5 Things to do if You Want a Healthy Gut

Your gut health plays a vital role in determining your overall health and wellbeing. A healthy gut comprises a healthy balance of bacteria or microbes that not only strengthens your immunity and keeps all kinds of infections and diseases at bay, but also regulates your hormones well, keeps your metabolism functioning to its optimum level, and improves your mental health, among other things.

However, maintaining gut health is a discipline. It involves inculcating a series of small habits over a period of time that will help you enhance your gut health and eventually your overall health and wellbeing. After all, you don’t want to wind up with a stomach ache, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, or nausea, which are common symptoms of an unhealthy gut- developed out of lack of self care, discipline or sheer neglect. So what do we do to maintain a healthy gut? Let’s find out.      

●    Eat a well-balanced meal
When choosing what food you should eat, keep your gut health in mind. Making wise food choices that are right for your gut will surely promote digestive health and prevent all sorts of gut health issues like trapped gas, acidity, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, and the like.
Thus, making better food choices, rich in dietary fiber and proteins, will go a long way in benefiting your gastrointestinal health. Your food must consist of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, fish, and probiotics. These foods enable the build up of good bacteria in the gut, which then impacts your overall health and wellbeing, especially your immunity that safeguards your body from different diseases and infections.
Avoid foods that are processed, have high sugar, fat and salt, as they carry empty calories that can do more harm than good not only to your gut but your health in general. It is always best to consult a nutritionist for a suitable diet plan that will help improve your gut health. Should you have persistent gastrointestinal problems, your medical practitioner will guide you with specific recommendations for your gut.

●    Avoid sugary products
    The large intestine is a breeding ground for the good bacteria that can digest fruits, vegetables, and wholegrains that are rich in dietary fiber (which causes a slow release of sugar) and convert them into molecules that protect the gut barrier. As stated above, a diet that’s rich in processed foods and added sugar is likely to create an imbalance in your gut, which may lead to increased sugar cravings that will only further damage the gut. Too much unrefined sugar and sugar products like desserts, high-fructose corn syrup, biscuits and cookies, to name a few, may lead to inflammation in the body, which has the potential to further weaken the immune system, causing autoimmune diseases, and other chronic diseases like heart ailments, or even cancer, if gone neglected for too long.

●    Exercise regularly
We all know that diet alone doesn’t benefit your health. When a healthy and balanced diet is backed by a regular and consistent exercise regimen, you know you are on the path to good health and wellbeing. Regular physical activity of any kind aids your gut health for sure! Your intestines can contract because of regular exercise, which will make the gastrointestinal tract flexible enough (as there will be no inflammation or other issues) to allow waste to pass through it naturally without any obstruction.

A healthy digestive system further gives the immune system a boost, which in turn keeps the body healthy, up and running. So, to keep the digestive system working to its utmost potential, a regular exercise routine plays an integral role. You can try your hand at different forms of physical activity like cardio workouts, yoga, strength training and more to figure out what works best for you!

●    Get ample sleep
We all know that a good night’s sleep plays a vital role in your overall health and wellbeing. Sound sleep helps improve cognition, mood, immune system, skin health, and even gut health. There’s ample research available that indicates how irregular and disturbed sleep cycles negatively affect the gut microbiota, which can lead to inflammation and a plethora of chronic health conditions. Thus, it’s important that your body gets 7-8 hours of restful sleep every day. Any disruption in your sleep cycle will affect your gut and vice versa. This will disrupt your circadian rhythm, which are cycles in the body that occur roughly across 24 hours, causing several physical and mental changes in the body.

If you are having trouble falling asleep, you can try out Wellbeing Nutrition’s Restful Sleep Melts. It has been formulated to aid the natural process of the body to fall asleep and contains plant-based melatonin, which consists of Asian rice, Alfalfa, the leaves and roots of Chlorella Pyrenoidosa, along with other important nutrients like chamomile, l-theanine, passion flower, valerian root, and vitamin B-6, to support the body in being more receptive to melatonin, the sleep hormone.

●    Consume Probiotic & Prebiotic
Probiotics and prebiotics are important for maintaining good gut health. The most common sources of probiotics are fermented foods and drinks or dietary supplements. Probiotics are known for their many health benefits. They are the live microorganisms such as yeast or bacteria that live in the gut and help improve your gut health. Some of the most common examples of probiotics are yogurt, buttermilk, kombucha, kimchi, and sauerkraut to name a few. On the contrary, prebiotics are carbs or fiber (such as chicory root, bananas, artichoke, leeks, asparagus and the like) that are food for the healthy bacteria or probiotics in your gut. Needless to say, you need to provide your gut with a healthy mix of both probiotics and prebiotics for it to function properly without any disruptions. That is where Wellbeing Nutrition’s Probiotic + Prebiotic comes into the picture.

This product of Wellbeing Nutrition, is a tube containing 15 effervescent tablets, that will not only help your digestive health and neutralize toxins but also enhance your metabolism, ease acidity and heartburn and help prevent other gut-related issues. With 36 billion (CFU) active live cultures per serving your gut microbiome will thrive and be healthy, ridding it of all digestive problems. All you need to do is put a tablet in a glass of water, watch it fizz and gulp down this deliciously beneficial drink for your gut!

Final Takeaway

Your gut is the battery that keeps your entire body running. Any disruption in the gut will severely impact your immune system, cognitive functions, sleep, mood, skin health, and metabolism among other things. Needless to say, you must make your gut health a priority. Apart from the aforementioned healthy habits, you must learn how to manage stress and give up on unhealthy habits like drinking and smoking to take care of your gut.

References:

• Valdes A M, Walter J, Segal E, Spector T D. Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health BMJ 2018; 361 :k2179 doi:10.1136/bmj.k2179. (https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k2179)
• Conlon MA, Bird AR. The impact of diet and lifestyle on gut microbiota and human health. Nutrients. 2014;7(1):17-44. Published 2014 Dec 24. doi:10.3390/nu7010017
  (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4303825/)
• Ruiz-Ojeda FJ, Plaza-Díaz J, Sáez-Lara MJ, Gil A. Effects of Sweeteners on the Gut Microbiota: A Review of Experimental Studies and Clinical Trials [published correction appears in Adv Nutr. 2020 Mar 1;11(2):468]. Adv Nutr. 2019;10(suppl_1):S31-S48. doi:10.1093/advances/nmy037 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6363527/)
• Monda V, Villano I, Messina A, et al. Exercise Modifies the Gut Microbiota with Positive Health Effects. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2017;2017:3831972. doi:10.1155/2017/3831972
  (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5357536/)
• Smith RP, Easson C, Lyle SM, et al. Gut microbiome diversity is associated with sleep physiology in humans. PLoS One. 2019;14(10):e0222394. Published 2019 Oct 7. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0222394. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6779243/#:~:text=The%20human%20gut%20microbiome%20can,microbiome%20have%20yielded%20conflicting%20results.)
• Floch MH. Probiotics and Prebiotics. Gastroenterol Hepatol (N Y). 2014;10(10):680-681. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4988227/)