Your gut microbiome is home to more bad bacteria than good. Because of this, you can get irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and a whole slew of chronic conditions. So it’s critical to keep your gut healthy — balanced.
So how do you do it?
Eat Better Food Now
Imagine your digestive tract as a battleground for good and bad bacteria. The troops you’ll want to support, naturally, would be the good guys. That entails “feeding” them so that they not only help you digest but also prevent the harmful bacteria from multiplying. And good bacteria, much like their nemesis, have some preferences for food.
Add probiotics to your diet
You can take probiotics supplements or take them naturally through the following sources:
- Kombucha
- Kefir
- Sauerkraut
- Tempeh
- Miso
- Fermented vegetables
Probiotics are live bacteria, which you can also get from yogurt. You can keep these live bacteria even in more fighting form by feeding them with a particular type of fiber.
Choose food products that contain prebiotics
Prebiotics are food for probiotics, and they can come from fiber that people can’t digest. Your gut flora will maintain equilibrium and keep you healthy with the following prebiotic food:
- Bananas
- Asparagus
- Legumes
- Leeks
- Jerusalem artichokes
Your probiotics go to work once you’ve had bananas or Jerusalem artichokes. The good bacteria may turn the fiber it gets into a short-chain fatty acid, which has been found to have anti-inflammatory effects in the colon.
Another way to prevent or calm inflammation is by drinking the right beverage.
Enjoy black tea
Here’s a reason to consider stocking up on black tea, which is grown from Taiwan to Turkey. It may contain caffeine, but it also has compounds that reduce inflammation and antioxidant properties that diminish cell damage in your body. A UCLA study has found that the polyphenols in black tea affect the growth of certain bacteria and that it has a direct impact on digestion.
It appears that tea isn’t only for a relaxing afternoon or evening but also for better tummies. In this sense, the beloved beverage has dual benefits because stress management is essential for gut health, too.
Manage Stress Better
You can’t avoid and sometimes may even need it. So you’ll need some kind of plan to keep stress in check. Psychological stressors, from sleep deprivation to extreme noise, disrupt the microorganisms in your digestive system.
A few options to handle them include:
- Meditation
- Exercise
- Yoga
- Tai chi
Tai chi, the ancient practice that combines martial art and meditation, may improve gut microbiota function. It may also increase microbial diversity. Although the outcome is not conclusive yet for long-term results, some studies warrant further exploration.
Another way to keep your gut healthy is avoiding or quitting cigarette smoking, which increases the risk of inflammatory bowel disease.
Gut health is crucial to your overall one. It may take some significant changes with what you eat and a shift in your lifestyle, but they’ll all be worth it. When the good bacteria continue to perform and the bad bacteria never increase, you’ll feel fine and healthy.
