Even for those who don’t suffer from
gastrointestinal issues, gut health should still be at the forefront of any
healthy lifestyle. Recent research has been showing that maintaining gut health
is immensely important. This is news to many people who do not suffer from
irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
The gut directly contributes to immune system performance, brain function, and
weight control. The typical person’s GI tract contains trillions of microbes making
up a unique gut microbiome in each individual's body.
Since each person’s gut is unique,
maintaining gut health is not as straight forward as just taking your daily
vitamins. However, this is not to say that vitamins and probiotics don’t help.
Probiotics are essential as part of an overall gut maintenance regimen.
However, just taking probiotics, but still consuming a high amount of daily sugar,
the positive benefits of the probiotics are outweighed by the negatives from
the sugar. Diet is extremely important and maintaining a proper diet plays affectsall
of the bodies functions, from diabetes
togout.
Probiotic supplements are great, but diet should also be comprised of vegetables,whole
grains, legumes, and high fiber to
properly maintain the gut’s overall health.
Related to probiotics are the lesser
talked about prebiotics. Vegetables naturally contain prebiotics, which have just
begun to be studiedduring the past few decades. Prebiotics are specialized
plant fibers that boost the growth of healthy gut microbes by creating a
nutrient rich environment in which microbes can thrive. Prebiotics are complex
carbohydrates that pass through the stomach and small intestine to be used by
microbes living in the large intestine. Foods like leeks, onions, garlic, peas, asparagus, beans,
soybeans, and lentils all contain prebiotics.
Beyond
increasingyour vegetable intake, fermented foods have also been found to
improve gut health. Fermented foods include everyday foods like sauerkraut,
yogurt, kimchi, fish sauce, and more less common foods like kefir, kombucha,
and tempeh. The reason fermented foods are good for the gut is because
fermentation uses naturally occurring yeasts or bacteria to break down sugars
in the food, creating a plethora of probiotic bacteria. If fermented foods aren’t
to your taste, the pill-form probiotic supplements mentioned above are still
clinically shownto help with digestion, balance intestinal microbiota, and boost
the immune system.
Working
out
has also been linked to improved gut health and healthier gut bacteria. This
should come as no surprise since exercise has been shown to improve every facet
of life. The more physical activity a person performs, the more varied their internal
microbiome is, which is great for gut health. Also, exercise boosts the rate of
formation for short-chain fatty acids, which keep the gut healthy by controlling
inflammation.
The gut’s microflora is connected to
almost every function in the body. Before we can absorb the nutrients we need
through eating food, those nutrients must be processed and digested by the gut.
The gutbreaks the nutrients down into particles that are small enough for the
body to absorb.Our bodies rely on enzymes to soak up nutrients and we also use
gut bacteria to digest otherwise indigestible components of food such as fiber,
which delivers a huge share of our body’s daily energy. Because of this, having
a healthy, diverse microbiome is linked togetting a good night’s sleep, controlling
weight, increasing mental acuity, and reducing fatigue. There are tests you
can take at home to measure and check the microbiome in your gut. Knowing this information
will help you find which foods to avoid, which foods to eat more of, and which
probiotics are best for you.
Max Gottlieb works
for Senior Planning. Senior Planning offers free services dedicated to helping seniors find and
organize long-term
care as well as extremely affordable estate planning solutions.