Gut health improves with improvement of gut flora and this overall increased state of good health helps in strengthening the body immune system, which prevents heart disorders and supports the active nervous system and best of the digestive tract. It dampens the growth of cancer-causing cells and auto-immune disorders.
Serotonin, considered as the neurotransmitter of happiness is formulated in the gut area of the body thereby, influencing the various moods of a human being like anxiety, mental health and behaviour, dealing with depression etc.
A society of trillions of microbial organisms such as virus, fungi, bacteria lives in the gut. The said microbes play an important role in the process of digestion, immune function and weight management. Trillions of microbes living in the gut, eat and survive what humans eat for their nutrition. So, you must understand the nutrition taken is indirect helps promote the growth of good gut microbes.
Good gut health, thereby, helps in lowering asthma attacks and cases of autism, lowering of irritating bowel syndrome, decreasing liver diseases, controlling diabetes, defending the attack of Parkinson’s, colic, and allergies.
It would help if you inculcated good eating habits to improve your gut health, which is becoming a global medical concern in recent times. Good gut health decreases the need for frequent hospital visits.
Let’s check out some of the good food habits for good gut health.
Also check how to fix leaky gut.
Adding fermented foods to the regular diet.
Adding yoghurt, buttermilk, fermented food like south Indian dishes like idli, appam and dosa to the diet can provide fermented foods rich in probiotics with live bacteria and yeast. A small shot of kanji and piece of dhokla and spoon full of kimchi, or miso in the diet each day will give multitude of benefits to the gut health. You can get better digestive functions with body detoxification leading to better immunity.
Decreasing intake of tinned and processed foods.
Refined and processed foods such as sugar, oils, and packaged food items like chips, biscuits should be strictly avoided. They not only affect the levels of blood sugar affecting the gut microflora but also gut bacteria show a severe decline in numbers due to excessive sugar content. Imbalance leads to more sugar cravings, thereby further damaging the gut health.
Try adding fibre to the diet.
To stimulate and accelerate the growth of probiotic bacteria feeding on non-digestible carbohydrates called prebiotics, fibre in fruits and vegetables must be added in good quantity in the diet. It helps in encouraging diversity of gut microbes. Fibres are found in asparagus, banana, garlic, onions, whole grains, legumes, or beans in a fairly high quantity.
Be a vegetarian.
A portion of vegetarian plant-based food helps in reducing the number of disease-causing bacteria which are commonly found in obese humans. It helps to tackle weight, inflammation and cholesterol levels of a human body. Whole grains have non-digestible carbohydrates, commonly known as beta-glucan. As small intestine is unable to absorb it, beta-glucan enters large intestine to be broken down by the microbes, which in turn promotes the growth of such healthy microbes in the gut. Vegetarian food is also easily digestible by the human body and gets absorbed & assimilated at a much faster rate. Try to eat seeds and nuts. Use olive oil or coconut oil for preparing food. Include spirulina, fruits, vegetables in your daily diet.
Add food having polyphenols.
Plant compounds, polyphenols, are have higher health benefits as they can decrease blood pressure, reduce inflammation, lessen oxidative stress, and lower cholesterol in the body. Although broccoli, blueberries, dark chocolate, and grapes are also good sources of polyphenols, you can even get polyphenols from green tea and almonds.
Cut down on antibiotics.
Antibiotics kill the infection-causing bacteria. They do kill good gut bacteria at the same time. Therefore, it is important to take antibiotics only when it is highly essential. You have to opt for more probiotic and prebiotic food in your diet after you cease taking them to ensure restoration of the good gut microbes.
It’s important to know what food components are going into the mouth and being fed to the gut. You must read the food labels. Try to set the curd at home for a diverse colony of good gut bacteria rather than opting for packaged probiotics food like fruit flavoured yoghurt. Have more of vegetable raita for the best combo of prebiotic as well as probiotic foods. Manage stress by a good sleep cycle for a better result on gut health.
Conclusion
The above discussion will help you conclude that wellness and health is a pinnacle of small and mindful changes done to a routine and sticking to it for better gut health.