It is becoming clearer that what goes on in the gut can impact all aspects of your well being. It actually plays a vital role in mental health, immunity, and metabolism. The “gut” refers to everything after your stomach, meaning your small and large intestines. Hundreds of trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms inhabit your intestines and fulfill key functions in your overall health and well being. It is now commonly knows that microbes outnumber human cells by 10:1. Here are some tips for supporting the health of your gut microbiome so that you can feel your best.
In with the Good
Of course, the most important thing you can do for your gut is to eat a healthy diet. This means you limit your exposure to toxins, GMO’s, sugar, processed foods, and avoid any foods that you are sensitive too. For some people, it can be highly beneficial to sip on bone broth throughout the day because it can be very healing to the gut lining. If you know your gut isn’t functioning optimally, you might want to consider adding foods, supplements, drinks, and/or teas that are known to support the gut like aloe vera, L-glutamine, slippery elm, and deglychrrhizinated licorice.
There are some vegetables and fruits that are prebiotics and they feed the good bacteria, or probiotics, that live in your gut. Healthy prebiotics include artichokes, radishes, asparagus, red bell peppers, onions, leeks, jicama, and garlic. You can also get prebiotics from organic seeds like pumpkin, flax, chia, and hemp. Finally, you may benefit from supplementing with probiotic rich foods like kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, and keifer water. You may even with a high quality probiotic supplement. LabDoor tests and scores the most popular supplements. So if you don’t know of a high quality supplement, that may be a good place to start.
Get Rid of the Bad Guys
When you have a bacterial imbalance in your gut, your ability to fight off pathogens is lowered. This opens the doors for opportunistic bacteria, viruses, and parasites to move in. Once they are situated, they can damage the gut, release toxins, and crowd out healthy bacteria. It is important to make sure any foreign pathogens have been addressed or creating a healthy microbiome will be much more difficult.
Getting rid of foreign pathogens can be tricky. Using anti-microbial herbs is a good place to start. Some of my favorite antimicrobial herbs include rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, and uncooked garlic. If you need something stronger, you could try mimosa pudica seed, berberine, bayberry extract, and grapefruit seed extract. But if parasites are a big issue, you may need to work with a knowledgeable practitioner to completely rid yourself of them.
Increase Fiber Intake
Instead of eating highly processed or sugar-rich foods, choose foods that are high in fiber. Fiber is a prebiotic because your beneficial gut bacteria actually feed on fibrous foods. Supporting the growth of your beneficial bacteria will also help control the growth of harmful bacteria. A healthy fiber intake will also help keep your digestive tract healthy by improving the passage of waste in a timelier manner. Food that sits in the digestive tract too long can begin to putrefy, create harmful toxins, and feed unwanted bacteria in your gut.
Some foods that are high in fiber are avocados, berries, coconut meat, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and leafy green vegetables. Many fruits are also high in fiber but tend to contain lots of sugar. My favorite high fiber fruits that are less likely to feed unwanted bacteria in the gut are green apples and berries.
Create a Healthy Non-Toxic Living Environment
We live in a world obsessed with keeping everything clean and sterilized. The standard household is cleaned using harsh chemicals that have their own health risks. What if I told you that your home has a microbiome too?
Yes, it’s true, and you can create a healthy home microbiome that is healthier to live in without using harsh cleaners. The air inside most homes gets circulated and becomes stale quickly. Try placing plants around the house to filter airborne toxins while providing some fresh oxygen (6).
Next, make sure to periodically open your windows and allow fresh air to circulate. Having animals in the home can change the microbiome of your home as well, which then improves your microbial diversity. Finally, ditch the harsh chemicals and opt instead for some natural cleaning products
Minimize Stress and Express Gratitude
Take some time to monitor and control your stress. If you find that you are chronically stressed then you are likely harming your gut microbiome. Take some time every day to take care of you – meditate, pray, or express gratitude in some form. Finally, there is some new research that suggests that a healthy microbiome can help protect you from environmental toxins. I believe this is because your body is functionally optimally and so can discard the toxins efficiently. So do the best you can to avoid toxins while following the other strategies in this post.
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