The Best Tips For Diet, Nutrition And Your Gut Health

Did you know that your digestive system plays a huge role in your overall health, both mentally and physically? When your gut isn’t functioning at its best, it can lead to major health concerns, like autoimmune disease, mood disorders, a weak immune system, skin disorders, and even some types of cancer.

You’ve probably heard the term “microbiome” being tossed around recently. It’s one of the newest buzzwords among health and wellness enthusiasts. Your microbiome is made up of more than 500 different types of bacteria that live in your gut. Most of these tiny microorganisms have important jobs to do, and they’re vital to your overall health.

Supporting your gut with proper diet and nutrition allows your microbiome to flourish. Here’s a look at how your diet, nutrition, and gut health are connected, plus some actionable steps you can take to support your microbiome.

How Your Diet, Nutrition, and Gut Health Are Connected

• Difficulty Maintaining a Healthy Weight: Many people struggle to maintain a healthy weight, even with good eating habits and regular exercise. This could be caused by an unhealthy gut. When the bacteria in your microbiome are out of balance, your body can’t absorb nutrition efficiently or regulate your blood sugar properly. 

Unexplained weight gain could signal insulin resistance or a desire to overeat to compensate for nutrient deficiencies. Unexplained weight loss could be a sign that the harmful bacteria in your gut are overgrown, preventing you from absorbing the nutrition your body needs from food.

When the microbiome is flourishing, your gut can process food and eliminate waste more efficiently. When your gut health is poor, you’re likely to deal with a variety of digestive health issues, including bloating, gas, heartburn, constipation, and diarrhea.

• Unexplained Chronic Fatigue and Insomnia:

Your gut is responsible for the production of many hormones, including serotonin, which regulates sleep and moods. If you’re eating a poor diet, your microbiome is struggling, which can result in sleep issues and chronic fatigue.

Eating the typical American diet of processed foods, refined sugar, and simple carbs weakens the good bacteria in your gut. This allows harmful bacteria to thrive, which causes inflammation throughout the body, which could eventually lead to chronic illness and disease.

• Food Sensitivities and Allergies:

When your gut is struggling to digest certain foods, food sensitivities or intolerances can develop. This happens as a result of a weak microbiome. Over time, an unhealthy gut may lead to food allergies.

When your digestive tract is inflamed due to poor diet and food sensitivities, certain proteins can be leaked into the body. These proteins can cause issues for your skin, including acne, eczema, and psoriasis.

Poor diet, nutrition, and an unhealthy gut can have a tremendous impact on your immune system, as well. The inflammation caused by an unhealthy gut impairs immune function and could lead to autoimmune disorders. These disorders can be very serious because they cause the immune system to attack itself, rather than harmful viruses and bacteria.

Actionable Steps You Can Take to Support Your Gut Health

Here’s what you can do to optimize your diet and nutrition to support your gut health.

• Give your microbiome a fresh start.

A colonics treatment removes excess waste from the gut, which improves digestion and allows your body to absorb nutrients more efficiently. Rahav Wellness’ NYC colonic treatment is the fastest way to reset your gut, remove toxins, and give the healthy bacteria in your microbiome a chance to thrive. Many patients report a reduction in inflammation throughout the body after just one session.

Now that you’ve given your digestive system a fresh start, overhaul your diet to keep your gut healthy for the long haul. Start by cutting back or eliminating refined sugars, processed foods, empty carbs, and unhealthy fats. 

The majority of your diet should revolve around whole foods, especially fruits, veggies, lean protein, whole grains, and healthy fats. A high-fiber diet supports digestive health, so legumes, fresh produce, and complex carbs are especially important. 

Prebiotic foods, like garlic and onions, feed the healthy bacteria in your microbiome, so try to include them in your diet daily.

Many of us tend to rush through our meals, often distracting ourselves with a device of some kind while we eat. Eating mindfully requires slowing down, chewing thoroughly, and appreciating your food. This helps your digestive system function more efficiently and improves nutrient absorption. 

• Find ways to manage stress.

Chronic stress affects all aspects of our health, including digestive health. And, when you’re stressed, you tend to eat poorly, too. Massage, acupuncture, yoga, exercise, and creative hobbies are all healthy ways to manage stress.

Keeping your body properly hydrated is essential for many body functions, especially digestive health. Drinking plenty of water every day keeps your gut’s mucosal lining hydrated, which is essential for a healthy microbiome.

• Take a probiotic supplement and eat more probiotic foods.

Taking a probiotic supplement each day is an easy way to support your gut health. Probiotics introduce healthy bacteria into the digestive system. You can also add more probiotic foods to your diets, such as yogurt, miso, tempeh, kimchi, and sauerkraut.

• Consider food sensitivities.

If you’re dealing with chronic health problems like headaches and digestive problems, food sensitivities could be the cause. When you regularly eat food that your body can’t digest efficiently, it causes inflammation in the digestive system, which harms the microbiome. Consider getting tested for food sensitivities and make the necessary changes to your diet to support your gut health.

Final Thoughts

Our digestive health plays a role in so many body functions, including our emotional health, immune system, and much more. Supporting your gut with proper diet and nutrition can reduce your risk of chronic disease and help you maintain a healthy weight. Making these changes can also improve the way you look and feel on a day-to-day basis.