It’s a fact of life that you probably give little attention to your gut until you have a problem with it. But boy, when you do it can become a real problem and affect your whole life. You probably never ask how to improve gut health until you really need to.
Problems with the health of your gut can affect your entire body so knowing how to improve gut health can bring massive benefits. One troubling gut health problem is known as ‘leaky gut syndrome’.
What Is Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Leaky gut syndrome is a condition where the walls of your intestine become inflamed. This damage to the gut walls can allow toxins and bacteria to leak into your blood stream.
When these toxins and bacteria are circulating through your body you will feel sick and suffer a lot of discomfort. Unfortunately leaky gut syndrome often goes undiagnosed because it is difficult for doctors to recognize. The symptoms can vary enormously from one person to another. This means the millions of sufferers can often suffer for years.
Symptoms of Leaky Gut Syndrome
While it is true that the symptoms vary from person to person, there are some conditions that occur most frequently.
The most common symptoms of a leaky gut are:
- Digestive problems including bloating, constipation, flatulence
- Skin problems like acne or eczema
- Mental health issues including depression, anxiety or brain fog
- Headaches
- Stress
- Inflammation
- Joint pain
- Fatigue
- Nutrient deficiencies
Many of these symptoms are common in plenty of other conditions which is why it is difficult for doctors to make a diagnosis and identify the cause.
You may well decide to look to alternative health techniques to solve your gut problems holistically.
Natural Methods To Improve Gut Health
OK so let’s employ some common sense. The primary function of your gut is digestion to process your food. Obviously if you are having problems with your gut then the first thing to consider is going to be what you eat.
The gut flora in your stomach and intestines play an important role in maintaining the health of your gut. Far from being a problem, it is normal to have millions of bacteria. What is important is the balance of these good bacteria.
If this delicate balance is upset then it can lead to inflammation. Foods that can cause imbalance include junk food, refined oils and processed foods and alcohol.
Foods that are good for gut health
So how can you maintain and encourage the growth of a healthy gut flora? You may well have heard of probiotics and prebiotics as they have featured in the press more recently.
What is the difference between probiotics and prebiotics?
I’m so glad you asked!
Probiotics are foods that contain living organisms so that they are actually increasing the level of bacteria in your gut. These include fermented foods like kimchi, kombucha, sauerkraut that commonly feature in many foreign diets and other more common foods like yoghurt, pickles and some cheeses.
Prebiotic foods actually encourage the growth of your natural gut flora. These foods contain a lot of specialized plant fiber. You can choose your favorite vegetables as your source of prebiotics as most fiber rich vegetables are good sources.
The best results come from eating a wide selection of different colored vegetables. This is often known as eating the rainbow. The colors reflect the different components of each food so by eating a wide range you get a wide range of nutrients.
Here are some of my favorite foods across the color spectrum: leeks, eggplant, green beans, broccoli, bananas, apples, avocados, blackberries.
You also want to include oatmeal, nuts and seeds.
If you consume a mix of these foods daily and cut down on processed foods and those with added sugar you shouldn’t need to take probiotic supplements.
I would always prefer to get my nutrients naturally.
Non Food Factors That Affect Gut Health
Your diet is the most important factor in maintaining good gut health and is definitely where you should start but other factors can also help.
Sleep
Good quality sleep is vital to many aspects of health. A lack of sleep lowers your immunity and will exacerbate your gut problems. Your body heals when you sleep. You should aim to get the recommended 7 hours sleep each night.
Check out these herbal sleep aids
Stress
“It’s not what you eat, but what’s eating you that matters most.”
You may have heard this statement and it is true that stress definitely affects your digestive health.
I wouldn’t say that it is most important but it is a factor; both matter.
So if you always feel stressed then you should find a method that works for you to de-stress and relax.
Keeping a gratitude journal that you fill in each evening will help. Using meditation to calm your mind and soul, practicing yoga, listening to soothing music even just taking a walk can all help. Find something that works for you. The goal is to avoid being constantly stressed out, because it will have a negative impact on your gut health.
If you are looking for more ideas on ways to relieve stress check out this article on Daily Habits For Better Health
A Holistic Approach To Improve Gut Health
Following the tips in this article should definitely help you improve the health of your gut. Switching to a cleaner diet, improving your sleep routine and reducing your stress in combination will bring many benefits.
Any time you introduce a change in your habits it can be a challenge.
The key to success is to introduce small positive changes to your diet and lifestyle rather than making sudden wholesale changes. This will prevent sudden food cravings and mental resistance.
If you can establish new healthier habits you’ll look and feel much better and one of the noticeable benefits should be improved gut health.
