes it essentially connected to all parts of our body. Though the human body is created to withstand various wear and tears, if we take its well-being too lightly, the damages caused may become irreversible at some point.
Taking care of our digestive health can be done from home but it does require some level of discipline and determination, especially when it comes to breaking an old habit. Take your first step in improving your gut and overall health by taking a DNA test and get a consultation with health experts to see what steps you can take. Visit www.reimagene.com to learn more!
References:
- Yang, J., & Yu, J. (2018). The association of diet, gut microbiota and colorectal cancer: What we eat may imply what we get. Protein & Cell, 9(5), 474–487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-018-0543-6
- Dimidi, E., Cox, S. R., Rossi, M., & Whelan, K. (2019). Fermented foods: Definitions and characteristics, impact on the gut microbiota and effects on gastrointestinal health and disease. Nutrients, 11(8), 1806. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081806
- Gubert, C., Kong, G., Renoir, T., & Hannan, A. J. (2020). Exercise, diet and stress as modulators of gut microbiota: Implications for neurodegenerative diseases. Neurobiology of Disease, 134, 104621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2019.104621
2 thoughts on “How do you improve your gut health?”
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon on a daily basis. Its always useful to read content from other writers and use a little something from their sites.
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday. It will always be interesting to read articles from other authors and use a little something from their sites.