Your go-to guide to improving gut health, boosting your immune system, and becoming a healthier individual overall! These 5 natural tips for boosting gut health are easy to implement, backed by science, and actually work.
Gut health.
Like kale chips, cauliflower rice, meditation apps, and IIFYM…all health fads that are ‘of the moment’…maintaining gut health is on many people’s radar nowadays. But what exactly does that mean? How does one achieve optimal gut health and why even strive for it?
Well, I’ll tell you! Basically your gut can either keep you healthy or make you ill. It’s got that much power and influence over the body! Aside from your immune system, you also have ‘gut immune system’…this allows the rest of your body to stay protected from the toxic environment that your gut contends with on a daily basis. When you have poor digestion, inflammation, or a slow metabolism, your gut can not perform to the best of its ability and thus your overall health suffers.
You gut is really your second brain! In fact, it’s got MORE neurotransmitters than your ACTUAL brain. Needless to say, it’s pretty important to keep it functioning in tip-top shape and up to speed. Today, I’m gonna help you with that.
5 Natural Ways to Boost Gut Health
I’m sharing 5 Natural Ways to Boost Gut Health. Forget all things you’ve heard in the past, the tips that are shared on every list and roundup, today you’re getting the little known information, the insider tips on how you can make small changes that benefit your gut immensely.
Eat fermented foods
Fermented food provides the best kind of bacteria you can get for your gut! It provides a wide variety of strains which means you get the most bang for your bacteria buck. 😉 Fermenting foods has been done for thousands of years and it’s only now catching on again because of the resurgence of people’s focus on healthy immune and gastrointestinal systems. Some easy ways to incorporate fermented foods into your diet are through yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir, and pickles!
Don’t forget the healthy fats
Eating plants and dietary fiber are important for overall health, but especially so for your gut. They bring diverse nutrients to our bodies which exposes us to things that make our bodies stronger and more resilient. The problem is, most of the vitamins and nutrients that vegetables and other produce provide cannot be absorbed on their own….they need healthy fats to facilitate it! Many of the micronutrients that food provides are fat-soluble. In other words, they cannot be absorbed without the presence of dietary fat. That means that if you eat produce without a fat source, you’ll only absorb a fraction of the potential nutrition you could be getting. An optimal gut environment is un-inflamed, and that’s exactly what healthy fats help with!
Munch on stalks and stems
When eating veggies, eat the WHOLE THING…including the stalks and stems. Don’t discard those as trash or compost! They stalks and stems of veggies are full of gut-boosting nutrients that we typically don’t get from our daily diets. For example, broccoli stalks contain more fiber, vitamin C, and calcium than the florets and swiss chard stems are rich in immune-boosting amino acids.
Develop healthy sleeping habits
Our guts are balanced during our sleep. At night, we have a break from digestion and normal bodily functions which allows us to replenish and restore healthy gut flora. Additionally, cytokines, which are inflammatory agents in the body, are produced based on our circadian rhythm. When we have an abnormal or disrupted sleep cycle, their production is thrown off and thus the balance of our guts is adversely affected as well. On the flip side, having a healthy gut also promotes better, more restful sleep. So the two have a positively correlated symbiotic relationship!
Take a daily probiotic supplement
But not just any old probiotic that you randomly select from the store shelves or on Amazon. You want a probiotic that is formulated SPECIFICALLY for your unique gut microbiome! That’s where Thryve Inside comes in.
Have you heard of Thryve? Thryve Inside provides gut health test kits to their customers. When you purchase a kit, you receive it in the mail with directions on how to collect your stool sample. Then you send it back with the box it came in and wait for your results with take up to 4 weeks, but mine came back much sooner!
Once your results are available, you log in to the Thryve online dashboard and see a full analysis of your gut microbiome.
The results catalog your entire gut and tells you what bacteria is present, which ones need to be reduced, and what needs to be increased based on healthy averages of people in your demographic.
Here are main takeaways from my gut analysis:
– My gut does not handle cholesterol, triglycerides, or trimethylamine (a compound from red meat and eggs that decreases overall cardiovascular wellness) well at all!
– I have a similar gut to those with celiac disease; meaning I do not process gluten efficiently.
– My gut has excellent sleep hormones: GABA (short for gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a chemical messenger that helps turn down brain activity for a deeper, more restorative sleep. Much of your body’s GABA is produced in your brain, but your gut microbes also contribute.
– Poor serotonin production. This effects mood and mental health.
– Poor B12 absorption…good thing I supplement daily!
Aside from a comprehensive review of your gut microbiome and what strains of bacteria you need to increase and decrease, Thryve provides you with ACTIONABLE STEPS on how to approve your levels across the board. This includes a detailed list of foods from every food group to eat more of as well as those to avoid.
And more importantly, after your test, Thryve formulates a personalized probiotic to meet the needs of your individual gut. So cool and SO much better than buying a generic probiotic from the grocery store that may not include any of the pre- and probiotics you actually need!
Stressful situations, changes in lifestyle, low quality food, tainted water, and numerous other factors can affect the bacterial flora in your gut. So it’s incredible to have a product like Thryve that gives you concrete data on what is going on with your own gut! Additionally, taking a daily probiotic supplement customized for your body can help replenish and bolster your intestinal tract, while making your system run more efficiently.
If you want to get your gut tested with Thryve, use code healthyhelper for 10% off your own test kit!
Do you monitor your gut health?
Do you take a daily probiotic?
What do you plan on incorporating daily to protect your immune and gastrointestinal system?
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30 responses to “5 Natural Ways to Boost Gut Health”
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As a dietician, I agree on all the points mentioned by you. I also think that drinking at least 8-10 glass of water is also very important.
For sure! Hydration is so important for gut health!
If 50 years in the future we take in everything in gummy form I really won’t be mad about it lol 😀 I’ve had gummy vitamins, but never probiotics. I would probably be much more consistent this way. Tip #4 is probably the toughest for me, but in theory I am with you on all 5!
Ha! I’d totally be on board with that! I LOVE taking vitamins when they come in gummy for! 😉
I have a digestive enzyme that I was sent to try for the blog, so I’m really excited about trying it, because i readily admit that I don’t have the greatest gut health. I think I’m going to be trying that, and I will definitely be keeping those healthy fats and crunchy stalks in mind. I totally didn’t know many of these things, and I’m so thankful you shared them. Our bodies are pretty cool!
I think it will really help you! I’ve had great success with probiotics!
I was never even aware that people throw away the stalks of some veg. I just thought everyone ate the whole thing! It’s nice to know I’m getting more goodness than I thought into my body . Thanks for an eye opener
#BrillBlogPosts
Lex
I always eat the whole thing! I actually really like the stalks and stems! 😀
Thanks for this list. I have begun drinking kefir in the last few months, and I take Zija which has pre-biotics, I’ve noticed that my gut is working so much better. Oh, and omitting the gluten was huge! I will be eating more stems, especially from broccoli, I had no idea that they were so good for you!
As always, great information packed into a powerful post! Thanks again!
I LOVE broccoli stems! Try them roasted! You’re so welcome for this post!
hI Kaila,
I agree fully with your 5 natural ways to boost gut health. The fermented foods are definitely very important. I have never heard of the Smarty Pants probiotics – I will have to check them out. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & tweeted!
These are all so important! I don’t think I incorporate very many fermented foods into my diet, but will definitely look into upping those! I love Smarty Pants vitamins–I didn’t know they had probiotics too! 😀
Love them too! They have such a wide range of awesome products!
Your blog is spot-on. I wish more people realized how vital it is to eat healthy. Great read, I think I’m there except for the supplements. I’ll definitely check that out. Stopped by from Cooking on a Budget’s Link Party!
Thank you so much for stopping by and reading!
These are great tips and for the most part I do pretty well, except for the sleeping part. Still working on getting back to routine.
Glad you enjoyed them!
Great tips Kaila! One of the things I enjoyed best while studying holistic nutrition was how they intensely we studied gut health and learned how our digestive system really is linked to everything, even our mental and emotional health.
Thanks for sharing these at Healthy Vegan Fridays. I’m pinning & sharing!
So welcome! I thought you’d enjoy this post!!
I’d never heard of gut health but I’m already doing some of these things (I love munching on celery!). Thanks so much for sharing your great tips with us at Share The Wealth Sunday!
THANK YOU!
Hello!
Thanks for this great post. I have to admit that gut health is something that I’ve always taken for granted, but the older I get the more I think it’s important.
I’m just coming off a round of antibiotics for a bacterial infection, and I remember hearing somewhere that taking these could adversely affect gut health?
Wondering what you think might be the best way to get back on track after this round of medication?
Thanks again, I’m enjoying your posts very much!
Ted
Definitely incorporate these tips into your daily routine! Especially the foods that have good bacteria in them….those will help boost the good gut flora that the antibiotics killed off.
I am so delighted to read your post on natural ways to boost gut health especially because a healthy gut has become a major concern for me. There’s so much to learn about this subject and your post provided healthy, easy to implement tips. I am also picking this post as the Featured Post on the Healthy Living Link Party this week.
Thank you so much! Very excited!
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These are some great tips thank you!
Thanks Emily! Hope they help!!