How to keep Gut Healthy - Self-care Tips for Gut Health

PACE Hospitals

The gut represents our body's gastrointestinal (GI) system, and its health depends on the level and type of bacteria in the digestive tract. Hence, when we talk about gut health, it refers to maintaining the balance of microorganisms in our digestive tract, which is vital for physical and mental health and stronger Immunity.

Maintaining the right amount of microbiome is essential for our health, as these microbes produce different hormones and vitamins that support a smooth digestive process.

Most cells responsible for building an immunity system are from the digestive tract. Good gut health reduces your sick days and the risk of allergies and autoimmune diseases. Even putting the healthiest foods into your body cannot reap all the benefits of eating without having a healthy gut lining for digestion. Hence, it is essential to improve the gut microbiome to get rid of digestive trouble and enhance overall health.

Some of the scientifically supported ways to improve gut health are as follows:

Include Probiotics and Fermented Foods in your Meal

Probiotics are live microbes that have health benefits when consumed and are usually called beneficial bacteria because they help keep the gut healthy. Many types of bacteria can be considered probiotics. Two specific types of bacteria are common probiotics available in general: Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Probiotics are also made up of good yeast.

Probiotics can help boost the healthy gut microbiome, which helps manage gut inflammation and other intestinal problems.

Fermented food is a natural source of probiotics. Usually, these foods contain a high count of lactobacilli bacteria, good bacteria helpful in keeping the gut healthy.

These are some probiotics-rich and fermented food for healthy gut:

Yoghurt
Butter Milk
Cottage cheese
Kimchi
Apple cider vinegar

Include Polyphenols-rich Diets

Polyphenols are plant-based molecules rich in fibre, used by the microbiome in the guts as fuel and have inflammatory properties, helping reduce blood pressure, cholesterol levels and cellular stress. These are some polyphenols rich foods:

Dark chocolate
Red grapes
Almonds
Onions
Blueberries
Green tea
Broccoli

Include Dietary and Prebiotics Fibre in Diets

A fibre-rich diet promotes multiplicity and triggers the growth of probiotics bacteria that feed on indigestible carbohydrates called prebiotics.

Prebiotics promote probiotics to thrive in the gut. It helps the probiotics become more resistant to specific environmental conditions, such as changes in pH and temperature. These are some prebiotics-rich foods:

Banana
Asparagus
Garlic
Onions
Whole grains
Legumes
Beans

Curb on Artificial Sweeteners Intake

Consuming additional artificial sweeteners can disturb the gut microbiome's balance, and the gut flora's imbalance may harshly impact the blood glucose level, causing metabolic disease and increasing the risk of diabetes and heart ailments.

Work on Stress Management

Stress affects communication between the brain and gut and disrupts the gut microbiome, which can cause pain, bloating, and discomfort. Prolonged stress can cause constipation, diarrhoea, or upset stomach.

So, managing the stress levels can boost the gut health and overall health, indulging in habits like meditation, deep breathing exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation and help in managing the stress level.

Regular Exercise & Enough Sleep

Regular exercise can be very fruitful in the case of obesity and can positively impact the gut flora which supports in the production of short-chain fatty acids, which reduces the risk of inflammatory diseases like IBD as well as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

Not getting adequate sleep can have adverse effect on overall health and can hamper the energy level. It can affect the gut health in many ways:

Inadequate sleep can lead to stress and can alter the gut flora damaging the digestive health
lack of sleep can impact dietary choice like it could disrupt the hunger control and can affect the digestive system
poor sleep habits can unbalance the production of Sleep hormone "melatonin", which also supports gastrointestinal mobility, deficiency of melatonin can cause sleep difficulty leading to GERD a digestive disorder.

Restraining Smoking and Alcohol Intake

Consumption of alcohol and cigarette smoking can cause microbiome alteration and can lead to changes in gut microbiota composition, leading to many ailments and impacting overall health.

Avoid Excess use of Antibiotics

Antibiotics kill the bacteria that cause infection, but at the same time, they also adversely impact the gut bacteria. Therefore, take antibiotics only when necessary. And once you stop taking it, opt for more probiotic and prebiotic foods to restore your gut microbiome.