Every food and drink we consume must be digested to reap their nutritional benefits. Digesting food is a complex process that can cause unwanted gastrointestinal issues and negatively impact gut health if not done properly. Not only the foods we eat, but also how we live our lives impacts how our body supports digestion. Proper digestion has many benefits, including feeling energized and supporting immune health. Here are five easy gut health hacks to support your digestion.
Read more: Tips for Digestive Health
Gut Health Hack #1: Eat fiber-rich foods
Fiber-rich foods are vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Fiber encourages colon health by helping to speed food through the digestive system by serving as a bulking agent. Eating fiber can also help move things along when things get backed up.
Many fiber-rich foods contain prebiotics, which are the type of fiber that feeds the bacteria in your gut, also called the microbiota. Prebiotics provide fuel for the “good” gut bacteria to keep them healthy. By being properly fed, the good gut bacteria produce short chain fatty acids which in turn provide immune system benefits to you.1
The top fiber containing foods include nuts, legumes, beans, whole grain wheat products, carrots, seeds, oats, popcorn, and many other fruits and vegetables.2 Foods high in prebiotics also include onions, garlic, asparagus, oats and apples.
Read more: Probiotics vs Prebiotics
Gut Health Hack #2: Consume enough fluids
Drinking water or other beverages is key to maintaining a healthy gut. Drinking adequate fluids ensures that your digestive tract will stay moving throughout the day.3 I great way to remind yourself to drink water during the day is to carry a water bottle. Without enough fluid, things can become uncomfortable – especially if you increase your fiber intake but don’t increase the amount of fluids you’re drinking!
Vary your fluid intake by drinking other beverages like tea. Ginger and peppermint teas are especially helpful for gut health because ginger and peppermint help support digestive comfort and wellbeing.
Gut Health Hack #3: Consider adding a probiotic
Probiotics are foods or supplements that contain “good” bacteria and can help replenish the bacteria species we need the most of. They can be especially helpful in repopulating the “good” gut bacteria species by crowding out the “bad” bacteria that may occur from a poor diet, stress, or feeling under the weather.4
You can increase your probiotic intake by including more naturally fermented foods in your diet such as yogurt, kefir, kombucha, kimchi and pickles. The natural fermentation process of producing these foods results good probiotics for gut health.
Many people find benefits in taking probiotic supplements as well. Probiotic supplements can be especially helpful as research has shown that strains of lactobacillus, bifidobacterium, and saccharomyces are an effective way to include probiotics for gut health.5
Read more: What are probiotics
Gut Health Hack #4: Exercise regularly
Before you worry that you may have to become a triathlete to have a healthy gut, rest assured that regular, gentle movement is an easy gut health hack. Gentle movement helps improve and regulate gut motility.6 It can help move things along when needed.
While you can certainly train for a marathon if you want to, gentle movement can be as simple as a walk, doing some yoga, or taking a swim. The best movement is the kind that you enjoy and can incorporate regularly into your life for optimal gut health.
Gut Health Hack #5: Manage your stress
While this may seem tempting to overlook, managing stress is a key component to maintaining gut health. The gut is connected to the brain and can be influenced by how we handle and manage our emotions.
For good gut health, it’s important to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, or the “rest and digest” nervous system.7 If we are not in a relaxed state, our bodies cannot digest our food properly. Being in “fight or flight” can impair our ability to digest food, which can be detrimental to gut health.
To activate your “rest and digest” nervous system, consider taking deep breaths before eating. Try to eat in a relaxed environment with no distractions and really focus on chewing your food thoroughly. This mindfulness will help your body relax so you can digest your food well and keep your gut happy.
Support your digestion through gut health hacks
As you can see, it’s easy to incorporate a few small changes to your nutrition and lifestyle to improve your gut health. By eating more fiber-rich foods, drinking enough water, taking a probiotic, incorporating regular exercise, and managing your stress you can maintain a properly functioning digestive tract.
References
- Holscher, Hannah D. “Dietary fiber and prebiotics and the gastrointestinal microbiota.” Gut microbes vol. 8,2 (2017): 172-184. doi:10.1080/19490976.2017.1290756
- “Nutrients In Food Tool”. Nutritiondata.Self.Com, 2022, https://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/nutrient-search.
- Treatments for Constipation: A Review of Systematic Reviews. Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, 17 November 2014.
- Williams, Nancy Toedter. “Probiotics.” American journal of health-system pharmacy : AJHP : official journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists vol. 67,6 (2010): 449-58. doi:10.2146/ajhp090168
- Guan, Zhi-Wei et al. “Soluble Dietary Fiber, One of the Most Important Nutrients for the Gut Microbiota.” Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 26,22 6802. 11 Nov. 2021, doi:10.3390/molecules26226802
- de Oliveira, Erick Prado, and Roberto Carlos Burini. “The impact of physical exercise on the gastrointestinal tract.” Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care vol. 12,5 (2009): 533-8. doi:10.1097/MCO.0b013e32832e6776
- Altaf, Muhammad A, and Manu R Sood. “The nervous system and gastrointestinal function.” Developmental disabilities research reviews vol. 14,2 (2008): 87-95. doi:10.1002/ddrr.15
