It’s no fun to feel the bloating, gas, and pain that comes with GI upset. These strategies can help everyone with better gut health.
Sometimes with food and nutrition, there are easy behavior shifts or slightly different food choices that can make a big difference and with gut (GI) health this is the case. When symptoms are severe, then medical-nutritional therapy may be diagnosed as a potential solution. When symptoms are mild yet bothersome then being proactive to address the problem is super smart. So, here are 3 things everyone can do for a healthier gut.
3 Things Everyone Can Do for a Healthier Gut
#1. Add fermented dairy food(s) to your meal or snack.
Plain yogurt and plain kefir are 2 easy-to-find, fermented dairy foods that can improve gut health by helping to populate the gut with beneficial bacteria. Live and active cultures is a catch phrase you’ll see on fermented foods such as yogurt and kefir, a drinkable yogurt product. Every time you consume one of these, your gut will benefit.
By choosing plain, rather than with fruit and sugars, is that your beneficial gut bacteria prefer it. This sounds silly even though it is the case. The gut bacteria which prefer sugary foods are ones that can harm your gut health.
#2. Consume a wide variety of plant foods.
All plant foods contain fiber which is essential for a healthier gut. It’s best to diversify your foods such as fruit, vegetables, herbs, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. If you can, plan to eat one fruit and one vegetable with every meal – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and sneak in a whole grain twice a day. The herbs, nuts and seeds are also great choices for fiber so sprinkle them onto a salad, yogurt, or any pasta dish.
A wide variety means that every day is not the same, so mixing it up with your veggies and fruits, for example, is well worth the effort as you pursue a healthier gut. If you crave the knowledge to plan your meals then starting with the basics is best. In a previous blog I described a few basics of meal planning related to wasting less food. Here is Waste Less Food with Consistent Meal Planning.
#3. Chew your food thoroughly.
With tight schedules, many of us rush through meals and snacks and do not chew the food well. This may sound trivial but it’s actually a key eating behavior that can affect gut health. The better you chew each bite of food, the easier it will be for that bite to move through your GI tract and for its nutrients to be absorbed. When you swallow poorly chewed food on a day-to-day basis, it can harm your gut health.
A companion behavior to chewing food thoroughly is to drink sips of water in-between bites of food at a slower pace. Eating more slowly isn’t easy to do, but it can lead to improvements in gut health.
Feeling Well with a Healthier Gut
Feeling well is what everyone wants, every day. If you stop and think, then it makes sense that nutrition we consume has a big effect on our GI system (our gut) and how we feel during and in-between meals. Taking time to adjust some nutrition habits for better gut health will be well worth the effort and the 3 tips above are a good starting point. Don’t miss my 3 Easy Meals download – they’re free! And here’s to feeling well!