5 Tips for Better Gut Health This New Year
Every year we make new year resolutions to help us to obtain the life we crave. Oftentimes we look at reducing things in our abdominal area. But, if your goal is better health this year, then our tips are going to help you add beneficial bacteria to your gut (which will help reduce the fat).
If you want a healthier life, start by focusing on your gut.
Your gut can help you to have better control over your mental and physical health. So let’s get down to some of the ways you can improve your gut microbiome diversity and start leading that healthier life you crave and deserve.
1. Start using a prebiotic like Atrantil
Prebiotics are foods that help to feed the healthy bacteria in your gut. Your bacteria are particular in the kinds of food that they like, and they prefer ones that they can ferment and eat for a long period of time.
Foods that are high in fiber are what your gut bacteria love.
These foods can’t be broken down like the rest of your food. They don’t degrade with the stomach acid or enzymes. They need to be fermented. Just like when you’re cooking meat that you want to be juicy and full of flavor you cook it low and slow, that’s how these fermentable foods are for your gut bacteria.
The result of this slow fermentation is that your gut bacteria unlock nutrients that our bodies wouldn’t be able to access otherwise. Once they ferment the food, metabolic byproducts like short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are released.
SCFAs are phenomenal at maintaining your body’s and brain’s health.
Atrantil is a supplement you can take as a prebiotic. This polyphenol blend was specifically created to help those who suffer from IBS. So it is more gentle on your gut than adding a ton of fiber all at once.
Ask your doctor if Atrantil would be right for you as a prebiotic supplement.
Some foods you can add to your diet that are great examples of prebiotics include vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole grains.
2. Exercise moderately a few times per week
If you’ve ever been constipated you know that one of the suggestions you’ll receive is to go for a walk. The thought process behind this suggestion is that when you start walking you allow the blood to flow more throughout your body allowing for proper digestion.
What you aren’t told is that by adding in light to moderate exercise, you’re also adding diversity to your gut microbiome.
Low impact exercise can help to increase butyrate (a SCFA). A balance is also seen between good and bad bacteria in your microbiome when exercise is added to your routine.
While we want our food to be fermented by the gut bacteria which takes a little longer than other foods, we don’t want it to take too long or it can cause disease.
Exercise in low to moderate intensity can help to improve the transient stool time which helps to reduce the risk of diseases like diverticulosis, IBD, and colon cancer.
3. Practice gratitude and meditation
Stress is one of the biggest factors that throws off your gut health. Stress causes an inflammatory response to become activated throughout your body. When your body is constantly stressed out the inflammation never subsides which causes damage to your cells and organs as a result.
Inflammation in your gut causes disturbances and an imbalance in your microbiome. So to keep your microbiome balanced and your health at optimal levels, you combat the stress that caused it in the first place.
Meditation has been scientifically proven to help combat stress that causes disease and gastrointestinal issues.
There are many types of meditation that you can test out like
- Gut-mediated hypnotherapy
- Guided meditation
- Yoga and meditation.
Sometimes it’s hard to “shut your brain off” and get into the meditative state, so practicing gratitude is a great way to get into the zone. Writing down or just thinking about things in your life or focusing on the good things that happened that day and being thankful for them is a great way to get into that positive mindset. This will help to allow the meditation to be more successful.
4. Plant a garden
Before you skip this one, there’s some science-packed research behind how planting a garden can help improve your gut health.
When we look at the things that destroy the balance within our guts, one of the biggest problems is our over-hygienic lifestyle.
- Using hand sanitizer kills the good bacteria on our hands that our gut microbiomes need for balance
- Overprescription of antibiotics destroys our microbiomes and can lead to conditions like IBS
- Antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides in our foods are also destroying our gut microbiomes and are a suspected cause of the rise in autoimmune diseases
By planting a garden, you know exactly what is being used in and on your food. You’re also exposing your body to essential bacteria that balance all of your microbiomes. And you pick up a healthy hobby that can help you to relax and learn something new.
A study even showed the brain health benefits of gardening in older adults. Their cognitive capabilities and quality of life were increased by adding gardening as an activity.
5. Kick your addictions (including sugar)
Bad habits like smoking, excessive drinking, and poor diet all add up to an unhealthy gut microbiome.
- Smoking causes hardening of your arteries which doesn’t allow your blood to be circulated as well as it should be.
- Alcohol causes inflammation throughout your body which as we stated earlier leads to poor gut and overall health. Alcohol also promotes a leaky gut which can lead to other health problems like malnutrition.
- Poor diet (especially those high in sugar and unhealthy fats) feed your bad bacteria and starve the good.
By breaking your cravings for these things, your health will experience incredible benefits! You’ll likely have more energy, better focus, and a better quality of life.
If you want a healthier life, focus on your gut (internally not externally) and you’ll reap the benefits you desire! Let us know some of your goals for this year and how you plan to achieve them in the comments.