Foods That Are Good For Your Gut Health
If you’re not getting the nutrients you need, your body won’t function properly, affecting your overall health. Your gut is responsible for most of the digestive processes and the food you consume can either be bad or good for it. A diet high in sugar creates many problems, from too few beneficial microbes to inflammation. A compromised gut means compromised health. If you’re taking gas relievers or antacids after each meal, it’s time to switch your diet.
Introduce probiotic food into your diet.
What are probiotic foods? They are foods with beneficial microbes. A healthy microbiome—the collection of microbes in your gut—means better health throughout the body. A lot of things can affect the balance of microbes in the gut, creating an unhealthy environment. Medications, stress, a poor diet, and lack of exercise are a few. Probiotics replenish the beneficial bacteria. Probiotic foods are fermented foods that contain live cultures. It includes kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, some types of cheese, kombucha, kimchi, miso, and unfiltered apple cider vinegar.
Add foods that are high in fiber to your diet.
Food high in soluble fiber is prebiotic. The soluble fiber in the food improves the population of beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract by providing food for them. The result is short-chain fatty acids that aid in mucus production, boost immunity, and deal with inflammation. Food high in soluble fiber includes beans, avocados, Brussels sprouts, apples, broccoli, and sweet potatoes. The other type of fiber, insoluble fiber, provides bulk to the stool, prevents blood sugar spikes, and hemorrhoids, and keeps food moving through the tract. Consuming nuts, whole grain products, and apple peels can boost insoluble fiber intake.
A diet high in plant-based food, but low in added sugar can be a big benefit to gut health.
A diet high in sugar boosts the population of yeast and other pathogens. As the colony of bad microbes grows, cravings for more sugar increase, causing more inflammation and weight gain. It can cause malnutrition, autoimmune diseases, skin conditions, cancer, and mental health conditions. Skip the candy bar and eat fresh fruit. Cut back on red meat and replace it with vegetable protein sources. It takes longer to digest meat, which can create digestive issues.
- Consume food high in collagen to heal the gut. Collagen regulates stomach acid and heals leaky gut, IBS, and inflammation. You can boost collagen by adding bone broth or protein-rich foods to your diet.
- Gut health also benefits from additional vitamin C, zinc, and copper. Citrus fruit, bell peppers, cheese, nuts, organ meat, and cocoa powder can increase the intake of at least one of those nutrients.
- Apples are excellent for gut health. They improve digestion, plus provide pectin to increase the beneficial bacteria, reduce the risk of acid reflux, boost weight loss, and aid hair and nail growth.
- Antibiotics kill both harmful and beneficial bacteria. If you have to take an antibiotic, consume fermented food an hour before taking the antibiotic or an hour after taking it to protect gut health.
For more information, contact us today at Reggie C. Fitness
You know that looking and feeling great will be the ultimate reward for working out and eating healthily, but that takes a long time. In the meantime, you need healthy rewards to congratulate yourself for making it through a tough workout or going to the gym when you felt like staying home. Pizza, beer or hot fudge sundaes are definitely inappropriate, so what is a good option? It has to be in line with your fitness goals and also be something you enjoy.
There are a variety of marathons near Houston, TX, this year, as well as other races. A marathon is one of the most grueling races at 42 kilometers—26.2 miles. You don’t go from living a sedentary lifestyle to running a 26.2-mile race overnight. You have to train for a marathon. Sometimes, the training is in the gym and sometimes it’s out running. It’s all about building endurance and knowing your limits first. If your last running experience was playing dodgeball in grade school, you have a long way to go. Take it slowly.
If you want to start meal planning as a way to get fitter, save money and make life easier once you start, you need to get the meal planning supplies. Meal planning starts by writing down your meals on any type of paper or creating a calendar on your computer and filling in the blanks with the meals you’re serving that week with a space to include the grocery list. Some people opt for actual meal planning online programs that can vary in price. They come with meal plans, a grocery list and recipes.
When I talk with clients in Houston, TX, I find that the ones that are most successful at sticking with a fitness program tend to make working out a habit. Most of us think of negative habits, like smoking, binge-watching videos or TV or leaving dirty dishes on the floor, but habits can be good, too. If you make it a habit to eat healthy meals or exercise at a certain time every morning, you’ll be just as apt to do it as you would a bad habit. Most of the time, you automatically do it or it’s uncomfortable when you don’t.
A lot has changed over the years. Women are no longer subject to weeks of bedrest after having a baby and even the present rule of waiting to exercise for six weeks after childbirth has its exceptions. If you’ve exercised throughout your pregnancy, you may be able to start even sooner. That doesn’t include women who had complications or a C-section. You may be able to start strength training before the six weeks’ time, but before you start any exercise program, check with your health care professional.
If you have bad feet, running long distances in Houston, TX, isn’t the type of exercise you should be doing, but you should be doing some form of exercise. The right type of exercise can even help strengthen both your feet and ankles. A physical therapist can help you with those. Here are some exercises you can do for the rest of your body. They’ll help strengthen every part, plus build cardio and flexibility fitness. Start with stretches. If your issue with your feet doesn’t allow you to put pressure on them. You can do stretching while sitting.
If you’re considering buying gluten-free products, just because you believe they’re healthier, you might be wasting your money and even decreasing health benefits. For instance, potato chips are naturally gluten free, but they’re not healthier than a slice of whole wheat bread, which contains gluten. Gluten is an amino acid that’s found in rye, wheat and barley. It can’t be digested and may permeate the intestinal lining. In some people, the body mistakes the gluten for an invader, which starts the immune response, which can also cause intestinal cells to be killed and set off a series of digestive issues.
Some people in Houston, TX, still make bone broth from scratch. They start by roasting leftover bones, then simmering the bones in water for hours. It’s a healthy option as a base for soup and extremely delicious. Homemade bone broth also has healing benefits, but best of all it’s free, you just need to invest time. You can make bone broth from any kind of bones, including those from leftovers. Some people save and freeze the bones, while others buy bones specifically for the broth, opting for those from pastured chicken or beef.
Focusing on good nutrition doesn’t have to mean giving up all the foods you love. In fact, there are many places in Houston, TX, where you can get healthy treats. The most important thing to remember is to consume them in moderation and not make them the main food you eat all day, every day. Portion size is also important. They should be in 100 to 200 calorie portions or you won’t get the weight loss results you want or have the healthiest diet.